Jewel's Catch One was 'open to everyone' in an era of Black queer exclusion

This story originally appeared on Out.Jewel Thais-Williams built one of the most important queer institutions in America, and somehow, many people still don't know her name.For more than four decades, the Black lesbian entrepreneur turned Catch One into far more than a nightclub. Opened in Los Angeles in 1973, it became a sanctuary for Black queer communities, a gathering place for everyone from Madonna to Sharon Stone, and eventually a lifeline during the height of the AIDS crisis.As director C. Fitz began researching Thais-Williams for what would become the documentary Jewel's Catch One, she ran into a surprising problem."There's hardly anything about this woman online. Imagine that," Fitz tells Out at the Provincetown International Film Festival ahead of the film's Pride Month rerelease. "Imagine not doing the film."What started as a short two- or three-minute profile quickly evolved into a full-length documentary — one that now celebrates both Jewel's life and the community she built around her.The timing of Jewel's Catch One's June 16 rerelease feels especially fitting. Arriving during Pride Month, just days before Juneteenth, and coinciding with the documentary's 10-year anniversary, the film offers audiences another opportunity to revisit a legacy rooted in Black queer joy, resilience, and community-building.The rerelease also comes just weeks before the one-year anniversary of Thais-Williams's death on July 7, 2025, adding another layer of meaning to the film's return.For Fitz, the documentary has always been about giving audiences a chance to fully understand Jewel's impact. She built more than a nightclubWhen Fitz first approached Thais-Williams, she quickly realized she wasn't documenting a singular accomplishment. She was documenting an entire ecosystem."She had the club, she had a vegan restaurant downstairs, and she has the nonprofit health clinic next door," Fitz says. "She was running ragged — not ragged because it was Jewel, she was an Energizer