| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (92 minutes): .flv file, sound |
| Summary |
Ethically charged, controversial, and confusing, JT’s life and death sprang open a Pandora’s box of powerful questions about literature and culture, identity and celebrity, and the reality of the society we live in. Fraud? Art? Sociopathy? Complicity? THE CULT OF JT LEROY is a testament to this bizarre and elaborate story that has captured the attention and fascination of the world’s media, and perplexes to this day. JT LeRoy was a teen prostitute, addicted to heroin and infected with HIV, when a therapist encouraged him to write his life story. Buoyed by a cadre of celebrities, he published three critically acclaimed books, including Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. But as his fame skyrocketed, the shocking truth emerged: JT was not what he seemed. What followed was a downfall as bewildering as it was tragic. Drawn into LeRoy’s inner circle before the truth came to light, filmmaker Marjorie Sturm was misled like many others. Through intimate interviews with many close to the tarnished figure, Sturm attempts to untangle what really happened, and in the process explores how his deception called into question not only the value of LeRoy’s writing absent authenticity, but our culture’s complicity with the author’s seductive cult of personality. Authorized and unauthorized, The Cult of JT Leroy received two Jury Awards for Best Feature Documentary in 2015 and played at top-tier festivals around the world. "*A first rate documentary about a remarkable literary hoax . . . The result is consistently absorbing . . .* " -Variety "_This story is an utterly fascinating look at identity, gender, role-playing, fraud, and deception . . . Sturm was there on the ground level before LeRoy's true identity was exposed._" -IndieWire |
| Notes |
Title from title frames |
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Film |
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In Process Record |
| Performer |
Asia Argento, Beth Bachtold, Stephen Beachy |
| Event |
Originally produced by Marjorie Anne Sturm in 2015 |
| Notes |
In English |
| Subject |
Biography.
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Crime.
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Popular culture.
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Mass media and culture.
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Mass media.
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Artists.
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Literature.
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Documentary films.
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Popular Culture
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Literature
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popular culture.
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mass media.
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artists (visual artists)
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Artists.
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Biography.
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Crime.
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Documentary films.
|
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Literature.
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Mass media.
|
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Mass media and culture.
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Popular culture.
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| Genre/Form |
Documentary films.
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Documentary films.
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Documentaires.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Sturm, Marjorie, film director
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Argento, Asia, actor
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Bachtold, Beth, actor
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Beachy, Stephen, actor
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Marjorie Anne Sturm (Firm),
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Kanopy (Firm)
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