Academy doc series to explore challenges in the gay and lesbian communities

Oct 08, 2008 by Ian Evans

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Contemporary Documentaries series will explore the challenges faced by the gay and lesbian community ion a pair of films to be screened Wednesday, October 15, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.

Detective Lieutenant Laurel Hester spent 25 years investigating tough cases in Ocean County, New Jersey, protecting the rights of victims and putting her life on the line. But in the last year of her life, her final battle for justice was for the woman she loved. Freeheld chronicles Hester’s struggle to transfer her earned pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree, as terminal cancer spreads to her brain. Directed by Cynthia Wade and produced by Wade, Vanessa Roth and Matthew Syrett, Freeheld won the 2007 Academy Award® for Documentary Short Subject.

Through the experiences of five Christian families, For the Bible Tells Me So explores how people of faith handle the reality of having a gay child. The families’ efforts to reconcile homosexuality and Biblical scripture offer hope for those caught between the two. Producer-director Daniel Karslake will be present and take questions from the audience following the screening.

The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. Free parking is available through the entrance on Homewood Avenue (one block north of Fountain Avenue). For additional information, visit www.oscars.org.