A collage-like, incisive look at the life of writer, painter and thinker David Wojnarowicz, whose powerful, unapologetic way of seeing the world gave voice to queer rights at a critical time in US history.
Social & External
The people behind it
Fran Lebowitz
Self
David Wojnarowicz
Alan Barrows
Barry Blinderman
Nan Goldin
This documentary reviews and summarises the development of homosexuality as an issue in the past three decades in China. We interviewed thirty prominent figures in the gay community, who have experienced the changes of views and life-styles regarding homosexuality.
A portrait of an artist Risto Vilhunen.
An emotional look at the struggle for marriage equality in Ireland.
Fumi and Kazu have a lot to teach us about love. When they decide to stick their necks out and create the first LGBTQ+ law firm in Japan, they are drawn into the lives of people searching for protection and support. Despite their own relationship having no legal status, they work pro-bono for long hours, all the while foster-parenting a teenager. We meet with a colourful cast of misfits, dissidents and artists – from a delightful eccentric being prosecuted for her kitschy vagina sculptures, to a troubled outsider who, as the child of an ‘immoral woman’, has no legal identity. A saying is repeated throughout the film, that one must ‘read the air’ – conform to the tacit conservatism that forbids sexual diversity. With love, humour and serious legal chops, Fumi and Kazu do exactly the opposite.
Danish-Norwegian artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset began their creative journey as lovers in 1995. In 2009, they were specially nominated for both the Danish and Nordic Pavilions at the Venice Biennale. Recognized as one of the world's most iconic queer art duos, this documentary chronicles their artistic evolution. Through a selection of their bold and playful works, the film humorously unpacks critical themes such as identity, gender, and democracy, revealing the rebellious, unapologetic spirit that defines queer art.
Mark Gatiss explores the life and career of Aubrey Beardsley, an artist who wielded outrage as adroitly as his pen. A lifelong fan, Mark shows how Beardsley was more than just a genius of self-promotion who scandalised the art world of the 1890s. He was also a technological innovator, whose uncompromising attitude still feels remarkably modern.
The Purge traces a dark and little-known moment in Canadian history: the systemic discrimination faced by members of the LGBT community within the Armed Forces and the federal public service. From 1950 to 1996, it was yesterday, no effort was spared to flush out these men and women deemed "immoral" and representing a "danger to national security": intensive and coercive interrogations, humiliating tests, polygraphs, forced confessions and denunciations.
Two young actors are exploring the topic of representation of LGBTI people through the history of Yugoslav cinema and social circumstances that have resulted in different treatment of these characters.
An intimate documentary that follows Tig Notaro, a Los Angeles based comedian, who just days after being diagnosed with invasive stage II breast cancer changed the course of her career with a poignant stand-up set that became legendary overnight. It explores Tig's extraordinary journey as her career ignites and as her life unfolds in grand and unexpected ways, all the while continuing to battle a life-threatening illness and falling in love.
This powerful documentary explores the intersection of two crises — war and the HIV epidemic. The film follows HIV-positive Ukrainian activist Yana Panfilova as she joins “Through Positive Eyes,” a global photo-storytelling project. The film looks to the resilience of a new generation, navigating survival and community through art and activism.
A documentary essay on coming of age and the power of the unconscious. In the same vein as Sweatlodge Song, this is a message of courage and hope.
In appreciation of the eponymous stream, this poem is a love letter to the beauty found in nature. Written and spoken in English and Anishinaabemowin.
This entertaining and enlightening documentary sheds a light on a pioneering moment in film history and the gay rights movement, as it revisits the break-through 1960s gay films of Pat Rocco. Rocco was responsible for the very first gay films that were shown openly to the paying public in the late 1960s. Situated before hardcore porn became the norm, and in marked contrast to the somewhat darker gay porn that was coming out of New York at the time. Pat Rocco’s film were more sun-dappled, featuring tanned and happy-looking naked men on sail boats and on beaches, celebrating their identities and the beauty of the male body. The filmmakers got to talk to the generous, rather humble and open-minded Rocco just before his death. It took a team of dedicated Canadian filmmakers to capture a fairly obscure moment of indie film history that deserves to be remembered.
