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Movies & TV News & Features

Vito

VITO (Jeffrey Schwarz, U.S.). 93 minutes. May 26, 7 pm.

INSIDE OUT TORONTO LGBT FILM FESTIVAL Tonight (Thursday, May 17) to May 27 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. $8-$13, galas $17-$28, some discounts $6-$8. 416-599-TIFF. insideout.ca. See Indie & Rep Film. Rating: NNNN


When Vito Russo died from AIDS-related illness in 1990, he left behind a huge legacy, not only as a pioneering gay and AIDS activist, but also as the author of the seminal book The Celluloid Closet, about the history of gays and lesbians in cinema.

Jeffrey Schwarz’s impressive doc touches on all of this, as well as on Russo’s personal life, which included a family that provided unconditional support after he proudly came out while young, and his lover Jeffrey Sevcik, who was as shy as Vito was outgoing.

Archival footage gives us a frontline perspective on early bathhouse raids, homophobic mainstream journalism and how the queer community fractured in the sexually liberated 70s and then banded together when the terrifying and mysterious AIDS epidemic hit urban centres.

Besides the ever-articulate and impassioned Russo, the interviews and footage include friends like Larry Kramer, Armistead Maupin, Lily Tomlin (one story about her run-in with Time Magazine is worth the price of admission) and Bette Midler, who once unified an out-of-control rally with true style.

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