Canadian activist and academic Thomas Waugh once wrote, ‘if films are to be instrumental in the process of change, they must be made not only about people directly implicated in change but with and for those people as well’. Barbara Creed’s 1975 film, Homosexuality: A Film for Discussion, does precisely that.
Originally intended as an educational film to screen in schools, it is a 43-minute black-and-white work featuring frank discussions between ‘out’ gay men and women about their lived experiences, and two mothers (one, not mentioned within the film, is Creed’s) of gay children, who speak about their emotional support and changes – if any – with their children after they came out. These considered segments are sensitively spliced between street interviews, or vox pops, conducted by Creed with the general public of Melbourne, who are asked varying questions about their thoughts on homosexuality – some positive, some negative, but all with great candour (some, perhaps a little too much).
