In 1967, Klippert, then a mechanic's helper in Pine Point, was charged and jailed for gross indecency for engaging in consensual sex with an adult male -- Klippert was gay.

"Being gay was basically against the law and if the law found out, you would be charged with the all-encompassing charge of gross indecency," says Zoe Raemer, one of the women involved in producing the film.

Because Klippert had previously been incarcerated in Alberta for the same charges, the territorial court declared him a dangerous sexual offender and sentenced him to indefinite preventative detention.

Klippert served a total of nine years in prison but was paroled in 1971 after Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau coined the famous phrase "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation."

The case enjoyed a few moments of press but quickly disappeared until Zoe Raemer, Anne Lynagh and Tammy Wotherspoon rose to the task of producing a documentary.

Currently in the process of fundraising and conducting preliminary research for their video project, the trio says they want to tell the story on film because it marks the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada and most people don't know it.

"For me, it's really important to get this story told. Basically I'd never actually heard the story as long as I'd been in Yellowknife and an active student in gay and lesbian rights. I was at a meeting this fall and there was a timeline of gay rights and in the mid sixties, the Klippert case in the NWT was marked," says Raemer, the president of OutNorth, the NWT's gay and lesbian society.

"It's the most pivotal moment in gay and lesbian history and it's linked to the NWT," says Raemer who began talking with Lynagh and Wotherspoon about the event.

They decided that the best to tell the story was to produce a short film that would combine both elements of a documentary and a drama.

"What we hope is to write it in three parts. The first part is about Klippert as the man in this case. The second part will be about the law, Trudeau and the other decisions and the third part will be a fictional character," says Raemer.

"The character will be a young lesbian in her thirties that we will use to reflect her voice. We'll use that to enter and open up the scope of the video and inform people," says Lynagh, an employee of CBC. "It's parallel to my life because we were born in that decade and as much as things have changed, they haven't."

Raemer says the fictional aspect of the documentary will allow it to be more artistic and interesting.

"Documentaries are not known for their inventive use of the medium so this format gives us an artistic approach as well as documenting history," says Raemer who adds that they have applied to the NWT Arts Council for a production grant and are hosting a film festival tomorrow night to help raise money.

"When you're trying to get a project going, it helps to have the community behind you," says Lynagh.

The film festival-fundraiser begins at 8:00 p.m. at the Wildcat Cafe tomorrow and features five different films along with a buffet and a cash bar.