Portrait of Jason

In 1967, director Shirley Clarke unveiled a searing and deeply humanizing documentary portrait of Jason Holliday, a gay African-American hustler struggling to survive in 1960s America. Behind his elaborate persona, Jason reveals a tangled web of self-destruction and resilience, as he is probed and berated by Clarke and her partner with increasing hostility. Through its groundbreaking cinéma vérité techniques, Portrait of Jason lays bare the tragedy underlying Jason's theatrical facade, leaving the viewer to ponder the devastating consequences of societal oppression and personal struggle.