QDoc Film Festival: Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders

In 1979, William Friedkin descended on New York’s West Village to make "Cruising", his controversial thriller starring Al Pacino as a cop hunting a serial killer in the city’s gay leather bars. The production ignited fierce protests from queer activists who feared the film would turn gay men into predators and victims at a moment when the community was fighting for visibility and dignity. But behind the Hollywood controversy was a real-life tragedy. Jeffrey Schwarz (Vito, Tab Hunter Confidential) traces the story of Addison Verrill, a young Variety reporter murdered in 1977 after a night at the Mineshaft, while revisiting the vanished world of pre-AIDS New York that surrounded him. Part true crime, part queer cultural history, "Mineshaft" asks what gets remembered when Hollywood turns real lives into fiction.
Director and QDoc alum Jeffrey Schwarz will be in attendance.