Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
“Compared to What: the Improbable Journey of Barney Frank,” a documentary about former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) screened at the Tribeca Film Festival April 27 and bills itself as a “fun and poignant portrait of one of our most well-known and least understood political figures.”
Directors Sheila Canavan and Michael Chandler say their 90-minute film “alternates between deeply personal moments and the inner workings of our political process” with “rare archival material and interviews” that “reveal the emotional pain and harmful effects of a closeted life, the relief of coming out and the triumph of love through the Congressman’s historic same-sex marriage.”
Frank, 74, who came out in 1987 and got married to Jim Ready in 2012 before retiring from the House of Representatives in Jan. 2013, told Variety he gave the husband-and-wife filmmakers, who filed more than 100 hours and started filming in 2011, he had two rules: “When my constituents come to see me about some problem, they are entitled to absolute privacy” and “my first obligation was to be an effective legislator.”
No word yet on a Washington screening. See the trailer below.