Golden Threads

A film by Lucy Winer and Karen Eaton

US | 1999 | 56 minutes | Color | DVD | Order No. 00251

SYNOPSIS

Profiling the life of 93 year old lesbian activist Christine Burton, founder of a global networking service for mid-life and elder lesbians this documentary by Lucy Winer and Karen Eaton, exuberantly overturns our most deeply rooted stereotypes and fears of aging. By adding the wry and introspective narrative of the director undergoing a mid-life crisis, the film generates a groundbreaking, intergenerational dialogue about sexuality, life choices, and aging. At a time when the media commonly sentimentalizes, dismisses or altogether ignores the old, GOLDEN THREADS offers an urgently needed antidote. GOLDEN THREADS was produced for the Independent Television Service (ITVS) with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

PRESS

"Offers an exhilarating look at a tireless leader [and] integrates an intergenerational dialogue about intimacy, life choices, and what it means to grow old in America."

Pittsburgh Senior News

“…A brilliantly affecting and stylish film which turns seismic events into glorious cinema.”

Mark J. Huisman LGNY Arts

“...A truly unsentimental, caring and yet challenging little gem. In one short hour, Golden Threads shows us what we are missing - our elders, our wisdom, our experience, our survival.”

XTRA! Magazine Toronto

"Winer's film about the work and indomitable spirit of the 93-year-old lesbian activist Christine Burton portrays the kind of history that we all need to know."

B. Ruby Rich San Francisco Bay Times

"Riveting… Golden Threads provides a perspective on lesbians and aging that will intrigue students in a variety of disciplines…"

Signs Journal of Women in Culture & Society

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Dallas Video Festival
  • Taos Talking Picture Festival
  • GLAD Nomination
  • Columbus International Film and Video Festival, Honorable Mention
  • Silver Images Festival
  • Provincetown International Film Festival
  • NY, SF, LA, Toronto, London, South Africa, Montreal and Berlin Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals
  • New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Lucy Winer

Lucy Winer, director, writer and producer, has focused on issues of social concern throughout her career. Her credits include the critically-acclaimed feature about sexism in America, RATE IT X; the first of its kind, Emmy nominated documentary about lesbian and gay seniors, SILENT PIONEERS; and the ground-breaking, four-part public television series, POSITIVE: LIFE WITH HIV. Recently she directed the PSA campaign for the UN Refugee Agency's Aid Darfur campaign, featuring Meryl Streep and Tony Bennett as celebrity spokespeople. Winer's work has been called “warm, witty and genuinely touching” by the L.A. Times; “immensely affecting” by the Village Voice; “hilarious” by the Hollywood Reporter; “intriguing, often hair-raising” by the New York Times; “produced with humor, insight and irony” by Variety. With Karen Eaton, Winer produced the award winning, ITVS documentary, GOLDEN THREADS, about ninety-three-year-old lesbian activist and organizer, Christine Burton, which aired on POV. She is currently in post production on KINGS PARK, a documentary feature which takes an inside look at public mental health care in America through the story of a single abandoned institution, Kings Park State Hospital. (3/10)

Karen Eaton

Karen Eaton, Producer/Art Director has been a multimedia graphic designer and artist for over 20 years. She was the founder and President of Canard Design, Inc., a multimedia design studio in New York. She served as Associate Producer on Winer’s films RATE IT X and TALES OF AN EXHAUSED WOMAN, as well as Art Director on Silent Pioneers. Most recently, Eaton acted as producer on a feature-length documentary entitled KING PARK: STORIES FROM AN AMERICAN MENTAL INSTITUTION. (8/14)

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