Movies by Robert Desiderio

Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End

Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End

Narrated by Linda Hunt, this documentary examines the life of the late author and gay rights activist Paul Monette. Born in 1945 to a well-off Massachusetts family, Monette grows up unable to accept his homosexuality, for years hiding it from his loved ones while struggling to develop as a writer. In 1978, Monette publishes his first novel, which allows him to come out to his parents. After losing one lover to AIDS in 1986, he becomes a ferocious advocate for awareness of the disease.

Take My Advice:  The Ann and Abby Story

Take My Advice: The Ann and Abby Story

Biography of feuding advice columnist twins, Ann Landers and Abby Van Buren, starts with their early lives in Sioux City, Iowa when they were known as Esther and Pauline through their double wedding and follows them into their columnist successes. However, much of the film also concentrates on their personal and professional feuds that ran the course of their lives. Written by John Sacksteder