In the new documentary “No Straight Lines,” artists who took serious risks by outing themselves and creating comics about the experiences and lives of LGBT Americans look back on their work and its impacts. Director Vivian Kleiman, a Peabody Award winning filmmaker, producer, director and writer, talked with “Civic” about how these artists shaped the underground comics scene and some of the film’s more poignant moments.
“No Straight Lines” screens at the Frameline film festival, digitally June 17–27 and in-person at the Castro Theater on Sunday, June 27.
“The thing about comics is that it’s a do-it-yourself art form, it doesn’t take a lot of technology to make it happen. It’s as simple as taking a pen, a piece of paper, and going at it, expressing yourself. The DIY aspect of it I think infused the genre with a freedom that it might otherwise not have.”
— Vivian Kleiman
A segment from our radio show and podcast, “Civic.” Listen at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 102.5 FM in San Francisco, or online at ksfp.fm, and subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify or Stitcher.