Roger Stigliano, Fun Down There, 89min, 35mm transferred to DVD, 1989

Shot in 1988, Fun Down There is a fresh portrayal of a few days in the life of Buddy, an alienated upstate queer teenager that decides to leave his parents' house to try his luck in New York City. A rather less known title, this film portraits with humor and tenderness a moment of intense gay sexuality in New York. From cruising in the High Line to the increasing awareness of safe sex, and passing through conversations about polyamorous relationships, this film, eloquent and funny, makes a call for solidarity and need to belong to a community as key factors for queer survival.

Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, Julius' Bar is often called the oldest continuously operating gay bar in New York City. During Prohibition, the bar was a popular speakeasy and was frequented by many of the jazz and literary legends of the era. It started to attract gay clientele in the 1950s, though harassment and discrimination was still enforced by the owners. This changed after April 26, 1966, when four homophile activists from the Mattachine Society staged a "sip in" at Julius' to challenge the regulations that prohibited bars and restaurants from serving homosexuals. The incident was part of a wind of change that had its apex in the Stonewall Riots, one a few blocks away, and that transformed this spot in one of the few establishments where a history of gay New York and its contemporary incarnations meet for a drink.

Curator: Clara López Menéndez