UNCLE ROY, A Film by Keri Pickett
A niece races to preserve her 93-year-old uncle Roy Blakey’s extraordinary legacy as a veteran, figure skater, photographer and gay icon in UNCLE ROY
NYC Premiere at NewFest, New York’s largest LGBTQ+ film festival
Sunday, Oct. 18 at 6:45 p.m. at SVA Theatre
ollowing its World Premiere at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival and a breakout festival run, including Audience Choice for Best Documentary at Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at Outshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Keri Pickett’s fourth feature documentary, UNCLE ROY, makes its New York City premiere at NewFest on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 6:45 p.m. at SVA Theatre. For tickets, visit https://newfest.org/events/uncleroy/. The film follows Keri’s 93-year-old uncle, Roy Blakey, as he faces life-threatening dementia. As his memory fades, she races to preserve his extraordinary legacy as a U.S. Army veteran, and across international ice show figure skating and archiving and photography, where his male nudes became part of LGBTQ+ history. Drawing on nine decades of archives, UNCLE ROY is an intimate portrait and a moving story of preserving Roy’s legacy before his final curtain call.
Born in Oklahoma in 1930, Roy dreamed of performing on ice. His lifelong passion for figure skating grew into a collection of 44,000 items, from programs and photographs to posters and costumes. He performed globally with Holiday on Ice before becoming a New York City photographer, capturing actors, dancers, and queer icons. His boundary-pushing 1970s male nudes, shot in his Manhattan studio and on Fire Island, appeared in publications including Mandate and After Dark and were exhibited at the Leslie-Lohman Gallery and the legendary Continental Baths.
Growing up, Keri barely knew her mysterious uncle Roy until she graduated college, and she followed him to New York City to pursue photography. Living in the East Village, she began her career at The Village Voice, documenting the city’s 1980s cultural scene. When a medical crisis brought her to Minneapolis, Roy eventually followed, sharing a photography studio together. Years later, Keri discovered his 1972 book HE and learned Roy was considered a “forefather of gay photography,” igniting her mission to help reintroduce his portraits of a generation largely lost to AIDS.
Over the next three decades, Keri’s bond with her uncle deepens as she realizes the world’s largest archive of theatrical figure skating, as well as his photography, needed a home. As Roy develops hallucinatory dementia in his 90s, Keri becomes his 24/7 caregiver, increasing the urgency of preserving his life’s work. Through Keri and Roy’s story, the film explores elder care, end of life and the vital work of ensuring these histories of marginalized communities are not forgotten.
“With UNCLE ROY, I reveal my heart in a way I have never done,” said Keri Pickett. “This film intimately documents the beautiful last years of our life together. I couldn’t be more excited and proud to premiere the film at NewFest in New York City, where Roy began his professional photography career that illuminated the LGBTQ+ community.”
Keri Pickett - Producer/Director/Director of Photography:
Award-winning artist, producer, director, cinematographer. Pickett’s documentary films FINDING HER BEAT (2022), FIRST DAUGHTER AND THE BLACK SNAKE (2017) and THE FABULOUS ICE AGE (2013) have won multiple awards. Select feature documentary screenings include: Mill Valley Film
Festival, Napa Valley Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival, DOC NYC, Dance on Camera, Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival and American Indian Film Festival. Broadcast and streaming include: APT (American Public Television), PBS, Amazon Prime and Netflix. A well known photographer, Pickett has published multiple photography books, with photographs displayed in international and national museums and have appeared in Life, Time, People, Stern and Geo magazines. Pickett has been awarded fellowships from the Bush Foundation, McKnight and Jerome Foundations, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as serving as Envoy for the 2023/2024 American Film Diplomacy Program (US State Department & USC School of Cinematic Arts).
Dawn Mikkelson - Producer/Editor/Additional Cinematography:
Mikkelson has produced/directed seven award-winning independent feature documentaries, MINNESOTA MEAN (2023), FINDING HER BEAT (2022), RISKING LIGHT (2018), THE RED TAIL (2009), GREEN GREEN WATER (2007), THIS OBEDIENCE (2003) and TREADING WATER: A DOCUMENTARY (1999), character-driven films highlighting power and joy in the margins, as well as branded content for Nonprofit, NGO and Governmental partners including the European Union, the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies and the Center for Victims of Torture. 2023/2024 American Film Diplomacy Program (US State Department & USC School of Cinematic Arts) Envoy and finalist of the Project Greenlight Digital Studios and Seed&Spark Untold Story Crowdfunding Rally.
Crew:
Director/Producer/DP – Keri Pickett
Producer/Editor – Dawn Mikkelson
Original Music – Me-Lee Hay
Co-Executive Producers: B.J. French, Charles W. Leslie & Rocco Lofaro Buonpane
Contributing Producers: Nicholas Green & Carolina Castillo Larrea, UpMobility Foundation
Additional Funding by – Bhatt Family Fund
Additional Cinematographery: Mark Brown, Shiho Fukada, Dawn Mikkelson, Keegan Xavi, Daniel C. Baker
Consulting Producer – Marc Smolowitz
Consulting Editor - Doug Blush
USA | 2026 | TRT: 87 min | 1920 x 1080 Stereo
Follow UNCLE ROY:
Web: https://uncleroyfilm.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncleroyfilm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncleroyfilm/
###