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‘Author: The JT LeRoy Story’ Berlin Premiere: Fiction is Far Sexier than the Truth

By Allison Krupp . August 6, 2017

Author: The JT LeRoy Story is a documentary about one of the greatest literary hoaxes of all time.

Unfortunately this event has been postponed due to bad weather.


Berlin Film Studios and Berliner Union Film are bringing it to Berlin on August 11. Click here for more info.

Our current reality is that everything could be unreality. Perceptions teeter on the edge. Back in the ’90s, it was different. Perhaps in our cynical, Internet-fizzing eyes, it was idyllic. People appeared at face value. Nothing felt quite so “marketed” or “sponsored.” Lies that exist on this plane, then, are inherently more interesting, as they’re hidden in plain sight.

That’s how a Jewish New Yorker named Laura Albert got away with it. Writing “non-fiction” tales, as the fictional male writer JT LeRoy, she told of a frenetic and terrifying past. Born to a truck-stop prostitute mother, JT LeRoy dove through years of assault and rape and exploitation, until, eventually, he fell into the hearts and minds of the literary community. They called him the next Burroughs, the next Faulkner. Carrie Fisher, John Waters, Gus Van Sant adored him. Lou Reed knew his name.

But goddammit. He wasn’t real. He was marketed. He was just a pretty face.

Buy tickets to the Berlin premiere on August 11 here. 

As the JT LeRoy persona exploded, Albert knew she needed a physical presence. She tossed a wig, sunglasses, and fedora on her partner’s sister and told her to mumble. The result? A renowned superstar. A friend of Winona Ryder. A character, playing at reality. And for a long time–until the New York Times reveal, it worked.

This documentary explores the imposter, JT LeRoy, and his voice, Laura Albert.

As director Jeff Feuerzeig told The Guardian, “It was fiction that went way off the page.” It shook the very fabric of reality.

But, in this age of Internet scams; robots as Tinder matches; and false advertisements fluttering on all sides of your screen, can we really label Laura Albert’s career track as wrong?

Buy tickets to the Berlin premiere, on August 11, at Berliner Union-Film. 

Facebook Event here.

Berliner Union-Film GmbH
Oberlandstraße 26-35
Berlin 12099

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