Frameline50: Uncle Roy

To the world, Roy Blakey is “one of the grandfathers of gay photography” and a professional ice skater who amassed the world’s largest collection of theatrical skating memorabilia. But to award-winning filmmaker Keri Pickett, he’s beloved Uncle Roy.

Through vivid archival footage and contemporary interviews, Pickett reconstructs her uncle’s remarkable life: from his beginnings as a young boy in Oklahoma inspired by the movies to skate, to a 30-year career traveling the world with the Ice Capades, and finally his personal reinvention in the 1970s as a groundbreaking photographer whose dramatic male nudes graced the pages of Honcho, After Dark, and Dilettante magazines — as well as in his own self-published photo book He.

But after a health emergency, it becomes a race against time to secure permanent homes for his vast photography archive and over 44,000 items of ice-skating memorabilia. As Roy’s memories begin to fade, the making of this documentary becomes a way of recounting his legacy back to him — and sharing it with us.

Preceded By Short: Doug +Me (6 mins)

Expected Guests: Keri Pickett, Dawn Mikkelson