Dear Shaded Viewers,

If you lived in America in the late 90's and early 2000's  you are no doubt  aware of the J T LeRoy scandal. What has been missing up until ‘Author: The JT Leroy Story’by Director Jeff Feuerzeig, is the voice of Laura Albert. I remember the success of the books Sarah about a character Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy aka J T LeRoy. The character J T LeRoy was a young transgender  who had experienced sexual abuse, abandonment, a bout of homelessness during that time when he strapped a fax machine to his leg and went into public bathrooms to use the modem to communicate.  I remember the world celebrating the brillant young author and then years later the expose in 2005 revealing J T LeRoy was not a young transgender but a middle aged writer, Laura Albert. My personal feelings were what an amazing act to have pulled off. AND, the book was not non-fiction so why the witch hunt.

Jeff Feuerzeig let's Laura Albert open up and explain what was going on in her life, why this character grew inside of her, what her childhood was like, her own family relationships  and mental health problems, weight problems, self-hatred etc. and how she escaped from all of that through her brillant writing. Thing is no matter how angry all of the people that had supported her when they thought she was a young transgender and wanted to burn her at the stake when they found out she was a middle aged woman instead, no one can deny the power of her writing. 

When I first heard about the unveiling of the real J T LeRoy, I thought of  Orson Welles "F" for Fake, The literary community felt tricked and wanted to destroy her rather than celebrate her.  The books, Sarah (1999)  and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (1999) were both classified as fiction so why was Laura Albert called a fruad? She also wrote Harold's End (2005), Labour (2007) and the original screenplay for Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003) although from the documentary it appears Gus went off on his own during the filming and LeRoy was considered an associate producer.

I'm happy to say that years after the scandal and a year or so before this documentary, I met Laura Albert and we became friends. Many filmmakers had approached her to make a documentary but Laura refused all until she was approached by Jeff Feuerzeig. She said because he was Jewish and a Punk, she decided he was the one. Jeff Feuerzeig researched his subject and went through her incredible archives and spent 8 hours interviewing Albert and she was totally open about everything from being sexually abused as a child of 3 by a family 'friend'. Living in a home, always wanting to have been born a young blond boy and how J T LeRoy grew inside of her. Life for Laura was turned into a hell and in 2007 she was sued by Antidote International Films Inc for fraud becauseshe signed a contract with JT LeRoy for a feature film that was to be made of Sarah. You see an interview with Bruce Benderson who had taken the young writer, J T LeRoy , under his wing only to find out years later that he had been duped. Jeff Feuerzeig does not judge Laura Albert, he takes no stand  what he does is present Laura's point of view, honest and open and, in my mind, the result is a masterpiece of documentary filmmaking.

If you are in Paris there is another screening at le Balzac on Friday. The film is a success even if you never heard of Laura Albert or J T LeRoy, now….is the moment to discover her writing and both  books, Sarah (1999)  and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (1999) are being re-released now and iLaura is currently writing her autobiography. 

http://www.jefffeuerzeig.com/author-the-jt-leroy-story-ae-indie-films-2016/

http://lauraalbert.org/

http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Novel-J-T-LeRoy/dp/158234146X

http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Deceitful-Above-All-Things

http://www.amazon.com/Harolds-End-J-T-LeRoy/

mm
Diane Pernet

A LEGENDARY FIGURE IN FASHION and a pioneer of blogging, Diane is a respected journalist, critic, curator and talent-hunter based in Paris. During her prolific career, she designed her own successful brand in New York, costume designer, photographer, and filmmaker.

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