Coppola-produced “Fairyland,” based on book by lecturer Alysia Abbott, gets theatrical release

Today, two years after its release at Sundance, the film Fairyland sees its national theatrical release, following openings in New York and Los Angeles last week. Based on the memoir by CMS/W lecturer Alysia Abbott, Fairyland was produced by Sofia Coppola and directed by Andrew Durham.

Abbott published her book to acclaim in 2013, with a San Francisco Chronicle reviewer writing “Her gift, in this book, lies in the skill to bring that old community to life: to turn the lights back on in Fairyland and to reveal that, for all of us of any time or place, whether our parents swanned as Hedda Hopper or fit cautiously into their flannel suits, we make our own queer communities.”

The Chronicle followed up this week, describing the film as “the best San Francisco gay movie since ‘Milk’”.

In her teens, Steve’s friends—several of whom she befriended—fall ill as “the gay plague” starts its rampage through their community. While Alysia is studying in New York and then France, her father comes to tell her it’s time to come home; He’s sick with AIDS. She must choose, as her father once did, whether to take on the responsibility of caring for him or to continue the independent life she worked so hard to create.