A true twentieth-century trailblazer, Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and the first openly gay U.S. politician elected to public office; even after his assassination, in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.
The Oscar-winning The Times of Harvey Milk, directed by Robert Epstein (The Celluloid Closet, Paragraph 175) and produced by Richard Schmiechen, was, like its subject, groundbreaking. One of the first feature documentaries to address gay life in America, it’s a work of advocacy itself, bringing Milk’s message of hope and equality to a wider audience. This exhilarating trove of archival footage and heartfelt interviews is as much a vivid portrait of a time and place (San Francisco’s historic Castro District in the seventies) as a testament to the legacy of a political visionary.
Extras
Director-approved digital transfer, from the UCLA Film & Television Archive restoration, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
Audio commentary featuring director Robert Epstein, co-editor Deborah Hoffmann, and photographer Daniel Nicoletta
Interview clips not used in the film
Interview with documentary filmmaker Jon Else from 2011
Programme from 2011 about The Times of Harvey Milk and Gus Van Sant’s Milk, featuring Epstein, Van Sant, actor James Franco, and Milk friends Cleve Jones, Anne Kronenberg, and Nicoletta
Rare collection of audio and video recordings of Milk
Excerpts from Epstein’s research tapes, featuring Milk partner Scott Smith
Footage from the film’s Castro Theatre premiere and the 1984 Academy Awards
Panel discussion on Supervisor Dan White’s trial
Excerpts from the twenty-fifth anniversary commemoration of Milk’s and Mayor George Moscone’s assassinations
Original theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic B. Ruby Rich, a tribute by Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk, and a piece on the film’s restoration by UCLA’s Ross Lipman
