Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker
The Oscars® Winners & Nominees • 1h 16m
Directed by Richard Schmiechen • Documentary • With Patrick Stewart • 1991 • 75 minutes
Academy Award-winning director Richard Schmiechen (The Times of Harvey Milk) vividly portrays the life and work of a woman who changed both the medical community and society in Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker.
During the repressive 1950s, Dr. Evelyn Hooker undertook groundbreaking research that led to a radical discovery: homosexuals were not, by definition, “sick.“ Dr. Hooker’s finding sent shock waves through the psychiatric community and culminated in a major victory for gay rights. In 1974 the weight of her studies, along with gay activism, forced the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its official manual of mental disorders. Startling archival footage of the medical procedure used to “cure” homosexuality, images from the underground gay world of the McCarthy era, and home movies of literary icon Christopher Isherwood bring to life history that we must never forget. Dr. Hooker’s insights into marriage equality and the gay community (a term she coined) and the filmmakers’ winning approach make this documentary education at its most exciting and enjoyable.
This Academy Award-nominated film is narrated by Patrick Stewart.
Up Next in The Oscars® Winners & Nominees
-
From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China
Directed by Murray Lerner • Documentary • 1979 • 84 minutes
This Oscar-winning film chronicles with affection and intelligence the great violinist’s 1979 visit to China. Stern was supposed to attend a rehearsal and give one recital but instead wound up playing a formal concert, touring two citie...
-
Roy Smeck: Wizard of the Strings
Directed by Peter Friedman • Documentary • With Roy Smeck, Gene Autry, Arthur Tracy, Mel Bay • 1984 • 27 minutes
In 1926, Warner Brothers premiered the first sync-sound film ever made. It featured a largely unknown vaudeville performer named Roy Smeck. The film showcased Roy’s virtuosity on the ...
-
Flamenco at 5:15
Directed by Cynthia Scott • Documentary • 1983 • 5 minutes
This Oscar-winning film is a visual and emotional thriller. It is an impressionistic record of a flamenco dance class given to senior students of the National Ballet School of Canada by two great teachers from Spain, Susana and Antonio R...
