![](https://psych.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/Cured_Frames_FeatureImage.png)
![](https://psych.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/Cured_Frames_FeatureImage.png)
Director Patrick Sammon, Bennett Singer, Duration 80min, USA 2020
The documentary Cured sheds new light on a pivotal victory that was far from inevitable, while situating the APA story within the larger context of the modern movement for LGBTQ equality.
“Riveting … Deserves its place alongside other seminal documentaries such as How to Survive a Plague, The Celluloid Closet, Before Stonewall, and The Times of Harvey Milk.”
Following the film there will be a post-screening discussion with Patrick Sammon, co-director and co-producer of Cured. Patrick has a mix of experience in filmmaking, broadcast journalism, and LGBTQ political advocacy. The discussion is moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Series Director of Frames of Mind and Clinical Professor in UBC’s Department of Psychiatry.
Frames of Mind is delighted to welcome Patrick Sammon to Vancouver for this in-person Q&A.
ABOUT THE FILM
This provocative documentary highlights a previously underappreciated activist campaign in the struggle to achieve normality for the LGBTQ community. For years, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (or DSM) listed homosexuality as a mental illness. The personal and professional implications for homosexuals could be devastating: the loss of family and friends or one’s job; the risk of coercive interventions such as aversion therapy or forced heterosexual marriage. In 1973, the APA’s Board of Directors finally voted to remove homosexuality from the DSM. All those “suffering” from homosexuality were thereby “cured”—hence the title of this important film. Five years in the making, and incorporating a trove of newly unearthed archival material, Cured sheds new light on a pivotal victory that was far from inevitable, while situating the APA story within the larger context of the modern movement for LGBTQ equality. Since its release, Cured has attracted nearly two million views from across the globe.
ABOUT FRAMES OF MIND
The Cinematheque and the UBC Institute of Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry have partnered to present Frames of Mind, a monthly event utilizing film to promote professional and community education on issues pertaining to mental health and illness. Screenings, accompanied by presentations and audience discussions, are held on the third Wednesday of each month.