Teodoro Maniaci

Last updated
Teodoro Maniaci
Born
New York
EducationTufts University, Graduate Film School of New York University
Occupation(s)Cinematographer, director
EmployerSelf-employed
Known forDocumentary One Nation Under God, cinematography for Tao of Steve and TV specials
Website teo.nyc

Teodoro Maniaci is an American cinematographer and documentary director. He is best known for the directing One Nation Under God, a documentary on the ex-gay movement.

Contents

Personal life and education

Maniaci was born and raised in Long Island, New York. He attended Tufts University outside of Boston, Massachusetts and received a master's degree from New York University Film School in 1990. [1] [2] As of 2007, he was a member of the Directors of Photography Union, Local 600. [3]

Cinematography

Maniaci's cinematography credits include Clean, Shaven (1993), Claire Dolan (1998) The Tao of Steve (2000), [4] The Business of Strangers (2001), [5] Party Monster (2003), [6] Inside Deep Throat (2005), [7] and Outsourced (2006). [8]

Charles Taylor from Salon said the cinematography of Party Monster "looks as atrocious as most digital video", [6] though Maniaci was praised for the cinematography in Claire Dolan by its director Lodge Kerrigan, [9] and by Ken Hollings from the British Film Institute. [10]

Maniaci has also done cinematography for many TV series, including Brotherhood , Allegiance, The Breaks and The Bold Type , and for several music videos and short films. [2] [11]

When interviewed in 2000, Maniaci commented on the disparaging styles in his films, saying "you’d be hard-pressed to say there’s a single person behind them. They're all really different looking ... Claire Dolan, for instance, is an incredibly formal art film with very precise, almost geometric sort of chrome-and-glass photography. It’s very voyeuristic. Whereas in The Opportunists the camera is invisible. The shots are carefully chosen, but the film is not about the camerawork. It doesn't call attention to itself." Maniaci describes his work as "highly adaptive. I try to create a look that’s appropriate for each film. It’s not about me attaching myself [to a project] and it becoming about me. It’s about me becoming part of it – trying to figure out what that project wants to be." [4]

Maniaci received the Hamptons International Film Festival Cinematography Award for Searching for Paradise (2002). [2] [12]

Maniaci will be one of the cinematographers for the 2024 TV series Fallout .

One Nation Under God

Of all the films he has worked on, the one most identified with Maniaci is One Nation Under God, about the ex-gay movement, in particular the Exodus movement. He was both co-producer and co-director for this 1993 documentary.

Synopsis

This film is about how lesbians and gay men try to become "ex-gay". The film focuses on one ex-ex-gay male couple, but also shows how through such techniques as the women wearing make-up and the men doing butch or macho mannerisms. It also includes black and white archival footage. [13] It also goes in some historical background, for context. [14]

Yahoo describes it as "A documentary about the contemporary struggle for gay and lesbian civil rights, focusing on the religious, right-wing proliferation of curative therapies for homosexuality." [15] "Judge" Patrick Bromley at DVD Verdict gives a fuller synopsis. [16]

Critical response

In 1993, Maniaci shared the Audience Award at the San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival for One Nation Under God. [2] [17] [18]

Variety positively reviewed the film, [19] and Yahoo films gives it an A-minus rating. [20] PlanetOut Inc. gave it four stars, and described as a "riveting documentary (that) offers the most dynamic historical overview of gays and lesbians in modern American society since Before Stonewall." [21] DVD Verdict and DVD Talk also gave positive reviews. [22] [23]

The documentary was shown on the PBS television show, P.O.V. in 1994. The New York Times reviewed that showing on Channel 13 for the New York City market, giving a mixed blessing. The reviewer liked many parts, but demurred, "Unfortunately, One Nation Under God has a patchy, jumpy, overdone quality. The producers can't bear to leave bad enough alone: suddenly you find yourself watching homosexuals being rounded up by German Nazis. Nor can the producers resist some mushy proselytizing." [14] In concluding, he wrote, "A significant argument is advanced here that opinions about homosexuality have less to do with science than with religion, morals and politics. If the producers had been able to contain themselves, develop that argument in a more coherent way and make their case without decoration, One Nation Under God might have been a considerably more consequential work." [14]

