Campfire

There are thirty-some LGBT campgrounds in America – a phenomenon that started in the 1980s at the height of the AIDS epidemic as refuges for urban gay men and as meeting places for rural (often closeted) men from conservative areas. It allows for connection outside of bars and urban life. In the summer of 2022, I decided to make a documentary about one of the oldest gay campgrounds, Hillside, located in the Endless Mountains region of Pennsylvania, exploring how campgrounds help heal an estrangement between gay men and nature. After weeks of interviewing, I ran into some unexpected obstacles – foremost, that some men risked exposure in speaking to me and many prized their privacy (Hillside has a long-standing “no cameras” policy). So, in an effort to capture the transformational experiences of many of them described, I pivoted and built a composite character from the stories I heard and filmed a narrative that unfolds in the real place, on an actual weekend, blended with interview material. The film features six “perms” (resident campers and non-actors) and two professional actors, along with dozens of Hillside campers as extras.