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  • Why I Created a Film about Harvey Milk
  • Max Geschwind (bio)

This past year I directed a short documentary about Harvey Milk’s legacy that was an Oscar contender for the 85th Annual Academy Awards. Harvey Milk was an extraordinary person who fought through barriers, obstacles, and opponents to fight for social justice and equal rights. Despite other people trying to browbeat or bully him into staying quiet he knew he had to stand up and fight. My film emphasizes that everyone has a voice and that you have to make is heard on any issue, topic, debate, or proposition that you are strongly for or against and you shouldn’t stay quiet just because someone says you have to. My film depicts a great example of a public figure that came from a childhood and adulthood of being picked on and suppressed.

It started when I was an intern at West Hollywood City Hall. I was placed on a committee to plan Harvey Milk Day and think of possible ideas to celebrate his astonishing achievements. Like many other people, I first heard about Harvey Milk from the 2008 Academy Award-winning film “Milk” starring Sean Penn. Until I was put on this committee, all I knew about Harvey Milk was that he was the first openly gay elected official. With a passion for film and politics, inspiration hit and I had only four weeks to direct, produce, and edit a short film about Milk. I scheduled interviews with the mayor of West Hollywood, West Hollywood City Council members, LGBT activist Torie Osborn, Assemblyman Richard Bloom, and Assemblywoman Betsy Butler. I asked them for their views on his legacy, why he was such an inspirational and transformative political figure, and how his legacy lives on today. It was an amazing experience for me to interview people who, for the most part, had first-hand experience of living in [End Page 111] California when Harvey Milk won election to the Board of Supervisors in 1977 and campaigned against the Briggs Initiative in 1978. One interview that particularly was of interest to me was with Torie Osborn. She was campaigned against the Briggs Initiative and discussed her involvement in the campaign as well as what she remembered about the day Harvey died. She was one of the thousands of mourners who held a candle and walked down Castro Street. The film concludes with a recitation of Harvey’s famous “Hope” speech—I had 16 of my friends at my high school recite the speech as a poignant reminder about the next generation of leaders. This part of the film made me extremely proud of the work I had done. For me, this is the most important part of the film because I hope to show the audience that Harvey’s message has not died out and that there is a whole new generation of innovative, miraculous, outstanding leaders that can carry out Harvey’s messages of equal rights to their cities, counties, states, or even their countries. My classmates were very excited to participate in a project like this one mainly because they had never seen a fellow high school student take on the challenge of such a big and mature topic. They were also proud of me and the work I accomplished.

The film premiered on May 22, Harvey Milk Day, and received a warm reception afterwards. Soon after, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black found out about my film and wanted to meet with me. After meeting Lance, I was inspired to submit my own film to the Academy Awards for Best Documentary-Short Subject. After a couple months of asking for donations and raising funds, my film played in a Los Angeles movie theater in the fall and was officially submitted for consideration at the Oscars.

Although my film did not make the Oscars final cut, I hope that young people who have seen my film (which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKpeYgeVDDY) or have heard about it won’t give up their hopes and dreams just because one obstacle unexpectedly happens. Harvey Milk fought for civil rights and equality all his...

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