Pulse stirs gay filmmaker’s love letter to Orlando
Orlando filmmaker Vicki Nantz says she usually stays invisibleonher projects, but the Pulse tragedy moved her to turn editorialist on her new documentary short, “We Are Gay, We Are Proud, We Are Orlando.”
“I had something to say as an older member of the gay community,” said Nantz, 57. “It’s a personal reflection piece.”
This week, the 18-minute film will play the Global Peace Film Festival, a Central Florida event marking its 14th year. In “We Are Gay,” she speaks up for local LGBT people, decries political hypocrisy and celebrates the city. “Orlando will notbedefinedby a coward’s act of hate and violence. That is not who we are,” she says in the film.
The festival will present the movie three times, and executive director Nina Streich praised Nantz’s work for inspiring discussion about the Orlando nightclub shooting. “I hope people in the LGBT community feel support and know that they have a strong and powerful voice in Vicki,” Streich said.
Nantz’s film is “so powerful,” and “by sharing her feelings in the film, she put words to many of our own,” said Kathryn Norsworthy, chair of Graduate Studies in Counseling at Rollins College inWinterPark. Shewill lead a Pulse discussion after one screening.
“We are dealing with acute and prolonged trauma and stress from the actual event,” she said. “It is very helpful to come together in support of one another and to express how we feel. Often, people experiencing trauma and grief feel isolated and bound up in it, so this collective experience breaks down the isolation.”
Nantz took the film’s title from a tray decorated with thosewords at the memorial in front of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in the days after the June 12 shooting. She doesn’t knowwhomadethe tray, but hopes to find out. Every time she visited the memorial, the tray transfixed her.
“It expressed this defiance to what had happened, a defiant message that resonated with me,” Nantz said. “Itwas howI felt at the time. Every time I went, it continued to catchmy eye. I wanted to say something to my community.”
She has spoken to the community through “Billy & Alan,” a 2013 film about Orlando journalist Billy Manes’ loss of his partner; “In Anita’s Wake,” a 2010 movie about the fallout from singer Anita Bryant’s anti-gay crusade in 1977; and “Accessory to Murder,” a 2007 documentary about themurder ofRyan Skipper, a gay man from Polk County.
Nantz’s effect on the local gay scene cannot be overstated, said Manes, editorinof Watermark, a publication for the LGBT community.
“I think the mostmagnificent thing about Vicki Nantz is how much she avoids the spotlight in order to capture what’s going on beneath it,” Manes said. “She’s a storyteller and an activist. It’s a dimension that’s far under-recognized in the LGBT community and the activist community at large. But she, and her wife, Mary Meeks, have changed this town for good, for sure.”
Meeks, an attorney and activist, said Nantz’s films are moving and inspirational because they are personal. “I see how she pours her heart and soul into telling compelling stories that have universal impact,” Meeks said.
“We Are Gay” is especially personal because Nantz speaks, yet she is not on camera until a few photos at the end.
“Her voice, literally in this case as the narrator, speaks from her own personal perspective, but makes us feel that she is speaking for all of us,” Meeks said. “Although the subject is obviously sad, the film ultimately feels uplifting and gives me hope and confidence that we as a community can deal with these issues together and make our world a better place.”
That, of course, is one goal of the Global Peace Film Festival. Nantz, who says she is never comfortable with attention, is Global Peace Film Festival The event runs through Sept. 25 at locations in Winter Park and Orlando. Tickets are at peacefilmfest.org or $8 at the door. Vicki Nantz’s “We Are Gay, We Are Proud, We Are Orlando” will have these screenings:
At 5:30 p.m. Saturday, at Gallery at Avalon Island, 30 S. Magnolia Ave., Orlando. It screens with a new short by artist Thomas Thorspecken. There will be a Pulse discussion with psychologist Kathryn Norsworthy of Rollins College.
At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, at the Cobb Plaza Cinema Cafe, 155 S. Orange Ave., Orlando. Screens with “Puzzles.” speaking up, too, in promoting“We Are Gay.”
“It is ultimately intended as a sort of love note to the local community,” she said. “I added historical context because Iwantedmy LGBT and ally family to remember who we are in the midst of something so unimaginably tragic: We are gay, we are proud, we are Orlando. The sign said it all forme.”