Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln (2024)
Director: Shaun Peterson Run Time: 111 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2024
Starring: Craig Tichelkamp, Jack Halberstam, John Stauffer, Michael Bronski, Thomas Balcerski
Country: United States
Language: English
About the film:
Lover Of Men examines the intimate life of America’s most consequential president, Abraham Lincoln. As told by preeminent Lincoln scholars and never before seen photographs and letters, the film details Lincoln’s romantic relationships with men.
The film widens its lens into the history of human sexual fluidity and focuses on the profound differences between sexual mores of the nineteenth century and those we hold today. Lover of Men fills in an important missing piece of American history and challenges the audience to consider why we have such a limited view of human sexuality. The film is not only an exploration of gender roles and sexual identity, but also examines American intolerance.
All presentations feature a pre-recorded interview following the end credits, with Director Shaun Peterson, Dr. John Stauffer (Harvard University), Dr. Lisa Diamond (University of Utah) and Dr. Thomas Balcerski (Occidental College).
About the filmmaker:
Shaun Peterson is an award winning director and editor specializing in documentary and comedy content. As an editor, Peterson cut the Grammy nominated PBS American Masters documentary Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied (2003) as well as the Emmy nominated Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock’n’Roll (2000). In 2020, he won the Emmy for Outstanding Single Camera Editing for his work on Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10 (2019).
Peterson’s critically acclaimed dark-comedy directorial debut, Living In Missouri (2001), won ten film festival awards around the US as well as a distribution deal. Recently, he co-produced, directed, and edited five episodes of Amazon Music’s Seismic Moments. His newest film, Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln (2024) delves into historical documents, interviews with historians, and reenactments to examine the true nature of Lincoln’s romantic relationships with men.
See our upcoming films