The Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen Series will host a free public screening of the documentary, The Smith Family, on Monday, December 1. The 7:00 p.m. showing in Textor 102 is being held in observance of World AIDS Day.
Members of Action for AIDS -- the group responsible for coordinating and developing programs related to AIDS awareness and education for the Ithaca College community -- will provide an information and resources table at the event.
The Smith Family depicts a family's experience with sexual identity and AIDS. Kim and Steve -- two pillars of the Salt Lake City Mormon community -- have two children and a seemingly idyllic life. On their ninth wedding anniversary, though, Kim discovers Steve had been having sexual encounters with men. Three years later, Kim finds out she is HIV positive; soon afterward Steve develops AIDS.
Enduring the emotional strains of betrayal, condemnation of the Mormon Church, and her own impending illness, Kim's tragic yet empowering odyssey forces her to redefine her own sense of family, faith, and forgiveness.
Launching the 2002 season of the PBS series POV, the film was the directorial debut of director-producer Tasha Oldham. It won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for Journalism, AFI Film Festival Audience Award, and Directors Guild of America Award for outstanding directorial achievement in documentary.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, a day when individuals and organizations from around the world come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic.
The Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen film series is sponsored by the Ithaca College Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Education, Outreach, and Services. For more information, visit www.ithaca.edu/lgbt. The schedule of spring films in the series will be announced soon.
