The Times of Harvey Milk



Told largely with revealing news clips and archival footage interspersed with personal reminiscences, The Times of Harvey Milk, directed by Rob Epstein, vividly recounts the life of San Francisco's first openly gay elected city official. The film, which received an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, traces Harvey Milk's ascent from Bay Area businessman to political prominence as city supervisor and his 1978 assassination, which also claimed the life of San Francisco mayor George Moscone. While illuminating the effect that Milk had on those who knew him, the film also documents the nascent gay rights movement of the 1970s.

The film, with its moving and incisive portrait of a city, a culture and a struggle — as well as Harvey Milk's indomitable spirit — resonates profoundly as a historical document of a grassroots movement gaining political power through democratic means.

The Times of Harvey Milk was added to the National Film Registry in 2012.