MASSILLON

Combining painterly images, literary prose, deliberate timing and dry humor, William E. Jones, in his acclaimed first feature film, renders his impressions of growing up gay in a small Ohio town not far from Cleveland. Says Jones, “There is no dramatic action in the conventional sense, The narrator tells autobiographical stories that cannot be recreated; it is up to the spectator to imagine the drama against a backdrop of empty Midwestern landscapes.” From the first fumbling encounters in a truck-stop toilet to his decision to leave the Midwest, Jones' accounts lead to a thorough exploration of how homophobia and ignorance have come to be imbedded in our very language. The poetry and power of MASSILLON compelled The L.A. Weekly to name it the best documentary of the year.