Introducing...Old Lesbians!
A documentary short about queer elders preserving herstory.
Hello!
Thanks so much for joining the Old Lesbians community. You’ll be the first to receive updates about the film and what we learned while making it.
I’m thrilled to share that Old Lesbians will premiere this Saturday, November 11 at Aesthetica Film Festival in York, UK. You can buy a virtual pass to stream the film on their site from today until November 30. This film was made possible by Aesthetica and Audible’s 2023 Listening Pitch. Stay tuned for future screenings and digital access to the film.
Images: Cassie Coker; Design: Rengim Mutevellioglu
Old Lesbians is a documentary short about queer elders preserving their own herstory. More specifically, it’s about the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP), an archive of 800+ life stories recorded across the U.S. (plus a handful abroad). OLOHP was started more than 25 years ago by Arden Eversmeyer, a retired public school teacher in Houston, Texas. After her partner of more than three decades passed away from cancer, she traveled to the west coast and researched lesbian communities before returning to Houston to start her own.
Beyond her loving partner, close family, and friends, Arden was closeted for most of her life. She knew that many of her peers born in the first part of the 20th century would die before speaking their truth– due to the very real risks of expulsion from school, termination from work, loss of parental custody, and social ostracization.
Many believed they didn’t have a story to tell. Arden thought otherwise; she often said that you don’t have to climb Mount Everest or sail the Seven Seas to be worthy. So she set off to record the first 500 or so interviews herself with self-identified lesbians over age 70, crisscrossing the country with two small audio recorders in her camper van. Through word of mouth, Arden built a team of volunteers and fellow interviewers from the ground up, along with a legion of loyal newsletter subscribers.
OLOHP’s interviewees include musician Gaye Adegbalola (whose music is featured in the film), novelist Jewelle Gomez, pulp fiction author Ann Bannon, and historian Lillian Faderman. Only about half of all OLOHP interviewees are still alive today.
Arden passed away in 2022 at the age of 91, leaving behind an immeasurable legacy in the lives she touched and the stories she carefully preserved.
My name is Meghan McDonough, and I’m the director and editor of this film. Ten years out as a queer woman, I am still seeking real representation of my community wherever I can. I was deeply moved when I learned about OLOHP online and reached out to Arden. When we spoke, she emphasized that these are entire life stories, from beginning to end, in a woman’s own words. Each interviewee has a chance to add in or take out the parts of her own life that she wants to share. At the end of the process, she gets a bound copy of her own “herstory.”
This summer, I had a chance to visit the archive in person at the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College with my collaborator, the photographer Rengim Mutevellioglu. We witnessed firsthand the love and care baked into each herstory– pages of research about how to prepare for an oral history and make interviewees comfortable; meticulous documentation of names, dates, and locations at the beginning of each recording; and scanned photos mounted on squares of cut-out purple paper. It’s a masterclass on how to write the world we want to read.
Credit: Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project
I’m excited to share a few updates about the film up front and will continue to do so going forward.
TRAILER: The trailer dropped last week. You can find it on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Vimeo. Follow these accounts and share with your friends!
SCREENINGS: We are now taking requests for community screenings and educational use. Please fill out this form if interested.
CONTRIBUTE: Help us continue to do this work! Compostudio is taking contributions here. If you’re interested in collaborating, please get in touch at meghanemcdonough.com.
This film wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible team that made it. You can find the full credits here in the description.
Last of all, please share this post with others who might be interested in learning more!
My hope is that this film will open up new intergenerational queer spaces, now and in the future. Thank you for being part of this movement. 💜
Love,
Meghan