Shot in and around Boston, Gen Silent explores the complex issue of LGBT elderly who are sometimes forced back into the closet when they try to obtain long-term/health care. Filmmaker Stu Maddux (Bob and Jack's 52-Year Adventure, Trip to Hell and Back) asked six LGBT seniors if they will hide their lives to survive. They put a face on what experts in the film call an epidemic: gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender seniors so afraid of discrimination, or worse, in long-term/health care that many go back into the closet. And, their surprising decisions are captured through intimate access to their day-to-day lives over the course of a year in Boston, Massachusetts. Unlike any previous LGBT film about aging, Gen Silent startlingly discovers how oppression in the years before Stonewall now leaves many elders not just afraid but dangerously isolated. Many of our greatest generation are dying prematurely because they don't ask for help and have too few people in their lives to keep an eye on them. Gen Silent brings these issues into the open for the first time. The film shows the wide range in quality of paid caregivers --from those who are specifically trained to make LGBT seniors feel safe, to the other end of the spectrum, where LGBT elders face discrimination, neglect or abuse. (Who would have expected caregivers to try to religiously convert these elders at their bedside!) As we journey through the challenges that these men and women face, we also see reasons for hope as each subject crosses paths with a small but growing group of impassioned professionals trying to wake up the long-term and healthcare industries to their plight.

In a South Pacific nation comprised of many cultures, the diversity that comprises the transgender worldwide family is captured by the artistry of Rebecca Swan. The New Zealand photographer combines parallel artistic, activist and gender transformative processes in her work. Swan’s personal and spiritual connection to the gender variant talent makes each photograph more of a progression than an image. Assume Nothing delves deeper into those represented in Swan’s artwork as she collaborates with individuals who are given control over their representation. (Description courtesy of Frameline 2009.)

Gay Pride marches and festivals are happening all over the world sometimes under heavy opposition and violence. This feature length documentary follows the Vancouver Pride Society’s (VPS) Parade Director Ken Coolen and his VPS colleagues as they travel to places where Pride is still steeped in protest to personally experience the rampant homophobia that still exists. They also travel to São Paulo, Brazil for the world’s largest gay parade and New York City, the birthplace of the modern gay liberation movement. Increasingly the Pride movement is globalizing. Coolen and many Pride organizers in North America and Europe, where celebration has overtaken political action, strive to remind their communities that Pride is at its heart a global fight for human rights. Despite the hundreds of thousands of people cheering in the streets, Pride is much, much more than a parade and a party. It is a giant step on the road to true equality. The GLBT community during Pride is an entertaining and engaging multi- ethnic group than can bring attention to the issue of human rights with diversity, insight, and of course plenty of fabulousness. Director in attendance Thursday, May 6th, 7:30 PM MFA