Tearoom poster

Tearoom

6.0(5)200756m1

Tearoom consists of footage shot by the police in the course of a crackdown on public sex in the American Midwest. In the summer of 1962, the Mansfield, Ohio Police Department photographed men in a restroom under the main square of the city. The cameramen hid in a closet and watched the clandestine activities through a two-way mirror. The film they shot was used in court as evidence against the defendants, all of whom were found guilty of sodomy, which at that time carried a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in the state penitentiary. The original surveillance footage shot by the police came into the possession of director William E. Jones while he was researching this case for a documentary project. The unedited scenes of ordinary men of various races and classes meeting to have sex were so powerful that the director decided to present the footage with a minimum of intervention.

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Status
Released
Budget
—
Box office
—
Language
No Language
  • cruising
  • lgbt
  • gay theme

Behind the camera

Gallery

Still from Tearoom

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Release dates

  • United StatesUS

    • Theatrical (limited)Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh)14 Dec 2007
    • Theatrical (limited)Whitney Museum of American Art22 Feb 2008
    • PremiereOutfest9 Jun 2008
  • United KingdomGB

    • Theatrical (limited)London Short Film Festival 21 Jan 2018

Frequently asked questions

Tearoom was released on 14 December 2007.

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