Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World

Last updated
Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World
DangerousLiving.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by John Scagliotti
Produced by Janet Baus
Dan Hunt
Narrated by Janeane Garofalo
Edited by Anat Salomon
Music by Don DiNicola
Production
company
After Stonewall Productions
Distributed by First Run Features (DVD)
Release dates
  • 2003 (2003)(U.S.)
  • May 11, 2005 (2005-05-11)(TV)
Running time
62 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World is a 2003 documentary film directed by American filmmaker John Scagliotti about the issues experienced by gay, lesbian and transgender people in developing countries. [1] It was the first documentary film to explore these issues in non-Western countries. [2] [3] It is narrated by actress and comedian Janeane Garofalo. It was produced by Janet Baus and Dan Hunt, both of whom had worked with Scagliotti on his previous film, After Stonewall . [4] The film focuses in particular on Cairo 52, a group of 52 Egyptian men who were arrested on board a floating gay nightclub in 2001. It features interviews with gay-rights activists from countries around the world including Honduras, Namibia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam. [5]

Contents

Overview

The film opens with the Cairo 52. In 2001, 52 Egyptian men were arrested on board the Queen Boat on the Nile, which was a gay disco. [1] With no specific law against homosexuality in Egypt, the men were arrested for debauchery. [6] They were tried and sentenced to between one and five years imprisonment. [3] Scagliotti interviews one of the men, Ashraf Zanati. [6]

Distribution

Dangerous Living was screened at several international film festivals and was an official selection at the International Film Festival on Human Rights in Geneva. [7] It won Audience Awards at the Barcelona GLBT International Festival and the Hartford Alternatives Festival. [7] It was also shown at the 2003 San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (Frameline) and the 2005 Boston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. [5] [8] The film had its US broadcast premiere on May 11, 2005 on the here! network, with an introduction by former US ambassador James Hormel. [3] This coincided with the fourth anniversary of Cairo 52. It was released on DVD by First Run Features on May 24, 2005, as part of their "Human Rights Watch Collection". [3] [7] Dennis Harvey reviewed the film for Variety ; he called it "workmanlike and at times [...] cluttered" but "fascinating and educational." [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonewall riots</span> 1969 spontaneous uprising for gay rights in New York City

The Stonewall riots, also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall, were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Patrons of the Stonewall, other Village lesbian and gay bars, and neighborhood street people fought back when the police became violent. The riots are widely considered the watershed event that transformed the gay liberation movement and the twentieth-century fight for LGBT rights in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon</span> American feminists and gay-rights activists

Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin and Phyllis Ann Lyon were an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay Liberation Front</span> Gay liberation groups in major US, UK, and Canadian cities during the 1960s-70s

Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK, Australia and Canada. The GLF provided a voice for the newly-out and newly-radicalized gay community, and a meeting place for a number of activists who would go on to form other groups, such as the Gay Activists Alliance and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in the US. In the UK and Canada, activists also developed a platform for gay liberation and demonstrated for gay rights. Activists from both the US and UK groups would later go on to found or be active in groups including ACT UP, the Lesbian Avengers, Queer Nation, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Stonewall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT culture</span> Common culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people

LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean "LGBT culture" or to refer specifically to homosexual culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay liberation</span> Social and political movement in the 1960s and 70s.

The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride. In the feminist spirit of the personal being political, the most basic form of activism was an emphasis on coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person.

The Cairo 52 were men arrested on May 11, 2001, aboard a floating gay nightclub called the Queen Boat, which was moored on the Nile in Cairo, Egypt.

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

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Egypt face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.

Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!) is a gay San Francisco Bay Area political action group supporting boycott, divestment & sanctions against Israel; and opposing Pinkwashing of the alleged ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. It was founded in early 2001 by a member of LAGAI-Queer Insurrection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Long</span>

Scott Long is a US-born activist for international human rights, primarily focusing on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. He founded the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, the first-ever program on LGBT rights at a major "mainstream" human rights organization, and served as its executive director from May 2004 - August 2010. He later was a visiting fellow in the Human Rights Program of Harvard Law School from 2011 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frameline Film Festival</span>

The Frameline Film Festival began as a storefront event in 1976. The first film festival, named the Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films, was held in 1977. The festival is organized by Frameline, a nonprofit media arts organization whose mission statement is "to change the world through the power of queer cinema". It is the oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world.

