P R E S S
REVIEWS
Award-winning Bay Area filmmaker Johnny Symons adds to his string of excellent documentaries on gay culture with this stinging examination of the policy’s failure and injustice. Warmly personal, politically incisive and straightforward, Ask Not should be required viewing this election season.
—Deanna Quinones, San Francisco International Film Festival fest08.sffs.org
Since its adoption in 1993, more than 12,000 queer soldiers have been discharged, while the remaining 65,000 are compelled to keep their sexual identity a secret. Symons, who spotlighted the hurdles of gay and lesbian Americans in Daddy & Papa and Beyond Conception, explores this under-reported situation in the straight-shooting documentary Ask Not.
—Michael Fox, SF360 sf360.org
After all that's been done to try to suppress, conceal and deny the truth about gays and lesbians in uniform, "Ask Not" is a great gift. A rigorous and heartfelt look at the true costs of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the film gives voice to men and women who too often can't be heard, and brings light to a subject that—absurdly—remains very much in the shadows.
—Dr. Nathaniel Frank, Senior Research Fellow, Palm Center, palmcenter.org
The film makes an irrefutable case for repealing the folly of "don't ask, don't tell."
—David Wiegand, "Chronicle Picks: A Feast of Film at the Fest," San Francisco Chronicle
With perfect timing, Johnny Symons has given us a marvelous, stirring gift of a film... Go see it.
—David Mixner, davidmixner.com
REVIEWS
Award-winning Bay Area filmmaker Johnny Symons adds to his string of excellent documentaries on gay culture with this stinging examination of the policy’s failure and injustice. Warmly personal, politically incisive and straightforward, Ask Not should be required viewing this election season.
—Deanna Quinones, San Francisco International Film Festival fest08.sffs.org
Since its adoption in 1993, more than 12,000 queer soldiers have been discharged, while the remaining 65,000 are compelled to keep their sexual identity a secret. Symons, who spotlighted the hurdles of gay and lesbian Americans in Daddy & Papa and Beyond Conception, explores this under-reported situation in the straight-shooting documentary Ask Not.
—Michael Fox, SF360 sf360.org
After all that's been done to try to suppress, conceal and deny the truth about gays and lesbians in uniform, "Ask Not" is a great gift. A rigorous and heartfelt look at the true costs of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the film gives voice to men and women who too often can't be heard, and brings light to a subject that—absurdly—remains very much in the shadows.
—Dr. Nathaniel Frank, Senior Research Fellow, Palm Center, palmcenter.org
The film makes an irrefutable case for repealing the folly of "don't ask, don't tell."
—David Wiegand, "Chronicle Picks: A Feast of Film at the Fest," San Francisco Chronicle
With perfect timing, Johnny Symons has given us a marvelous, stirring gift of a film... Go see it.
—David Mixner, davidmixner.com