Word is Out - Rob Epstein

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Word is Out')

Directed by Nancy Adair, Andrew Brown and Rob Epstein
USA 1977

Word Is Out (1977) is a documentary film directed by a collective of six people known as the Mariposa Film Group: Peter Adair, Nancy Adair, Andrew Brown, Rob Epstein, Lucy Massie Phenix, and Veronica Selver. Peter Adair also produced the film. The film premiered in November 1977 at the Castro Theater in San Francisco and was released in 1978.

The film intercuts interviews with 26 very diverse people—ranging in age from 18 to 77, in locales from San Francisco to New Mexico to Boston, in type from a bee-hived housewife to a sultry drag queen—who speak of their experiences as gay men and lesbians. Writer Elsa Gidlow, professor Sally Gearhart, and inventor John Burnside are among the interviewees.

Excerpt from Wikipedia located HERE

Theatrical Release: November 1977 (San Francisco)

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DVD Review: Oscilloscope Laboratories/Milliarium Zero - Region 0 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Oscilloscope Laboratories/Milliarium Zero Home Video - Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	2:11:56
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.32 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Oscilloscope Laboratories/Milliarium Zero Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Word is Out: Then and Now - 30 Years Later (24:37) • Afterthoughts (9:12) • Miraposa Film Group Remembering Peter Adair (9:32) • Executive Producer David Bohnett (2:21) • Restoration and DVD Extra Credits (2:29) • 2008 Word is Out Trailer (4:31) • Outfest PSA (:32) • DVD Production Credits DVD Release Date: June 8th, 2010 Keep Case Chapters: 16

Comments:

The U.C.L.A. Film and Television Archive have restored the 1970s 16-millimeter film of recorded conversations with 26 people (culled from 100's). It's status has only appeared to have grown via looking at G/L issues prior to the explosion of AIDS. For the 30th anniversary Milestone Films is releasing this DVD.

The 1.33 image is quite grainy and lacks the polish of a more advanced production but this in no way limiting the messages it is exporting. It is fairly clean and free of damage and the heavy grain give the SD-DVD rendering a nice texture that we usually don't see from this medium. It looks as it looks and some close-ups are surprising in there detail.

Audio is likewise unremarkable but totally acceptable for the digital presentation. Milestone have taken the trouble to add optional English subtitles.

There are about 45-minutes worth of supplements beyond the full 132-minute version of the film. The Word is Out: Then and Now - 30 Years Later has some of the participants recently revisited and there is an homage to Peter Adair, originator and producer of Word is Out who died of AIDS in 1996.

This remains impacting and viable piece of cinema and the DVD release is an important one that we wholly endorse.

Gary W. Tooze

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