Stu Maddux

Minister of Loneliness (in production) (2020) is a multi-media project (film, web, app, installation) delving into causes behind a reported worldwide epidemic in loneliness, the societal and health ramifications, and the solutions currently being implemented by governments. The film and a virtual reality installation are told through the eyes of a handful of people overcoming chronic loneliness after being debilitated by it.

Maddux is an outspoken activist for the LGBT aging and LGBT history. He has spoken at national conferences including the American Psychological Association, Out & Equal, Creating Change and the American Society on Aging. He has frequently advocated for residential communities and care facilities to form their own gay-straight alliances similar to those in high schools. In 2018, he and his husband began a campaign to remove the stigma of identifying as lonely.

Queer Ghost Hunters (2016) is his ongoing web series about finding LGBTQ history through a team of paranormal investigators who search for LGBTQ entities.

Maddux’s documentary film Reel in the Closet (2015) features LGBTQ home movie and video footage, and stresses the importance of finding, restoring, and preserving this aspect of LGBT history. The film had its world premiere at the Frameline Film Festival on 21 June 2015. It is currently used in curricula across the United States.

Gen Silent is a documentary about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender older people who face discrimination in long-term care because of their sexual identity or non-normative gender preference. The documentary was filmed over a year in Boston, Massachusetts and documents the challenges faced by the six gay seniors whose sexuality or gender change causes them to be isolated and not receive the same long-term care as elderly heterosexual individuals. The documentary debuted in February 2010 at the Boston LGBT Film Festival.

In 2008, Harting was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and died just a few weeks after the film’s premiere. The documentary was screened at many notable film festivals including the Tiburon International Film Festival and the Tallahassee Film Festival.

The Clowder Group is the production company founded and used by Maddux and his husband, Joseph Applebaum, to produce and distribute their independent films. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Stu Maddux (born 1965) is American freelance writer, editor, and cinematographer. He is an award-winning movie producer and director of his own non-fiction independent films. He is best known for his work Gen Silent, a documentary about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender older people who hide their sexuality or gender change in order to survive in the long-term care system. He also wrote and produced the films Bob and Jack’s 52-Year Adventure and Trip to Hell and Back. His work has been featured internationally on television including on Showtime, TLC, and the BBC.

Bob and Jack’s 52-Year Adventure is a self-narrated documentary about a United States Army sergeant who was courted by his commanding officer in 1952 post-World War II Germany. Other troops became aware of their relationship and the two men confronted the troops in their unit in order to avoid being court-martialed.