Pat Rocco Dared, dir. Morris Chapdelaine & Bob Christie, 2021, Canada, 89m. 💖
Saturday, June 25, 2022, 9:15pm Castro
+Streaming
I had never heard of Pat Rocco, either as a filmmaker or as a political activist, but he was an important figure in both realms, sometimes at the same time. Pat made films featuring gay men in romantic situations, with full frontal nudity (but no erections and certainly no penetration), and with open displays of affection, including the first male-male romantic kiss on a movie screen, back in 1968. He mostly successfully skirted the obscenity laws, but he also wanted to portray a vision of gay sexuality that wasn’t just about the carnal. The men in his films were playful and romantic, a far cry from the “oh, yeah, verb that noun” style of porno. There was an activist edge to those depictions of gay men as capable of love and happiness, but some of his films were more directly political, like filming an actual police raid of a gay club and then going back three days later to recreate the dancing that the police had claimed was obscene. He co-founded the Los Angeles Gay Pride parade (pushing for it to be a “parade” rather than a “march”), campaigned for Harvey Milk, and worked in many other political campaigns, plus working to help homeless LGBTQ+ people.
Pat Rocco Dared had to be completed during the Covid era, which meant that some interviews that might otherwise have been filmed in person, were done over video link. Pat himself passed away in 2018, although luckily the film crew were able to spend an entire weekend with him in 2017, conducting hours of interviews as well as looking through his treasure trove of films (both his own and other people’s) and memorabilia from his decades of work. The importance of Pat Rocco’s too-often overlooked legacy more than makes up for any rough edges to the documentary. Definitely a must see, especially for activists and filmmakers, but also for anyone with an interest in the history of LGBTQ+ liberation and representation.
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