Film producer and director Roland Emmerich is eyeing up Oscar inclusion with a film dedicated to the Stonewall riots of 1969.
The film documents the Stonewall riots. The protests, which happened around the Stonewall Inn in New York, were the results of a gay community relentlessly discriminated against and bullied by the police force in New York. The Stonewall riots are often cited as the start of the modern gay rights movement.
The film, which stars Jeremy Irvine, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ron Perlman will be released in time to be included in 2016 Oscars considerations. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will have a late September release date in US cinemas.
Speaking about the film Emmerich said:
“I was always interested and passionate about telling this important story, but I feel it has never been more timely than right now. Less than 50 years ago, in 1969, being gay was considered a mental illness; gay people could not be employed by the government; it was illegal for gay people to congregate, and police brutality against gays went unchecked.”
