Dear Jesse
- Director: Tim Kirkman
- Writer: Tim Kirkman
- Producer: Gill Holland; Mary Beth Mann
CGiii Comment
Can you go home again? What if you're a gay man and home is a state where voters keep electing a homophobe to the US Senate? In 1996, at age 30, native son Tim Kirkman returns to North Carolina to explore the parallels and differences between himself and Jesse Helms: they're from the same town and college, with media interests, from families blessed by adoptions, Baptists by upbringing. Tim puts his camera in front of his family, a boyhood pal, college friends, his pastor, Helms fans, community activists, novelists Lee Smith and Allan Gurganus, a mayor who's gay, and people in the street, including a brief interview with Matthew Shepard. What is it to judge, and what is it to love?
Trailer...
Dear Jesse from T42 Entertainment on Vimeo.
Cast & Characters
Nathan A. Barbour as Himself;
Karen Brown;
Patsy Clarke;
Hal Crowther;
Jaki Shelton Greene;
Allan Gurganus as Himself;
Jesse Helms as Himself;
Jerry Kirkman;
Tim Kirkman;
Dr. Jerry McGee as Himself;
Ann Pierce;
Matthew Shepard as Himself;
Dr. H. Mitchell Simpson as Himself;
Lee Smith as Herself; Eloise Vaughn