A tender and engaging tale of three LGBTQ seniors needs a little push to get distribution.
Local filmmaker PJ Raval’s most recent documentary project, Before You Know It, which premiered at South by Southwest and won the Scott Dinger Audience Award* at the recent Polari festival, could be coming to theaters soon, but it could use some help. There are only a couple of days left to meet their Kickstarter goal, or the money just goes right back to the donors, which mean the project simply doesn’t happen. Want to help? Throw a little love into their Kickstarter campaign.
Before You Know It follows three gay seniors in New York, Portland, and Galveston as they navigate the complexities of growing older as gay men. At times the mood is whimsical and sweet, at others achingly sad, but throughout, the makers are as generous to their subjects as they are to the audience. In a media environment where cameras follow people through their lives looking for cheap laughs and superficial drama, The movie hearkens back to a time when it was done with the greatest kindness, back when the Maysles brothers showed the world the love and tenderness to be found in Big and Little Edie Beale’s tiny, squalid universe. It reminds us that we must seize every moment of beauty and joy we come across, because it’ll be over before we know it.
UPDATE: With fewer than 60 hours to go, the campaign is close! As of 11:40am, today, Monday, October 28, 508 backers have pledged $42,408 of the film distribution project’s $50,000 goal.
CORRECTED: *originally read “best documentary feature,” which was actually won by the film DEEPSOUTH
Before You Know It – Official Trailer from PJ Raval on Vimeo.
This article appears in October 25 • 2013.