Sundance’s ‘Quiet Heroes’ Among Three Pics Acquired By Logo Documentary Films For 2018 Slate

Logo Documentary Films has acquired Sundance docu Quiet Heroes, Jamal Sims-directed When the Beat Drops, and Light in the Water, about one of the first openly gay Masters swim teams, for premiere this summer as part of its 2018 slate of LGBTQ stories.

Quiet Heroes had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Jenny Mackenzie, Jared Ruga and Amanda Stoddard, Quiet Heroes tells the story of Dr. Kristen Ries, a physician who served the denigrated and largely gay male AIDS population in the socially conservative Salt Lake City area. Quiet Heroes is the story of her fight to save a maligned population everyone else seemed willing to just let die. It premieres Thursday, August 23 at 8 PM on Logo.

When the Beat Drops follows a crew of gay African-American men as they pioneer the Southern-rooted underground dance scene known as “bucking.” With his crew, Anthony Davis, a heavy-set, Atlanta-born kid with a love of dance, helped grow bucking into a national movement, complete with fierce competitions. In the process, Davis created a haven for a generation of displaced black gay men. When The Beat Drops is produced by World of Wonder’s Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, along with Jordan Finnegan, and is the directorial debut of internationally acclaimed choreographer Jamal Sims. The film premiered at the 2018 Miami Film Festival where it won the Knight Documentary Achievement Award and recently received the Outstanding Documentary Jury Award at Frameline42: San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival. The film will also serve as the Documentary Centerpiece at Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles on July 19. It premieres Thursday August 9 at 8 PM on Logo.

Also premiering this summer is Light in the Water, which reveals the untold story of a group of gay men and women who found one another through their love of competitive swimming, ultimately becoming a family and a force for the LGBTQ sports movement. It centers on the West Hollywood Aquatics Team, who were pioneers in gay sports, from registering as one of the first openly gay Masters swim teams in 1982, to pushing through the devastation of the AIDS crisis. The documentary reveals the inside story of a group of trailblazers who personified the change they wanted to see and created a legacy for equality in sports that lives on in the team today. You can watch a trailer below.

Light in the Water is produced by Patty Ivins Specht and Lis Bartlett and directed by Bartlett. It premieres July 19 at 8 PM on Logo.

“Now more than ever, it is imperative for us to tell the stories of our community’s ability to triumph over adversity,” said Taj Paxton, VP of Logo Documentary Films. “These documentaries represent our bravery and our continued fight against stigma and the sting of hatred and intolerance.”

Logo’s Documentary Films division was recently a recipient of the 2018 Television Academy Honors for Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America and received its third consecutive Daytime Emmy Award earlier this year.

Below are trailers for Light in the Water and When The Beat Drops.