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Logline

Through a vast archive of queer media, A Very Oral History examines how magazines, film, and music shaped identity and community across generations, while following a new generation of artists, archivists, and preservationists working to ensure these stories are not lost to time.

Synopsis

Hidden up a narrow staircase in San Francisco’s Castro District, AutoErotica appears at first glance to be an unassuming shop filled with vintage gay erotica. In reality, it is a living archive, one that holds decades of magazines, films, music, and ephemera that helped shape queer identity, connection, and community before the internet.

Building on the success of the award-winning short documentary AutoErotica: We Buy Gay Stuff, A Very Oral History uses this collection as a portal into fifty years of queer culture, tracing how media circulated desire, created language, and allowed queer people to find one another during a time when visibility came with risk. Through objects that passed through the store, including Drummer magazine, underground films, disco records, and cult literature, the film reveals how a culture was built, shared, and sustained across generations.

As the AIDS crisis decimated a generation, much of this history was nearly lost. Today, a new wave of artists, archivists, musicians, and preservationists are working to recover and digitize what remains. From forgotten tapes and underground publications to the sounds and stories that shaped queer life, their efforts reveal how cultural memory survives through those willing to carry it forward.

Blending intimate storytelling with a visually rich exploration of archival material, A Very Oral History is both a record of what survived and a meditation on what it means to preserve a history that was never meant to last.

Meet the Filmmakers

Jeremy von Stilb — Director
Jeremy von Stilb brings deep expertise in queer cultural storytelling and nonprofit communications. As a filmmaker, his short AutoErotica premiered at Frameline and screened at nearly two dozen international festivals. His work at San Francisco AIDS Foundation and his intimate knowledge of SF’s queer community position him uniquely to tell this story with authenticity and insight.

Ricky Vidrio — Producer
Ricky Vidrio is a Bay Area–based producer and multidisciplinary installation artist. He produced AutoErotica: We Buy Gay Stuff, which premiered at Frameline and screened internationally. He is currently developing his feature documentary A Very Oral History with fiscal sponsorship from SF Film Independent, continuing his focus on queer history and cultural preservation.

Bradley Roberge — Co Producer/Subject
Bradley Roberge, co-producer and subject, is the photographer who saved AutoErotica and built its 60,000-follower Instagram presence. His documentation of queer nightlife and his intergenerational partnership with Patrick form the emotional core of the film.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.