On the surface, our documentary is about Sally Miller Gearhart, an iconoclastic radical lesbian who lived life on her own terms and whose powerful presence practically hurtles off the screen. However, the film goes beyond being the straightforward biography of a “hidden figure” deserving more recognition. It also studies social movements, whose leaders wouldn’t exist without their equally resolute behind-the-scenes compatriots. And it explores the complex nature of biography itself: Can we even recount the chronicle of a single “heroic” person or are all our stories just imperfect windows into certain times and places? And can these histories be placed in tidy boxes or are all life accounts beautiful and sometimes mysterious kaleidoscopes from multiple different perspectives that don’t always come together into a neatly unified whole?

The film examines several issues:

The need for women’s spaces: Throughout her life, Sally thrived in women’s spaces—whether her childhood home in rural Virginia, Sweet Briar College for women, the women studies program that she co-founded at San Francisco State University, or her women’s land community in Northern California where she spent her final decades. These spaces provided refuge from a patriarchal system that constrained women to a limited sphere. But besides providing respite, these women’s spaces enabled Sally and others to come into their own.

Concern about violence: Sally had an abiding and almost visceral concern about violence against women, animals, and the earth. These themes are central to her fantasy novel “The Wanderground”—with its flying, mind-reading lesbians and “remember rooms” where women share their experiences of male violence. But they also surface in her animal rights work and opposition to the logging industry. And these issues are more relevant now than ever. “The Wanderground” is eerily prescient of recent events like the Women’s March and #MeToo movement. And Sally’s fears about the destruction of the earth are coming true right before our eyes.

The tensions in revolutionary movements: Without intrepid souls like Sally and her forebears fighting for change, women and people of color might not yet have the vote, queer people might still be confined to the closet, and much more. But there are tensions inherent in revolutionary movements between ideological principles and human realities: In Sally’s case there was lesbian separatism versus mainstreaming, throwing down the gauntlet versus reaching across the aisle. Sally’s relevance lies in how well she held these contradictions.

The urge to connect and communicate: Sally was a brilliant speaker and debater. She believed that communication is the opposite of violence, and on the flip side that the breakdown of communication can precipitate violence. With her work “The Womanization of Rhetoric” Sally explored the patriarchal and repressive nature of rhetoric itself—the effort to “win” verbally. Instead, she came to believe in listening over lecturing, and in finding common ground with your opponents. Although her key accomplishments were many decades ago, Sally has a vital insight for us now: to battle fiercely for justice but with humor and authentic inquisitiveness about the other side.

Director Biography - Deborah Alice Craig

Deborah is an award-winning documentary director and producer whose films use compelling personal stories to raise awareness about the challenges and strengths of underrepresented communities. Her work has played at LGBTQ+, women’s and documentary film festivals in the U.S. and internationally. Deborah’s most recent short, “A Great Ride,” a 33-minute documentary about lesbians and aging, premiered at the Frameline LGBTQ+ Film Festival in San Francisco in 2018, was picked up for distribution by Frameline, has screened at over 50 film festivals around the globe, and has won multiple awards. “Sally” will be her first feature-length documentary. Deborah has a BA in history from Columbia University, did undergraduate work in photography at California College of the Arts, and has a Master of Public Health from San Francisco State University, where she currently teaches in the Public Health Department.