Hand On the Pulse

HAND ON THE PULSE is the inspiring story of Joan Nestle, co-founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York, political and sexual renegade, teacher and activist. The film follows Nestle's development from 1950s Bronx girl, to Greenwich Village pleasure seeker and critical thinker. Nestle, whose trademark black slip accentuates her luscious, zaftig body, helped to forge a new lesbian and gay consciousness. Her groundbreaking collection of essays, A Restricted Country, excavated and resurrected butch/femme roles from the obscurity to which they had been relegated by the mainstream lesbian feminist movement.

Joyce Warshow (Producer/Director) Joyce is a 64 year old independent videomaker whose previous work includes the prize winning Some Ground to Stand On (the story of Blue Lunden) which appeared at 40 festivals in the United States and abroad as well as on television (Reel New York and KQED in San Francisco). It won the Black Maria Director's Choice award, a National Education Media Bronze Apple, and an Audience Choice award from the Reel Affirmation Festival in Washington, DC. Her current piece, Hand on the Pulse, is a piece about Joan Nestle, Co-founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives and icon in the lesbian community. It has won the Lynn Campbell media award given by the Astraea Foundation. Joyce has found that filmmaking has become a passion after a fulfilling career as a psychologist and educator. Her interest has been in the compelling personal stories of older lesbian activists who have participated in some of the major social movements of the last half century as open lesbians. This interest began soon after she co-created ACTIV.