FortuneTeller
Featured in The Advocate, Huffington Post, Out, Logo’s New Now Next, TowleRoad, Queerty, GAYLETTER, Homo-Online, Out There Magazine, Frontiers LA
(IN THE PRESS/PRESS KIT) (EN ESPAñOL)
“…Homosexuality transcends culture, geography and race. Homophobia is the same in New York City as it is in Russia…our sexual freedom is as reviled in America as in Uganda…and yet we are all moving forward on a global scale… the legalization of our unions is spanning continents, the unmistakable softness of our gestures transcends language. I don’t know if these universal similarities make “Gay” a culture, a race or a shared experience. What I do know is that they stir a deep pride in me that is almost religious.” – Leo Herrera
About “The Fortune Teller”
The Fortune Teller is a film by gay artist/activist Leo Herrera, chronicling milestones and icons of the modern gay man. The story is told through the trance of The Fortune Teller (played by Stanley Frank) and created using archival and modern footage. The film is a documentary and time capsule, paying homage to psychedelic films of the 1960′s and the modern art of the YouTube Montage film. From Mapplethorpe to Lohanthony, Uganda to Burning Man, Vogue to Sissy Bounce, AIDS to The Berlin Patient, meticulously edited clips create a kaleidoscopic five-minute journey through more than 50 years of gay history. See the “The Fortune Teller” decoded for a visual legend to the clips.
“The Fortune Teller” is comprised of over 50 years of imagery and footage. The 5-minute clip took six months to film and assemble, and is made up of 100 carefully selected clips. The style is a take on Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” video, or The Scissor Sister’s “Let’s Have a KiKi”. It also pays homage to some of our modern day gay “preachers,” such as Chris Crocker or Lohanthony, or Kid Fury, who, as we always have, developed ways to use technology to reach one another.
Adding Your Story
The Fortune Teller does not attempt to be an all-encompassing history; the clips in the Fortune Teller were curated based on icons and moments personally selected by Leo as they defined him as a gay man and the gay community world over.
During the next few week of Pride month it’s Leo’s hope you contribute to his project and will tell your story, adding to his, by sharing your own history with being gay, coming out, or perhaps sharing the story of someone in your life who has come out as you post this video on Facebook and Twitter.
Artist Statement
“This film was created with the hopes that every gay man can find something to identify with. The Fortune Teller does not attempt to be an all-encompassing history; the clips in the Fortune Teller were curated based on icons and moments that personally defined me as a gay man. Mexican singer Juan Gabriel was the first gay person I identified with as a child, I’ve sat many nights laughing at Kid Fury’s preacher-like passion and razor wit, I still remember the first time I saw the androgynous Karis perform in the Scissor Sister’s Filthy/Gorgeous video and thought “I can be that?!” or the moment Hedwig sang Wicked Little Town and reminded me of the unrequited love of high school. My work in HIV Criminalization has made me see how deeply ingrained the stigma of HIV is within our community and my wild nights in San Francisco’s nightlife has shown me that a party can be a cathartic communal experience.”
“I grew up an illegal Mexican immigrant in Republican Arizona, as far from “gay” as possible. Yet, the challenges and hopes I’ve faced as a gay man are the same as all of my peers across the world, as if homosexuality transcends culture, geography and race. Homophobia is the same in New York City as it is in Russia, HIV and its stigma are as devastating in the South as they are in San Francisco, our sexual freedom is as reviled in America as in Uganda…and yet we are all moving forward on a global scale: our contributions to nightlife and the arts are as pronounced in Berlin as they are in Provincetown, the legalization of our unions is spanning continents, the unmistakable softness of our gestures transcends language. I don’t know if these universal similarities make “Gay” a culture, a race or a shared experience. What I do know is that they stir a deep pride in me that is almost religious.”
THE FORTUNE TELLER: Decoded
The Fortune Teller, played by San Francisco performance artist Stanley Frank, paying homage to filmmaker Jack Smith. Audio excerpt is Professor Marvel’s introduction in The Wizard of Oz, 1939.
