Free screening and director Q&A: CURED
UNL’s Film Studies Program presents a special free screening of the documentary
CURED on Wednesday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m. followed by an in-person Q&A
with the film’s co-director Bennett Singer.
Until 1973, every gay person, no matter how well-adjusted, was automatically classified as mentally ill and in need of a “cure.” CURED tells the story of the activists who challenged this diagnosis — and won a crucial victory in the global movement for LGBTQ+ equality.
CURED takes viewers inside the campaign that led to a crucial yet largely unknown turning point in the global movement for LGBTQ+ equality, visibility, and dignity: the American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 decision to remove the diagnosis of homosexuality from its manual of mental disorders. Combining eyewitness testimony with newly unearthed archival footage, the award-winning documentary reveals how a small group of impassioned activists and their allies achieved this unexpected victory.
Described as “fascinating” (Hollywood Reporter), “riveting” (The Queer Review), “timely and urgent” (Cinerama Film), and “astonishingly rich … one of the best documentaries of this or any year” (British Film Institute), CURED has garnered more than 20 awards and accolades, including a 2022 Emmy Award nomination and the 2022 Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media.
Directed by Bennett Singer & Patrick Sammon | Run time: 80 minutes | Not Rated
Official website
BENNETT SINGER
Bennett Singer is an Emmy-nominated and duPont-Columbia-winning filmmaker whose documentaries have been shown at The Smithsonian, The United Nations, The Kennedy Center, and The British Museum, among other venues around the globe. In addition to CURED, his credits include ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION, a “frightening and enlightening” (WBEZ Radio) PBS documentary about voting and voting rights, and BROTHER OUTSIDER, a “complex and nuanced” (Chicago Reader) portrait of the gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. www.bennettsinger.com