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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2013)
Street roots Sept. 27, 2013 Portland’s Dennis Creamer, shown here on the Hawthorne Bridge, is one o f the featured men in PJ R aval’s film ‘Before You Know I t.” Older, wiser and A new documentary looks at the experiences, challenges o f gay seniors Before You Know It will have its Portland premiere at 4 p.m., Oct. 6, Cinema 21 as part of the Portland Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. BY ALEX ZIELINSKI S T A F F W R IT E R Dennis was at Rainbow Vista just seeing if he wanted to live there when I stopped by. But as soon as we started talking, I knew I had to focus on his story. And it happened to be here. our years ago, director PJ Raval dove headfirst into weaving together a documentary on an often overlooked slice of the country’s population: LGBTQ A.Z.: How long did the entire film m aking seniors. Shadowing three 70-plus gay men on distant corners of the country - Harlem, process take? New York, Galveston, Texas and Portland - P.R.: From the idea, it’s been about four “Before you Know It” shares a fragile and years. The actual filming took three of rarely told story on the challenges faced by those years. So I was really in Portland this growing population. This is population every other month for a while, I became that has seen the Stonewall Riots give way comfortable with the community and city. to Pride parades and gay marriages. What I especially like about non-fiction One of the films’ stars, Dennis Creamer, filmmaking is how you’re able to spend time moved to a LGBTQ-centric retirement to truly understand someone’s life. I feel home, Rainbow Vista, in Gresham in the like I really got to delve into these men’s hopes of finding a new community after his stories over the years. wife passed away. Creamer, along with Raval, will be at the films’ Portland A.Z.: W/zy did you choose to focus on the premiere on Oct 6 at Cinema 21 as a part of senior LGBTQ population in particular? the Portland Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. In preparation for the upcoming screening, P.R.: I think overall senior populations we spoke with Raval about his time in are overlooked and underserved. LGBTQ Portland and intentions behind the film. seniors in particular are the most extreme cases of both ageism and discrimination. We Alex Zeilinski: Why did you select have to think about their history, how they Portland as one o f the three locales focused on got to where they are - it wasn’t easy. It’s in the documentary? tough since a lot of them don’t have children to take care of them in their old PJ Ravel: I had the idea for this film for age. They don’t have that support. A lot of quite some time, but doing research at Rainbow Vista and talking with LGBTQ groups in Portland, it started to click. See OLDER, WISER, page 5 F The new Chinook Book is here! Get yours today and help the sustainable economy grow Portland Featuring poetry from our A rt Partner, Street Roots www,portlandhearingvoices.net
