RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This Friday, June 7th, the group “Educação Popular na Cinelândia” (Popular Education in Cinelândia) will be putting on a free screening of the controversial film “Boy Erased” at 7 PM in Praça Cinelândia, followed by a debate on so-called “gay conversion therapy,” which the plot of the film centers around.
Earlier this year the film caused controversy in Brazil when Universal Pictures announced that it would no longer be distributing the movie in Brazilian cinemas. The distributors released a statement explaining that the decision was not a question of censorship but of commercial viability.
Following the cancellation of the film, due to premiere on January 31st, actor Kevin McHale accused Brazilian President Bolsonaro of ordering the film’s cancellation. On February 2nd, he tweeted: “And so it begins, @BoyErased was just banned in Brazil. Bolsonaro is dangerous and a threat to the LGBTQ+ community in Brazil. Censoring a movie about the dangers of conversion therapy is just the beginning.”
The Brazilian president then personally responded on February 3rd via his Twitter account, stating (in Portuguese): “I have been informed that an American actor is accusing me of censoring his film in Brazil. Lie! I have other things to do. Good evening, everyone.”
The film didn’t gross very highly in the United States (bringing in box office receipts of $11.8 million from a budget of $11 million) lending some credence to Universal’s rejection of any claims of censorship. The producers have since released the movie onto DVD in Brazil, which has been available since April 17th.
However, this is the first-known public screening of the movie since the controversy. The event comes at a particularly fraught time for the LGBTQ community in Brazil, with the President declaring that he doesn’t want Brazil to become a “gay tourism paradise,” and the Supreme Court only recently overturning a judge’s previous decision to allow Brazilian psychiatrists to pursue so-called gay conversion therapy.
The film follows Jared Eamons, played by Lucas Hedges, who begins a gay conversion therapy course titled “Love in Action” in Memphis, Tennessee, at the behest of his father, a successful car dealer and Baptist preacher, played by Russell Crowe, and his mother, a hairdresser, played by Nicole Kidman.
The conversion therapy course is portrayed as barbaric, pseudo-scientific, and ultimately unsuccessful, with one attendee later committing suicide as a result of his experiences. Jared eventually manages to escape and move to New York, where he begins to write about the inhumane realities of conversion therapy.
The film, based on a real-life memoir, ends with a poignant postscript that reads: “Garrard Conley currently lives in New York City with his husband. Through his writing and advocacy, Gerrard continues to fight for the LGBTQ community. […] At the completion of this film, 36 states still legally allow conversion therapy to be practiced on minors. To date, conversion therapy has affected at least 700,000 LGBTQ Americans.”
What: “Boy Erased : Cine Debate”
When: Friday, June 7th, 7 PM
Where: Praça Cinelândia, Centro, Rio de Janeiro
Entrance: Free