Stars: Dylan Baker, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Janeane Garofalo, Christina Ricci, Amy Madigan, Tom Bower, Clancy Brown, Terry Kinney, Summer Phoenix, Frances Sternhagen, Bill Irwin, Laura Linney, Noah Fleiss, Camryn Manheim, Jeremy Davies, Clancy Brown, Joshua Jackson, Ben Foster

Director: Moises Kaufman

Summary: In the autumn of 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was found beaten and tied to a fence to die in Laramie, Wyoming. A short time after the event, Moises Kaufman visited Laramie in order to interview the local community to see how they had reacted to the brutal crime.

Matthew Shepard became a symbol of the damage caused by hatred and homophobia when his brutal murder became a front page headline across the U.S. This movie, based on a play about the incident and adapted for the screen by one of the play's authors, revisits the tragic events of Shepard's murder and the impact it had on the small-town community of Laramie, Wyoming. Writer/director Moises Kaufman employs a gripping documentary style that intersperses real new reports with actors portraying local residents horrified by the murderers' actions--as well as those who are more opposed to homosexuality--to create a harrowing and important emotional experience. The star-studded cast includes Christina Ricci, Steve Buscemi, Dylan Baker, Peter Fonda, Jeremy Davis, Jeneane Garofalo, and many others.

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Even though The Laramie Project has been edited down from almost three hours (the original length of the play) to a lean 96 minutes, the harrowing nature of the subject matter--the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard--and the clarity of the voices of the inhabitants of Laramie, Wyoming, give this film a remarkable emotional power. The Laramie Project was created from over 200 interviews conducted with Laramie residents before, during, and after the trials of the two boys who killed Shepard; the interviews create an amazing cross-section of American views on homosexuality, religion, class, privacy, and so much more besides. Even though it features an all-star cast--Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo, Christina Ricci, Peter Fonda, and Laura Linney are only a few of the recognisable faces--the material has not been glamorised and the performances are both honest and intimate. Even abbreviated, it's a remarkable piece of work. --Bret Fetzer

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Featurette, Trailers
Year:	2001
Release Date:	March 17, 2008
Runtime:	91 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	8201906
Keywords:	General, Project, Drama, Laramie
Genre:	Drama