Set in San Francisco in the 1970s, The Times of Harvey Milk tells of the extraordinary rise to power of a long-haired, gay camera store owner from the Castro District who became one of the city’s most colorful and influential elected officials, as well as one of the decade’s most prominent leaders of the LGBTQ+ rights movement — that is, until he was shot and killed at City Hall by former police officer and fellow supervisor Dan White. Harvey Milk’s journey to that fateful day is recounted brilliantly through the course of the film.

A riveting, volatile, dynamic, and impassioned documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk’s stranger-than-fiction story is immensely moving, combining real emotional urgency with a compelling grasp of filmmaking craft. A moving affirmation and revelation of how one man can make a difference, it is a quintessential work about American values in conflict, which highlights a courageous and charismatic individual while exposing an incredible miscarriage of justice. As political renegades go, Milk wasn’t afforded the time to become a household name.