COVERED UP
by Ryan Bruce Levey/RBL Films
Synopsis
Using interviews with historians, collectors, academics, fans, and the authors who wrote them, COVERED UP is a feature documentary on the history of LGBTQIA+ "pulp novels." Covering gay, lesbian, and transgender stories told within them, the glorious cover art and the importance of the books in terms of queer history, the gay liberation movement, the legacy left by those writers today, and the significance of those stories on today's LGBTQIA+ community.
Director Statement
Inspired by a chance meeting and conversation with legendary film writer Maitland McDonough and her work reviewing and preserving gay male pulp erotica, the documentary COVERED UP: The History of Queer Pulp Fiction endeavors to explore all aspects of the LGBTQ+ spectrum in relation to the history of the community through the tattered pages of these overlooked dimestore paperbacks. But within the pages of these writings are stories of love, lust, and longing, lives lost, futures found, and untold secrets.
From the lesbian lives explored in the written words of author Ann Bannon, a closeted middle-American housewife whose books were integral to the life of women like Lily Tomlin and such venerable voices as James Baldwin, Armistead Maupin, and Christopher Isherwood. Many legendary authors published works anonymously using pseudonyms or found some seminal works that received early publication as part of the queer mass paperback boom.
Queer pulp fiction has seen it rife for academic and artistic reevaluation; renowned scholars like Susan Stryker and Drewey Wayne Gunn have published a crucial critical analysis of these writings, while galleries around the world have begun public exhibitions of the unique, campy, romantic, colorful and often lurid cover art, much of it hand drawn and painted. COVERED UP: THE HISTORY OF QUEER PULP FICTION brings to the screen a vital historical literary and cultural legacy of LGBTQ+ life, over 70 years of importance, captured in pages of a simple pocket paperback novel.
Our Mission
After the success of OUT IN THE RING on the festival circuit, Cheryl Staurulakis, Brad Webb, and Ry Levey set out to create a line of documentary films that focus on uncovering hidden histories and exploring cultures at the intersection of art and social justice, but at a price point between 100K and 200K USD. Having delivered OUT IN THE RING to the World with top-tier sound, editing, and color, we wanted to build a pipeline to provide quality doc content that could eliminate the need to wait for government financing and could go into production with the guaranteed support of Ms. Staurulakis's production company ORAMA FILMWORKS. A dedicated team, with award- winning Ry Levey at the directing/producing helm, alongside award-winning editor Brad Webb, known for his work on doc projects and campaigns for THE HOBBIT TRILOGY, GET OUT, NBC/UNIVERSAL, and our super-talented skeleton crew of sound, camera, composers, and mixers. We create a budget and set about to deliver it under that, never skimping on quality and completing projects in a 12-18 month period, but on par with the best docs in the World.
Our team is currently seeking private equity investment (Cash or relevant services) and World sales, distribution, and broadcast partners.
Key Bios
Brad Webb is an award-winning video editor and producer with over 13 years of professional experience in Trailers, TV Promos, Commercials, Branded Content, Behind the Scenes, and Documentaries. Brad has worked on major motion picture campaigns for JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM, AQUAMAN, TOP GUN: MAVERICK, THE HOBBIT TRILOGY, and GET OUT as well as commercial work with Netflix, Hasbro, Amazon Prime and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter (yes, with Fabio!) He also follows an abnormal amount of wiener dogs on Instagram.
Ry Levey is a 20+ year film industry professional who has publicized and or distributed over 100 Feature films, including award winning documentaries like Emmy Award winner MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE, Oscar nominated THE INVISIBLE WAR, and films by documentary legends Frederick Wiseman and Steve James, Tony winning and Oscar nominated filmmaker/Theatre icon Julie Taymor and 2 time Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. His documentary feature directorial debut, OUT IN THE RING was the recipient of 4 Intl. film festival awards.
Cheryl Dillard Staurulakis is co-founder of the indie film production company Orama Filmworks. Cheryl has produced many award- winning films and continues to bring the works of talented writers and directors to audiences worldwide. Realizing the power of film Cheryl has sought out documentary projects that educate and inspire. Her films include Emmy Award nominated documentary TOXIC BEAUTY, CATEGORY: WOMAN, SOMEONE YOU LOVE: THE HPV EPIDEMIC (Narrated by Vanessa Williams) , LADY GANGA: NILZA’S STORY (Which was screened before the United Nations on World Cancer Day 2016) and OUT IN THE RING. She has fun producing horror flicks too, which include THE NIGHT, STARLIGHT and THE NIGHT WATCHMEN.
Contact Page
RBL Films
Ry Levey- Director/Producer
Phone: 647-781-0818
Email: [email protected]
Orama Filmworks
Cheryl Staurulakis- Executive Producer
Phone: 410-703-8269
Email: [email protected]
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From The Heart Productions, Inc. is honored to provide fiscal sponsorship for the following documentary. We carefully select the films we sponsor, and believe that this project will make a positive contribution to society and to the field of filmmaking.
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