On Demand

Julio of Jackson Heights

by Richard Shpuntoff

The story of how a community in Queens demanded justice for the murder of Julio Rivera and the unsolved murders of gay men in Jackson Heights, launching a historic LGBTQ movement.

2016 · 1h30m · Argentina, United States, United States

English

English subs

About the Film

Bronx-born Puerto Rican Julio Rivera was murdered in a schoolyard in Jackson Heights, Queens on July 2, 1990, by three young men looking to “clean up” their neighbourhood, but instead the murder sparked the coming out of New York’s largest and until then most closeted LGBTQ community.

JULIO OF JACKSON HEIGHTS is the story of how all this changed. It is the story of how a handful of people – Julio’s friends and family – decided that they would not accept the official police report, and learned how to organize, ultimately bringing their case to the attention of then Mayor Dinkins.

The movement has given birth to dozens of LGBTQ organizations and advocacy groups, the Queens Pride Parade which was the first LGBTQ pride parade in one of the “outer” boroughs of New York City, and ultimately it served as the platform for electing Queens’ first two openly gay candidates to the New York City Council.

The story of Julio Rivera, along with an interview with director Richard Shpuntoff and clips from the film, will be featured in an episode from the series NY Homicide on Hulu’s Oxygen Network. Watch the film on our platform, then tune-in for more on August 12!

Upcoming Screenings

Stay tuned for upcoming screenings!

In the Press

Review

30 Years Later: Reflections on Julio Rivera’s Life and Death

Arianna MartinezThe Latinx Project

About the Director

Richard Shpuntoff

Born in New York and living in Buenos Aires since 2002, Richard Shpuntoff began his career in the visual arts as a documentary photographer. His photographic works include the book God, Gold and Glory: Syracuse (1990 – 92) and Parade, a 20 year documentation of the Queens Pride Parade. As a filmmaker he has made more than a dozen short film that have participated in over 30 festivals internationally including Oberhausen, Black Maria, Torino LGBT, Mix NYC and Sans Soucci. His first feature length film Julio de Jackson Heights (2016) was about the 1990 gay bashing murder of a Puerto Rican sex worker in 1990 in New York. Everything that is forgotten in an instant*, his second film, had its international premiere in July of 2020 in the International Competition of FID Marseille.

(Image courtesy of dafilms.)

Julio of Jackson Heights

Richard Shpuntoff

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