The Inspection,” one of the festival’s opening night films and the story of a gay man who enlists in the army during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era.
Director Elegance Bratton drew on his own service to craft the picture and sees it as an important corrective. “For most of our country’s history, we were forced to be silent, to suffer in silence,” Bratton told Variety. “This film is 100% autobiographical, when it comes to fears, desires and motivations, but some of the situations are composite situations that I heard in podcasts, YouTube videos, [from] friends of mine who served who had really a horrible outcome because they got dishonorably discharged from being gay.
So not only do I get tell their story, but I get to say a gay man served with honor, and was accepted in the military with honor.
I know a lot of people are going to be lifted by that. So that fills me with a lot of joy.” And there are plenty of other films premiering this week and next that will give other groups a chance to see themselves reflected on screen.
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