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Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. directors

THE BRESSAN PROJECT

from the “how did I miss this” file:

Nearly impossible to see following its brief theatrical release in 1985 and never officially released on home video, BUDDIES makes its home video debut (back in 2018!), newly restored from its long lost 16mm negative, from Vinegar Syndrome . (it may also be on Amazon, but if purchasing, please consider the company that is making this, and other gay films available again – Vinegar Syndrome!) Also available for streaming through Kanopy.

from the New York Times: Long Forgotten, a Landmark Film in AIDS History Is Rescued

and this is all due to THE BRESSAN PROJECT – a collaboration of director Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.’s sister Roe Bressan and LGBT film historian Jenni Olson, The Bressan Project is devoted to the preservation and promotion of the films of Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. THIS IS FANTASTIC! – thank you thank you thank you! so happy to see this!

I saw the film back in the fall of 1985 when it came out; it was devastating to watch at that time, as you probably can imagine (or recall what it was like back in ’85). I have yet to watch again, or purchase – kind of need the right moment. But am ecstatic with its re-release, and the promise of more from The Bressan Project. As y’all may know, I am trying to update (and expand, flesh out) some of my non-blog pages – starting with my directors pages. Do me a favor if you can, and check out my current (and soon to be former) page for Bressan, and my 2020 update (still in progress) – feedback, tips, typos, ANY thing to improve it, I’d appreciate hearing about it either in the comments, or via email. thanks!

Arthur Bressan, Jr. (current page)
Bressan – 2020 updated page

seriously – feedback, tips, typos, ANY thing to improve it, I’d appreciate hearing about it either in the comments, or via email. thanks!

2 replies on “THE BRESSAN PROJECT”

I found a few typos, or things that could be worded differently. Before I get to that, this link is for a cable access show hosted by Vito Russo where he interviews Arthur, in 1983 so right after the release of Abuse in ’82 and that’s what they talk about. It’s interesting and has some more info about the film, not sure if you’ve seen it or want to link to it (though yt and other links to clips can disappear, as I’m sure you know) anyway it’s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQb0PV5njU4

…and their interview starts at about 10:20.

OK, I’m on your new director page for Arthur, under the section Forbidden Letters. There’s a sentence that says “A series of letters and rememberances to and of each other, but primarily from the point of view of the younger lover who’s anxiously awaiting the release of Richard Locke from jail, and they’re reunion.” It’s remembrance, you’ve got an extra E in the middle of the word, and ‘they’re’ should be ‘their’ but I would rewrite the sentence something like — The story unfolds through a series of letters to each other and memories of their time together, their reunion anticipated by both but primarily told from the point of view of the younger lover — Or reworded or rearranged as you see fit. The rest of that paragraph is fine.

For Family Affair, I hope you find some more info about this one, I had not heard of it! Was he in any of his porn films (or anybody elses) having sex, or only as cameos?

Under Pleasure Beach, what you’ve written is fine but I would combine the final sentence to the paragraph preceding it, otherwise it loses it’s bullet point and makes it look like the headers for each section. Which, can you make those stand out a bit more? All bold or ALL CAP or italic them, something that makes the subheadings more prominent.

And then you say that Bressan directed three legit films, but below that you list four. I would spell out any number lower than 10, that’s what style guides recommend but that’s a preference not a hard and fast rule.

I found a clip on vimeo which had the San Francisco segment of the Gay USA film, it’s been taken down now but I watched it and it’s very cool, back before gay pride became so commercialized. The SF footage takes up more than half the full film I believe, each of the other cities segments are shorter. If you’ve seen the film and could list the cities where he got footage under that section that would be something good to add.

Those were just a few things I noticed, the bulk of the info is informative and reads very well.You should get a good proofreader in the room with you and go page by page, that’s the easiest way to do it. Jockstrap required lol.

wow! thanks – thats a lot of good feedback, thanks – I’ll be incorporating much of it as I get back to the Bressan page.

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