Film Details

One of the most famous and explosive works by William E. Jones (see 10/12) is a compilation of silent Mansfield (OH) Police Department surveillance footage that was shot clandestinely through a two-way mirror in a public men’s room during the summer of 1962. As part of this crackdown on public sex, 30 defendants captured on film were found guilty of sodomy and each was sentenced to at least one year in the state pen. Tearoom will be followed by Jones’ 2006 short Mansfield 1962, a haunting, silent reworking of the Mansfield Police’s subsequent instructional film Camera Surveillance, which explained how to set up a sting operation to arrest “sex deviants.” No one under 18 admitted! Cleveland premiere. HD. Total 65 min.