<i>Before Stonewall</i> 1984 documentary film by Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg

Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community is a 1984 American documentary film about the LGBT community prior to the 1969 Stonewall riots. It was narrated by author Rita Mae Brown, directed by Greta Schiller, co-directed by Robert Rosenberg, and co-produced by John Scagliotti and Rosenberg, and Schiller. It premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 2019, the film was restored and re-released by First Run Features in June 2019. Later in 2019, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Scagliotti</span>

John Scagliotti is an American film director and producer, and radio broadcaster. He has received honors for his work on documentaries about LGBT issues including Before Stonewall and After Stonewall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanta Pride</span> Annual LGBT event in Atlanta

Atlanta Pride, also colloquially called the Atlanta Gay Pride Festival, is a week-long annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) pride festival held in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1971, it is one of the oldest and largest pride festivals in the United States. According to the Atlanta Pride Committee, as of 2017, attendance had continually grown to around 300,000. Originally a pride held in June, Atlanta Pride has been held in October every year since 2008, typically on a weekend closest to National Coming Out Day.

Janet Baus is an American documentary film and television director, producer and editor. In 1993, she co-directed Lesbian Avengers Eat Fire Too with Su Friedrich, about activist group the Lesbian Avengers. In 2003 she produced John Scagliotti's film Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World about gay and lesbian people in non-Western countries. She had worked with Scagliotti before, having a co-producer credit on his 1999 film After Stonewall. Her 2006 film Cruel and Unusual, co-directed with Dan Hunt and Reid Williams, was a documentary about pre-operative male-female transsexual women in men's prisons. It won the Michael J. Berg Documentary Award at the 2006 Frameline Film Festival and the Freedom Award at L.A. Outfest. Baus has also won the Cine Golden Eagle, the Vito Russo Award, the Chicago International Television Award and the Gold Aurora Award.

Maher Sabry is an Egyptian theater director, playwright, film director, producer and screenwriter, poet, writer and cartoonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stu Maddux</span> American film director

Stu Maddux is American freelance writer, editor, and cinematographer. He is a movie producer and director of his own non-fiction independent films. He is best known for his work Gen Silent, a documentary about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender older people who hide their sexuality or gender change in order to survive in the long-term care system. He also wrote and produced the films Bob and Jack's 52-Year Adventure and Trip to Hell and Back. His work has been featured internationally on television including on Showtime, TLC, and the BBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National LGBTQ Task Force</span> US gay rights organization

The National LGBTQ Task Force is an American social justice advocacy non-profit organizing the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Also known as The Task Force, the organization supports action and activism on behalf of LGBTQ people and advances a progressive vision of liberation. The past executive director was Rea Carey from 2008-2021 and the current executive director is Kierra Johnson, who took over the position in 2021 to become the first Black woman to head the organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT culture in New York City</span>

New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest LGBTQ populations and the most prominent. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBT advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."

<i>Stonewall</i> (2015 film) 2015 film by Roland Emmerich

Stonewall is a 2015 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Jon Robin Baitz, and starring Jeremy Irvine, Jonny Beauchamp, Joey King, Caleb Landry Jones, Matt Craven, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Ron Perlman. The film is set in and around the 1969 Stonewall riots, a violent clash with police that sparked the gay liberation movement in New York City. Released on September 25, 2015, by Roadside Attractions, it received largely negative reviews.

The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is an American memorial wall in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan, New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes". The wall is located inside of the Stonewall Inn and is a part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty nominees were announced in June 2019, and the wall was unveiled on June 27, 2019, as a part of the Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 events. Each year five additional names will be added.

References

  1. 1 2 Ehrenstein, David (May 24, 2005), "Still Living Dangerously", The Advocate , p. 76, retrieved February 5, 2010
  2. "Advocate Bulletin", The Advocate , p. 41, June 7, 2005, retrieved February 5, 2010
  3. 1 2 3 4 "World premiere of "Dangerous Living" sponsored by SIT's Netherlands program". worldlearning.org. May 9, 2005. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
  4. "The Filmmakers". Official After Stonewall Productions site. 2003. Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
  5. 1 2 "Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World". Frameline. 2003. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
  6. 1 2 "Press Kit". Official After Stonewall Productions site. 2003. Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 "Dangerous Living". First Run Features . Retrieved February 5, 2010.
  8. Morris, Wesley (May 8, 2005), "Gay film fest lineup is safe and sincere", The Boston Globe , retrieved February 5, 2010
  9. Harvey, Dennis (July 21, 2003), "Dangerous Living: Coming Out In The Developing World Review", Variety , retrieved February 5, 2010