Running time 124 minutes original 133 minutes 2008 restored version Language English Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives is a 1977 featuring interviews with 26 men and women. It was directed by six people collectively known as the Mariposa Film Group. The film premiered in November 1977 at the inand went into limited national release word it out 1978. It also aired on many stations in 1978. The interviews from the film were transcribed into a book of the same title, which was published in October 1978. The interviewees range in age from 18 to 77, in location from San Francisco to New Mexico to Boston, in type from bee-hived housewife to student to conservative businessman to sultry drag queen, and in race from Caucasian to Hispanic, African-American, and Asian. Writerprofessorinventorcivil rights leaderand avant-garde filmmaker are among the interviewees. The interviewees describe their experiences of coming out; falling in and out of love; and struggling against prejudice, stereotypes, and discriminatory laws. The participants deliver their testimony with intelligence, grace, honesty, and conviction, word it out an engaging and moving oral history. Documentary filmmaker came up with the idea for the film. According to Adair: In the 1970s when the modern gay movement was just beginning, our biggest problem was invisibility. Who homosexuals were was largely determined by straight people. It was bad enough that the public image of gay men and lesbians was defined largely by stereotypes — after all, I want other people to have an accurate picture of who I am. But these stereotypes created by outsiders largely defined our perceptions of who we thought we were. What a state of affairs. In the end, twenty-two were chosen to tell their stories in the film. The directors of the film, collectively known as the Mariposa Film Group, were, Andrew Brown,Lucy Massie Phenix, and Veronica Selver. The original number of interviewees was only eight people, but when the trial film was screened to test audiences, the response and interest generated indicated that a much larger and more diverse cross-section of interviewees was desirable. Several more years were then spent in filming the rest of the interviews, and intercutting them with each other to create the final product. It was the first feature-length documentary about lesbian and gay identity made by gay filmmakers, and had a large and pioneering impact when it was released. The film became an icon of the emerging gay rights movement of the 1970s. The book also details how the film and book were created by the successful collective. Word Is Out: Stories of Some word it out Our Lives was one of the very first gay-focused nonfiction books sympathetic to gays published in the U. The book reached many people who were unable to view the film, and remained a popular gay nonfiction text for many years, helping many gays and lesbians realize that they were not alone. The book also helped members of the heterosexual community to relate to the normalcy of homosexual lives, and word it out also understand gay persons' struggles, pain, marginalization, ostracism, professional concerns, and frustrating need for secrecy when in a climate of and. The edition of the documentary, featuring the restored and remastered digital print of the original film, was released in June 2010 by.