Portrait of an artist who has marked the history of contemporary photography with his images in sequences where gravity and humor and even writing are mixed. Through the emblematic themes of his work, such as love, desire, death or immortality, this film proposes to revisit the places that have marked him: Pittsburgh, the flagship city of the steel industry, the city of his childhood and his first discoveries; New York, where he has been living for many years with his companion Frédéric, a city that symbolizes encounters and desire; and finally Vermont, for the nature, the seasons and the disused hotel where he works. These places bring out the artist's fantasy, humor and emotion. Duane Michals is a young man of 80 years, with a great freedom of spirit and vitality, his enthusiasm is contagious and this film is a reflection of it.
In the 1970s, a small Greek island emerges as a symbol of hope, freedom, and self-expression. Mykonos was "paradise on earth," and for some, it still is. The island was a haven for extramarital and queer love during the dictatorship of the military junta that ruled Greece between 1964 and 1974 following a coup d’état, a regime of dominant patriarchy when even pronouncing the word «gay» on the streets of Athens could be considered a criminal act. In an overall conservative Greece, the Italian entrepreneur Pierro Aversa, a mythical figure of the European queer highlife, opened a gay bar where atmosphere and partying took precedence over profit. A free-spirited, encapsulated environment where forbidden desires could be manifested was cultivated; however, its image is not only reflected through idealistic lenses in the film – many people died in the drug-fuelled madness, and many kids were lost as well, as the locals admit.
Cherry Grove (Fire Island, NY) is the first openly LGBTQ community in the United States. One of the most accepting resort communities in the world, it is a place where everyone can discover who they really and enjoy being a free spirit.
Two British families discuss the challenges they face raising children who identify as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth.
My work explores my relationship to my own sexuality. In this particular piece, I try to come to terms with my body issues stemming from my avid pornography consumption, that started in my teenage years, and which have shaped my distorted vision of beauty and masculinity.
This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.
Though legendary lyricist Howard Ashman died far too young, his impact on Broadway, movies, and the culture at large were incalculable. Told entirely through rare archival footage and interviews with Ashman’s family, friends, associates, and longtime partner Bill Lauch, Howard is an intimate tribute to a once-in-a-generation talent and a rousing celebration of musical storytelling itself.
Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (1945-1988) was the ultimate outsider turned underground hero. Spitting in the face of the status quos of body image, gender identity, sexuality, and preconceived notions of beauty, Divine succeeded in becoming an internationally recognized icon, recording artist, and character actor of stage and screen. Glenn went from the often-mocked, schoolyard fat kid to underdog royalty, standing up for millions of gay men and women, drag queens and punk rockers, and countless other socially ostracized misfits and freaks. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality, and revolutionized pop culture.
The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.
Exuberant, eye-opening movie that serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Film contains fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s.
A deliciously scandalous portrait of unsung Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, whose bestselling memoir chronicled his decades spent as sexual procurer to the stars.
Nude men in rubber suits, close-ups of erections, objects shoved in the most intimate of places—these are photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorpe, known by many as the most controversial photographer of the twentieth century. Openly gay, Mapplethorpe took images of male sex, nudity, and fetish to extremes that resulted in his work still being labelled by some as pornography masquerading as art. But less talked about are the more serene, yet striking portraits of flowers, sculptures, and perfectly framed human forms that are equally pioneering and powerful.
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the "Institute of Snap!thology," where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.
An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
The story of artist Lil Peep from his birth in Long Island and meteoric rise as a genre blending pop star & style icon, to his death due to an accidental opioid overdose in Arizona at just 21 years of age.
Those who knew iconic funnyman John Candy best share his story, in their own words, through never-before-seen archival footage, imagery, and interviews.
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Explore the evolution of Buzz Lightyear from toy to human in the making of Pixar’s Lightyear. Dive into the origin and cultural impact of everyone’s favorite Space Ranger, the art of designing a new “human Buzz,” and the challenges faced by the Lightyear crew along the way.
A documentary chronicling Queen and Lambert's incredible journey since they first shared the stage together on "American Idol" in 2009.
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four unforgettable characters whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of this city.
Home movies, photographs, and recited poetry illustrate the life of Tupac Shakur, one of the most beloved, revolutionary, and volatile hip-hop MCs of all time.
Follow pop provocateur Lady Gaga as she releases a new album, preps for her Super Bowl halftime show, and confronts physical and emotional struggles.