Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists. Donate today and help bring Out In The Streets to life.

Logline

Out In The Streets reveals the untold history of graffiti and street art as a tool for queer activism through the personal stories of a global artist community.

Synopsis

Out In The Streets explores how street art and graffiti have long been a powerful means of visibility and call to action for queer activism.

Through intimate interviews, contemporary street artists from around the world share personal stories of survival, coming out, gender expression, and using creativity to fight back against the increased threat of violence and backlash against LGBTQ+ rights. Woven throughout, pioneering activists of the last half-century explain the untold history of street art in the Queer Liberation movement.

Stonewall veteran Mark Segal reveals that on the first night of the riots, he and his friends chalked “Tomorrow Night, Stonewall” to fuel the protests. Photographer Stanley Stellar describes how late-1970s gay artists took over the abandoned piers of NYC to create an erotic wonderland. Jill Posener talks about her work documenting the vibrant feminist lesbian graffiti movement of the ’70s and ’80s. Avram Finkelstein (co-creator of Silence = Death) and Maxine Wolfe of ACT UP explain how they powerfully used visual activism during the AIDS crisis. And Sister Lotti Da brings the continued fight to the streets with the New York City Drag March.

Through this film’s production a worldwide Queer Street Art community was formed. Artists who previously felt isolated and overlooked by the street art scene discover each other and begin collaborating. International artists wage a guerilla art campaign to celebrate queer history with ad take-overs. Brazilian artist Suriani travels to NYC to collaborate with Homo Riot on a mural honoring the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. And in Los Angeles the first Queer Street Art exhibition was organized, bringing together dozens of artists in a revolutionary celebration of community.

Out In The Streets goes beyond exploring street art as a movement—it defines this pivotal moment of queer artists coming together to inspire future generations.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

​​Daniel Albanese – Director/Producer/Cinematographer
​​Daniel “Dusty” Albanese is the New York-based photographer and filmmaker behind the website TheDustyRebel. Shaped by his background in anthropology, he has built a worldwide following documenting the more marginal aspects of the urban landscape, as well as controversial artworks, and political protests. In 2017, he began production on his first feature length documentary and book Out In The Streets.

In 2013, he gave a series of lectures on street photography at Wheaton College as part of their Evelyn Danzig Haas Visiting Artists Program. He has also been a recurring guest speaker for the City College of New York, as well as at Stanford University, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Adelphi, and MoMA PS1. Daniel has been interviewed for several Street Art documentaries such as, Janz In the Moment and Stick To It.

Daniel’s photography has been exhibited in many shows in NYC, such as the International Center of Photography’s “Occupy!” and #ICPConcernedGlobal Images for Global Crisis. In 2019, his work was acquired by the Leslie-Lohman Museum.


Jonathon Roessler – Producer
Jonathon Roessler is a graduate of Vassar College and the MFA Film program at Columbia University. While at Columbia, Mr. Roessler obtained a dual degree in Producing and Writing as well as teaching in the undergraduate film department.

After helping produce the Sundance award-winning short film, The Dawn Chorus, Mr. Roessler went on to write, direct, and produce the high school satire First Period. This short was awarded the inaugural music grant from ASCAP that provided for a 20-piece live orchestra and went on to win numerous film festivals as well as the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Short Film Award. It has also racked up 3 million views on YouTube.

Since moving to Los Angeles, Mr. Roessler has written for episodic television including My Life With the Walter Boys (Netflix), Grendel (Netflix), Teen Wolf (MTV), Cupid (ABC), and The Beautiful Life (CW).

His pilots include the sci-fi thriller Colony for Hulu, an adaptation of The New York Times best-selling novel Over You for eOne, and the neo-noir thriller Understay for ParamountTV. He is currently writing a pilot for UCP and a feature for Fremantle.

Make a donation to Out In The Streets.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.