Stonewall Uprising
2010 American documentary film by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner

Stonewall Uprising is a 2010 American documentary film examining the events surrounding the Stonewall riots that began during the early hours of June 28, 1969. Stonewall Uprising made its theatrical debut on June 16, 2010, at the Film Forum in New York City. The film features interviews with 15 participants and eyewitnesses to the riots, including many who were active in the uprising and later went on to form gay liberation groups, as well as law enforcement who participated in the raids that precipitated the rebellion.
The film was produced and directed by the documentary makers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, and is based on the book by the historian David Carter, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. The title theme is by Gary Lionelli.
Overview
Stonewall Uprising begins with a general overview of societal attitudes toward homosexuality in 1960s America. Archival footage from locally produced television programs, public service films warning of the "dangers" of homosexuality, an episode of CBS Reports titled "The Homosexuals", and interviews with Stonewall participants and observers Virginia Apuzzo, Martin Boyce, Raymond Castro, Danny Garvin, Jerry Hoose, Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt, Dick Leitsch, John O'Brien, New York Police Department deputy inspector Seymour Pine, Yvonne Ritter, Fred Sargeant, Martha Shelley, Howard Smith, Lucian Truscott, and Doric Wilson present both a national perspective and a personal one. The film also touches on pre-Stonewall activism, including the Annual Reminder pickets held in Philadelphia.
The film then shifts to the days immediately preceding the riot and the specific conditions in New York City, including a raid on the Stonewall Inn that had happened days before the raid that triggered the riot, to explain why conditions were ripe for some action to happen. Archive film from the riots, dramatic re-enactments and eyewitness testimony are presented, along with animation of the streets surrounding the Stonewall Inn showing how rioters were able to evade and outflank responding police.
“Stonewall Uprising” enters the record as 2010 American documentary film by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Stonewall, Uprising and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4443197. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010 and 1969.
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This entry incorporates text from “Stonewall Uprising” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.