Produced by Aerlyn Weissman, Lynne Fernie. Directed by Aerlyn Weissman, Lynne Fernie. To repudiate those sordid endings and other social myths, Aerlyn Weissman and Lynne Fernie have produced this spectacular documentary on lesbians. Ten amazing Canadian women share their early lives with us, proving that lesbian life before gay rights, though not easy, was not a dreary experience without love and laughter. As a historical document, this video imaginatively introduces the audience to the women as they recount their experiences.
Scenes vary from the blurbs and titles of pulp novels to the women.
Photographs of the women as young adults and archival films and photographs are used to place us in Toronto's 1950 skid-row bars. Interspersed between the women's stories is a potboiler romance with a happy ending. The romance is much in the novelistic style of Ann Bannon, who is interviewed in the video. Forbidden Love is a product of the National Film Board of Canada, a consistently professional organization known for the quality of its products. This video is no different.