The Times of Harvey Milk
After Word Is Out, Epstein set out on his own to make a film about a series of events occurring in San Francisco in the late 1970s, which eventually became the film The Times of Harvey Milk. During the five years it took make the film, Epstein worked a series of jobs to support himself, including as a concessionaire at the Castro Theatre, and as an assistant editing on feature and documentary films. Written, directed, and co-edited by Epstein, The Times of Harvey Milk premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September 1984. USA Today called the film "the hit of the festival" and from there it went on to the New York Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Award, and the Berlin Film Festival. The film became an international sensation and is still in distribution throughout the world.
At the age of 29, Epstein won an Oscar for The Times of Harvey Milk along with producer Richard Schimechen, becoming the first "out" filmmakers to do so on the Oscar broadcast. In addition to the Oscar, The Times of Harvey Milk went on to receive the New York Film Critics Award for Best Non-Fiction Feature, three Emmy Awards, and a Peabody Award.
In 2000, The Times of Harvey Milk was selected by the Sundance Institute and UCLA Film and Television Archive as a preservation project and for the first time the film was blown-up to 35mm. In 2011, the Criterion Collection released a newly digital re-master Blu-ray edition of The Times of Harvey Milk with numerous additional materials, including interviews with Gus Van Sant and others involved in his film Milk, which was inspired by the documentary.
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