EXCLUSIVE: 'Gen Silent' director Stu Maddux gives voice to a forgotten generation - Part 2

August 21, 10:03 PMInternational LGBT Issues ExaminerKelvin Lynch

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      Filmmaker Stu Maddux at work on 'Gen Silent'

In Part Two of this series with filmmaker Stu Maddux, he allows us into his personal life, and reveals how his new film,  'Gen Silent', came about. 

Be sure to read Part 1 and watch the trailer for the film.

Examiner:  How do you describe 'Gen Silent'?

Stu Maddux: It's my latest documentary looking at LGBT seniors who consider going back into the closet to survive.  We follow six seniors in the Boston area who face so much fear of discrimination (or worse) in long-term health care that they hide their sexuality and relationships. These people lived through the abuses of the McCarthy era.  Some underwent harsh treatments in mental asylums, because at the time they were considered sick.  So they have good reason to mistrust health care professionals.

What motivated you to make a film about LGBT seniors?

SM:  The idea sprang out of a film I made called Bob and Jack's 52-year  Adventure, about a gay couple who had been been together for so long.  They met as soldiers during WWII and have been together ever since.  At that point in my life, I was wondering whether or not I would ever have a successful long-term relationship.  It got me interested in how LGBT couples take care of each other in their older years.

Are you in a relationship now?

SM:  Yes, my partner Joe and I have been together 5 years.

The multi-award-winning filmmaker listens patiently to my rambling

You've moved around quite a bit in your life.

SM:  My father worked for a large corporation and we moved every couple of years.  I was born in Montgomery, Alabama.  I spent my pre-teen years in Seattle and Denver, and then my "formative" years in Minneapolis and Kansas City.  I have an interesting story -- when my mother was pregnant with me in Alabama, she would go to the Martin Luther King marches; when I was born in 1965, she decided she wasn't raising a kid in a place she felt was becoming more violent, so we moved to Seattle, as far away from Alabama as possible.  I love that story. 

And now you've settled in Northern California.

SM:  Living here is a dream come true.  I lived in LA for a while, but nothing compares to the San Francisco Bay Area.  Growing up, I could have never even fathomed living out here, but here I am.

It sounds like your parents were fairly progessive, but you say you were raised a fundamentalist Christian. 

SM:  My parents were moderates.  We were members of the fundamentalist Church of Christ, which is non-denominational and decides its own interpretation of the Bible rather than relying on hierarchy.

Are you a religious person now?

SM:  I'm in a 12-step program and I get my strong spiritual connection to my "higher power" that way.

You started your career in TV news in Nashville, winning six Emmy awards for your reporting.  What made you want to transition from news to documentary filmmaking?

SM:  Have you seen the news lately?  It's very boring and inward-looking.  I really don't think I need to hear Keith Olbermann bash Bill O'Reilly one more time in my entire life, especially when there are more important things going on the world.  I also wanted to do longer stories that time would not allow in a newscast.

What do you think makes a good documentary film?

SM:  Good fillmmaking is all about subtlety - visual subtlely and subtlety in presentation.  In my 20-plus years in this business, nothing has ever been black and white, there are always shades of gray.  I like to present all sides of an issue in a subtle way.  That lets people decide a position for themselves. Subtlety makes me think, "Wow, that's a much more complicated issue than I ever realized.  I'll have to think about this before making a decision."

Tell me about some of the people you profile in 'Gen Silent'.

SM:  KrysAnne is a transgendered woman with cancer, whose family turned their backs on her.  She's the one in the trailer who says if her family ever wanted to reconnect, she would welcome them.  Sadly, she died before the film was finished.  Lawrence and Alexander are an interracial couple who struggled to find a nursing home where they could be open about their relationship.  Lois and Sheri are a lesbian couple living at home.  Sheri says she could never see herself going back in the closet, but Lois would consider it.

Was there a common theme that emerged from the film?

SM:  Stairs.  Ralph, one of the other people in the film, has always been a bit of a loner and loved living on his own at home.  But when his health declined he couldn't get around as well, mainly because of the stairs.  That seemed to be the defining reason a lot of these seniors had to enter nursing care.  It's all about the stairs.

For more information: 

• Visit the website for Gen Silent
• Read Stu's blog
• See Stu's films Trip to Hell and Back and Bob and Jack's 52-year Adventure
• Visit the LGBT Aging Project

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