Inspired by the first-person documentaries of Ross McElwee, Dear Jesse is gay filmmaker Tim Kirkman’s filmed “letter” to the notoriously anti-gay Senator Jesse Helms. Shot during the 1996 senatorial campaign, the film features interviews with opponents and supporters, as well as writers Allan Gurganus and Lee Smith. The film also features a brief interview with Matthew Shepard, the young man whose murder in Laramie, Wyoming, called attention to antigay violence. Dear Jesse was nominated for an Emmy Award for nonfiction writing.