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In October 1998, Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and left to die. The horror of this murder pushed Laramie into the media spotlight and sparked a nationwide debate about homophobia, gay-bashing and hate crimes. Filmmaker Beverly Seckinger, who grew up in Laramie, was compelled to return to her hometown to see how this event had altered the site of her own closeted adolescence. Along the way she meets "God-hates-fags" Westboro Baptist Church Reverend Fred Phelps, who condemns Shepard and all homosexuals to a merciless eternity in hell. But Seckinger meets many more—students, teachers, parents, and clergy—wrestling with painful complexities, speaking out and taking action.
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"With warmth, humor, and insight, Bev Seckinger gives us a vision of Laramie that few have imagined. By documenting the strength and resiliency of Laramie's gay and lesbian residents, her film offers a complex corrective to most media depictions of her hometown. A lovely, loving testament." Beth Loffreda Author, Losing Matt Shepard
"This beautifully structured and tightly edited release is an excellent purchase for college, university, and school libraries as well as large public libraries." Library Journal
"Highly recommended." Educational Media Reviews Online
"A very personal look at the town and its people. Seckinger's film is an important addition to the narratives that help us understand what happened to Matthew Shepard, why it happened and how that community was affected by the crime." Moises Kaufman The Laramie Project
"Perfect for college classroom use. By making Laramie, Wyoming a representative American college town that any of us could call home, it reveals hate crimes as never expected but unfortunately all too common in today's world. Most importantly it shows college students and townspeople coming together with bravery and courage to confront hatred and heal the social fabric." Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, Professor of Women's Studies and Anthropology University of Arizona
"An achingly intimate journey into the response of the citizens of Laramie, Wyoming to one of the most sensationalized and publicized hate crimes of the 1990's. Laramie Inside Out is a testament to the bravery of small-town queers everywhere who choose to stay home and fight the good fight, where their existence is radical and changing the world." Frameline Film Festival
"This film offers a unique perspective on the impact of Matthew Shepard's murder on Laramie, WY, one more complex and accurate than the sensationalized and stereotypical picture the mainstream media often provided. Seckinger's personal experience and filmmaking talent combine to give us a film that demonstrates how grace and honesty can overcome bigotry and fear in the aftermath of great tragedy. Laramie Inside Out gives us hope as we continue the battle against hate and prejudice." Cathy Renna, former News Media Director Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
"An effective tool for educating people and creating awareness of the struggles that GLBT people face in life, and particularly the discrimination that so often comes from organized religion." Bob Irland and Jim Guenther, Reconciled in Christ movement Lutheran Church (ELCA)
"This film is a must-see for all people seeking a higher spiritual place in their lives. We must be reminded that change in the world begins with change in ourselves." Reverend Patrick Stout Community Church of Hope
Laramie Inside Out is a story of hope and grace rising from the shadow of hate and darkness. Bev Seckinger captures the spirit of middle America, standing for justice in the face of death and damnation." John Eric Rolfstad Board Member, Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries, Retreat Coordinator, Lutherans Concerned/North America
"Laramie not only provides courageous and touching stories of what it means to be out in the U.S. west, but it also brings out the power and importance of religion in struggles for social and sexual justice." Janet Jakobsen Co-author, Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance
Laramie Inside Out does a number of things very well. It offers a unique perspective on Matthew Shepard's death, examining what effect it had on the town of Laramie through the eyes of a lesbian who has a personal connection to the town. It challenges easy assumptions about the intolerance of sexual minorities in both small town life and Christianity. It also portrays a range of forms of activism, including marching, silent protest, teaching and just simply coming out." Teaching Sociology
Seckinger...discovers a hitherto quiet gay and lesbian community that suddenly found its voice and purpose in the aftermath of the crime." Video Librarian
"Rather than dwelling on Shepard's horrific death, the film focuses on the healing process...the positive message of hope and support is comforting, especially to teens and adults confronting their own sexual identity issues." Booklist
"This film is important because it causes students to examine what happened in Laramie and to explore ways to prevent such crimes from occurring in their own communities...It explores a vicious hate crime and facilitates students and teachers into productive dialogue that might become a catalyst for positive social change." Teacher Librarian
"Laramie Inside Out is the first film to accurately portray how this city reacted to the murder of Matthew Shepard and the huge media uproar that followed." Melinda Levin, University of North Texas Journal of Film and Video
Bev Seckinger Beverly Seckinger is an independent producer based in Tucson, Arizona. She is Professor and Interim Director of the School of Media Arts at the University of Arizona, where she teaches courses in media production, documentary studies, and LGBT Studies. She is also a founding member of the university's Institute for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies, and since 1993 has served as director of the Lesbian Looks Film & Video Series. Seckinger's diary/documentary Laramie Inside Out, an exploration of the ongoing reverberations in her hometown community of Matthew Shepard's 1998 murder, is licensed to American Public Television for broadcast on PBS affiliates. Her previous videotapes include Mommie Queerest, a comic short about mother/daughter conflicts over gender socialization; Bottoms Up and Alice Unplugged, experimental satires on lesbian life in the 90's, both co-directed with Joyan Saunders; Planet in My Pocket, a critique of consumer multiculturalism; and Letter From Morocco, a personal documentary about neo-colonial relations. Her work has been screened at international festivals in the US, Europe, Canada, Australia and Latin America. Seckinger was the recipient of a Media Arts Fellowship for 2002 from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. She is currently in production on Hippie Family Values, a feature-length documentary that explores the historical and contemporary hippie counterculture of the southwest. The project is supported by an Artist Project Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and a Research Fellowship from the Hanson Film Institute.
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