Filmmaker Joe Wilson will be on campus tonight to offer commentary after a viewing of his Emmy-winning documentary Out in the Silence. The film will be shown at 6 p.m. in Hays 104. Wilson made the film with his partner Dean Hamer.
Out in the Silence is a
film and project for fairness and equality in rural and small town American. The film has won numerous awards including an Emmy for Achievement in Documentary.
Set in Oil City, Pennsylvania, the film follows the story of a high school student in Wilson's home town who is brutally attacked after he comes out as gay. The documentary project started off as a collaboration with the Sundance Institute and Pennsylvania Public Television Network but has now grown into an outreach campaign to increase the visibility of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people in rural and small town America and to promote dialogue and action that will help strengthen the struggle for fairness and equality for all.
Tonight’s showing and appearance by Wilson is sponsored by sh’OUT, Wabash’s organization for gay, bi-sexual students who work to build awareness. The organization is open to all students regardless of sexual orientation.
Premiering at the 2010 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, Out in the Silence has since traveled to colleges across the country including Purdue, Penn State, University of Minnesota, University of Southern Indiana, IU Bloomington and Carnegie Mellon University. The film has been an official selection at film festivals in Tribeca, Nashville, Belfast, Florence, Copenhagen, UK, and New Zealand, and has partnered with PBS, the American Bar Association and more than 200 town halls, public libraries, churches and schools.
