The Orlando Museum of Art will screen The Committee on September 4 as part of its award-winning 1st Thursdays event series.
Florida’s Purge: The Johns Committee Witch Hunt is a documentary by UCF students and professors. It recently won the International Jury Award for Best Documentary at the Durban Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in South Africa.
The Committee is the product of a 2011 UCF honors class taught by Lisa Mills of the School of Visual Arts & Design and Robert Cassanello of the History Department.
The documentary tells a shocking story: in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Florida college students and teachers were pulled out of class and questioned for hours—not about their politics but about their private lives, as part of an effort to drive homosexuals from state universities.
The film was first screened at UCF’s Morgridge International Reading Room. It has gone on to receive numerous awards including “Best of Competition” at the Broadcast Educators Association Festival of Media Arts and “Best Documentary” at the Love Your Shorts Film Festival in Sanford. The film has gained international recognition with its latest accolade.