In her dissertation, Nancy Dawn Wadsworth called One Nation Under God the "best treatment I have seen on Christian ex-gay movements". [24]

Cultural impact

One Nation Under God has become part of some academia studies in film studies. [25] [26] [27]

In an article entitled Bullets, Ballots and Bibles: Documenting the History of the Gay and Lesbian Struggle in America, scholar Bruce R. Brasell states the film "explores the recycling by religious fundamentalists of discredited psychiatric treatments from the Sixties, reparative theory, to 'cure' homosexuals today." [28]

Related Research Articles

The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires and to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship. Beginning with the founding of Love In Action and Exodus International in the mid-1970s, the movement saw rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s before declining in the 2000s.

<i>Curve</i> (magazine) Global lesbian media project

Curve is a global lesbian media project. It covers news, politics, social issues, and includes celebrity interviews and stories on entertainment, pop culture, style, and travel.

<i>But Im a Cheerleader</i> 1999 film by Jamie Babbit

But I'm a Cheerleader is a 1999 American satirical teen romantic comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit in her feature directorial debut and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, a high school cheerleader whose parents send her to a residential in-patient conversion therapy camp to "cure" her lesbianism. At camp, Megan realizes that she is indeed a lesbian and, despite the "therapy", comes to embrace her sexuality. The supporting cast includes Clea DuVall, RuPaul, and Cathy Moriarty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exodus International</span> Defunct Christian conversion therapy organization

Exodus International was a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian umbrella organization connecting organizations that sought to "help people who wished to limit their homosexual desires". Founded in 1976, Exodus International originally asserted that conversion therapy, the reorientation of same-sex attraction, was possible. In 2006, Exodus International had over 250 local ministries in the United States and Canada and over 150 ministries in 17 other countries. Although Exodus was formally an interdenominational Christian entity, it was most closely associated with Protestant and evangelical denominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Iran</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Iran face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Sexual activity between members of the same sex is illegal and can be punishable by death, and people can legally change their assigned sex only through a sex reassignment surgery. Currently, Iran is the only country confirmed to execute gay people federally, though death penalty for homosexuality might be enacted in Afghanistan.

Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders is a document published in November 2005 by the Congregation for Catholic Education, one of the top-level offices of the Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Kenya</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Kenya face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Sodomy is a felony per Section 162 of the Kenyan Penal Code, punishable by 21 years' imprisonment, and any sexual practices are a felony under section 165 of the same statute, punishable by 5 years' imprisonment. On 24 May 2019, the High Court of Kenya refused an order to declare sections 162 and 165 unconstitutional. The state does not recognise any relationships between persons of the same sex; same-sex marriage is banned under the Kenyan Constitution since 2010. There are no explicit protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Adoption is restricted to heterosexual couples only.

Ex-ex-gay people are those who formerly participated in the ex-gay movement in an attempt to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual, but who then later went on to publicly state they had a non-heterosexual sexual orientation.

<i>Trembling Before G-d</i> 2001 film by Sandi Simcha DuBowski

Trembling Before G-d is a 2001 American documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, an American who wanted to compare Orthodox Jewish attitudes to homosexuality with his own upbringing as a gay Conservative Jew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parvez Sharma</span> Indian film director and journalist

Parvez Sharma is a New York-based Indian filmmaker, author, and journalist. He is a recipient of the 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship in the film/video category. He was amongst the 173 fellows selected from 3000 applicants in the 94th year of the fellowship, which originally started in 1925. In an official press release by the foundation, president Edward Hirsch said, "The winners of the 94th annual competition as "the best of the best...This diverse group of scholars, artists, and scientists are appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise." Sharma is best known for his two films A Jihad for Love,A Sinner in Mecca, and his 2017 book A Sinner in Mecca: A Gay Muslim's Hajj of Defiance. A Jihad for Love was the world's first film documenting the lives of gay and lesbian Muslims. He received the 2009 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary amongst several other international awards for A Jihad for Love. In 2016, Sharma was named "a human rights defender" by Amnesty International. This was an award given at the Hague in the Netherlands to "worldwide human rights activists" which he shared with the Saudi human rights activist Ensaf Haidar.