Vintage Photography of men purchased from photography collector at Chelsea’s Flea Market, NYC
Video instructing how to give CPR to a person with AIDS. 1980’s
WWII Concentration Camp, Pink Triangle Prisoners, 1930’s
Diane Feinstein announces the deaths of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone, San Francisco 10.27.1978
Harvey Milk, Pride Parade. San Francisco, 6.25.1978
The Black Soft, Music Band, NYC (@theblacksoft), 2013
Electro-Shock Therapy to treat homosexuality in the 1940’s
Westboro Baptist Church Member, 2000’s
“Kill The Gays” Anti-Gay Parade, Uganda, 2011 AUDIO: Anti-Gay School Crusade 1960’s
“One Father and One Mother” Anti-Gay Protest, Paris 2011
Russian Police (OMOH) shut down Gay Pride parade, 2011
Ted Haggard Preaches against homosexuality, prior to Homosexual Scandal in 2006
Rolling Stone Cover, Uganda 2010
Murdered Uganda Gay Activist David Kato’s Funeral, 2011
Orlando, Pulse Shooting, 2016/ “What’s Going On” Jonah Mowry Video Confession 2011
Sylvester, You Make Me Feel Mighty Real, 1978
Wakefield Poole’s “Bijou” 1972
Aaron Jackson paints house across from Westboro Church, 2013
Kid Fury on Shade, 2012
The Black Soft, Music Video, 2012
Tom Higgins pies Anita Bryant, Des Moines, 1977
Belgian Police clash with Anti-Gay Protesters, 2011
Voguing, NYC 2005
“Chris Crocker Blinks”, 2008
Halston takes a bow after fashion show, 1970’s
“My Son Is Gay” short film by John Roberts, 2011
Mapplethorpe gets his nipple pierced, 1971
Leather Daddy, YouTube Erotica, 2012
James St. James and Michael Alig, NYC 1980’s, film by Nelson Sullivan
Rupaul, 1986, film by Nelson Sullivan
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 2001
Lohanthony, “Calling all the basic bitches”, 2012
Bacha Baszi Boy, Afghanistan 1980’s
Sylvester, “You Make Me Feel”, SFX Composition 1978/2012
Cazwell, Ice Cream Truck by Marco Orvando, 2011
Provincetown Bear Week, 2012
Pup Boss Jyan, showing Puppy Hoods, 2012
Diego and Wagner on the set of Michael Lucas’s “Original Sinners” film, by QueerMeNow, 2013
Harry Hay, founder of The Mattachine Society one of the many fathers of The Radical Faeries
Kiddie at Miss Trannyshack Pageant 2007
HIV Virus infecting Human Cells, 2000’s
News report on AIDS, Patient with KS, 1981
Man gets BioHazard HIV Positive Tattoo, 2000’s
“Military Party” Gay Cruise, 2011 AUDIO: News Report on Zuriel Roush, wrongly accused of HIV Crimes, 2010. For more on the dangers of HIV Criminalization Laws, please visit TheSeroProject
Afghanistan Fire Fight, 2000’s
PrEP, 2015
Timothy Ray Brown, “The Berlin Patient” Cured of HIV 2009
Sister Unity, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence 2009
Mexican Gay Rodeo, Pico Rivera California, 2010
Traditional African Gay Wedding, Kwadukuza, 2013
George Michael, “Outside” Music Video, 1998
Javier Ninja, Vogue Battle, House Dance International NYC 2007
Ssion, “Clown” Music Video, 2010
New Orleans Sissy Bounce Concert, 2000’s
Karis in Scissor Sister’s Filthy/Gorgeous video, dir by John Cameron Mitchell, 2004
Juan Gabriel en el Palasio de Bellas Artes, 1992
Flags at Comfort & Joy, Gay Camp at Burning Man 2000’s
Some of the images in “Fortune Teller” come from the archives of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco, where I was an intern in 2005-2006. For more information on the society and The GLBT History Museum it sponsors in the Castro, visit www.glbthistory.org.