THE SPARK : the origins of pride
This is a story of anger. That of the customers of the “Stonewall inn”, in a gay bar in New-York. It’s 1969 and they don’t have the right to stand in the street or even dance. One more police raid. A revolt. Several days of riots. This is our starting point to tell an almost unknown story: fifty years of struggle for equality, for humanity, for love… the history of the LGBTQ+ struggle.
This is a story of three cities. This story will be told through the perspective of three iconic neighborhoods: the Castro in San Francisco, Le Marais in Paris and Greenwich Village in New York. Each of these neighborhoods tell of a specific moment: the repression in the 60s and 70s, the appearance of AIDS in the 80s, the phenomenon of fashion with the appearance of gay marketing and drag-queens in the 90s, the struggle for marriage equality and normalization from the 2000s.
This is a story of trans, women and men. Told with a cinematic narrative, with few comments, this film is made up of interviews of direct witnesses of that time (personalities, artists, politicians, entrepreneurs or ordinary citizens), rare archives and current-day filming in these neighborhoods that have so changed.
This is a story of pride.
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Benoit MasoccoDirector
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CAPAProducer
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Bertrand DelanoëKey Cast
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Robert BadinterKey Cast
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Gérard LefortKey Cast
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Dustin Lance BlackKey Cast
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John Cameron MitchellKey Cast
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Cleve JonesKey Cast
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Hervé LatapieKey Cast
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Lillian FadermanKey Cast
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Marie KirschenKey Cast
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Didier LestradeKey Cast
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Gérard KoskovichKey Cast
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Marie-Jo BonnetKey Cast
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Edmund WhiteKey Cast
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Jenny Bel’airKey Cast
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Project Type:Documentary
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Genres:LGBT, historical
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Runtime:1 hour 38 minutes
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Completion Date:May 1, 2019
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Country of Origin:France
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Country of Filming:France, Netherlands, United States
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Language:English, French
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Distribution Information
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OUTPLAY FILMSCountry: WorldwideRights: All Rights
Born in north-eastern France in 1979, Benoit Masocco discovered his love for making movies at the age of six when his parents decided to invest in a camcorder. Since then, Ben has not stop making movies.
At 20, Benoit chose to broaden his horizons by becoming a radio journalist then a director and producer of television documentaries. Benoit also wrote and directed two theater plays and he is preparing his first feature movie, a modern Parisian love story.
“The spark” is the fourth documentary directed by Ben.