Quentin Crisp

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The Celluloid Closet -- Narrated by Lily Tomlin, this exuberant, eye-opening movie serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of gay men and women on the silver screen.

The widely acclaimed Resident Alien chronicles the adventures of cult figure Quentin Crisp, a flamboyantly eccentric Englishman who once pursued fame across the razor-sharp edges of Manhattan. Both actor and chronicler of Manhattan’s Downtown, Crisp and his band of stars, demi-stars and wannabee Warhol Superstars, Holly Woodlawn, improbable sex prodigy Felicity Mason, Sting, and John Hurt (who played Crisp in the autobiographical The Naked Civil Servant) weave a vision of New York that constantly disturbs the boundary between fantasy and reality. Award-winning director Jonathan Nossiter (Mondovino, Sundance Grand Prize Winner Sunday and Signs & Wonders) mirrors Crisp's delight for the unorthodox with an energetic and wildly original blend of documentary and fiction. Together they lay bare the last days of New York’s fabulous Downtown scene and its art world follies.

What "That's Entertainment" did for movie musicals, "The Celluloid Closet" does for Hollywood homosexuality, as this exuberant, eye-opening movie serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Lily Tomlin narrates as Oscar-winning moviemaker Rob Epstein (The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt) and Jeffrey Friedman assemble fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s. Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Curtis, Harvey Fierstein and Gore Vidal are just a few of the many actors, writers and commentators who provide funny and insightful anecdotes.