<i>A Jihad for Love</i> 2007 American documentary film

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<i>Desert Hearts</i> 1985 film by Donna Deitch

Desert Hearts is a 1985 American romantic drama film directed by Donna Deitch. The screenplay, written by Natalie Cooper, is an adaptation of the 1964 lesbian novel Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule. Set in Reno, Nevada in 1959, it tells the story of a university professor awaiting a divorce who finds her true self through a relationship with another, more self-confident woman. The film stars Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau with a supporting performance by Audra Lindley.

<i>Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives</i> 1977 film by Peter Adair

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<i>Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World</i> 2003 American film

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<i>Children of God</i> (film) 2010 Bahamian film

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Core Issues Trust</span> British Christian fundamentalist organisation

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<i>God Loves Uganda</i> 2013 American documentary

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<i>Its Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School</i> 1996 documentary film

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References

  1. ↑ "Shaolin Ulysses: Kungfu Monks in America . The Filmmakers". PBS . Archived from the original on 2012-09-08. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Teodoro Maniaci". Internet Encyclopaedia of Cinematographers. Archived from the original on 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
  3. ↑ "Directors of Photography Union, Local 600". New York 411. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
  4. 1 2 "Back Page - Filmmaker Magazine - Spring 2000". Filmmaker . Archived from the original on November 29, 2018.
  5. ↑ Berardinelli, James (2001). "Business of Strangers, The". James Berardinelli . Archived from the original on December 3, 2018.
  6. 1 2 Taylor, Charles (September 5, 2003). "Party Monster". Salon . Archived from the original on March 7, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Inside Deep Throat". Phase9.tv. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  8. ↑ "Outsourced - 2007 Seattle International Film Festival - John Jeffcoat - USA". 5 July 2007. Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  9. ↑ Munch, Christopher (2000). "Spurning Tricks: Christopher Munch talks with Lodge Kerrigan" . Artforum . Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  10. ↑ Hollings, Ken. "Claire Dolan". British Film Institute . Archived from the original on October 7, 2007.
  11. ↑ "Woodstock Film Festival: 2004 Shorts". Woodstock Film Festival . 2004. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Kiss The Bride, Cinemania win top prizes at Hamptons Fest". Screen International . October 22, 2002. Archived from the original on December 3, 2018.
  13. ↑ Rotten Tomatoes synopsis of One Nation Under God Archived 2005-08-30 at the Wayback Machine
  14. 1 2 3 Goodman, Walter (June 20, 1994). "Review/Television; Disputing the View That Homosexuality Is an Illness". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2013-01-30. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  15. ↑ "Yahoo Movies synopsis". Movies.yahoo.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  16. ↑ DVD Verdict review of One Nation Under God Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ [International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival San Francisco, California www.frameline.org]
  18. ↑ PopcornQ - Planet Out web site Archived 2006-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ↑ Harvey, Dennis (12 July 1993). "One nation under God". Variety. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Yahoo Movies review". Movies.yahoo.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  21. ↑ PopcornQ review Archived 2006-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ↑ "One Nation Under God". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  23. ↑ "One Nation Under God". DVD Talk. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  24. ↑ Wadsworth, Nancy Dawn (December 2000). GOD'S TIMING:Conservative Evangelicals and the New Race Discourse.
  25. ↑ "all academic web site". Allacademic.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  26. ↑ "Internet History Sourcebooks Project". Fordham.edu. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  27. ↑ "Video Librarian--page 3: Selected Reviews". 7 June 1997. Archived from the original on 7 June 1997. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  28. ↑ Bruce R. Brasell, Bullets, Ballots and Bibles: Documenting the History of the Gay and Lesbian Struggle in America Cineaste v21, n4 (Fall, 1995):17 at Berkeley web site
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