The true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans.
For decades, a nice Jewish couple ran Circus of Books, a porn shop and epicenter for gay LA. Their director daughter documents their life and times.
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.
Created from a treasure trove of archive, Queerama traverses a century of gay experiences, encompassing persecution and prosecution, injustice, love and desire, identity, secrets, forbidden encounters, sexual liberation and pride. The soundtrack weaves the lyrics and music of John Grant, Goldfrapp and Hercules & Love Affair with the images and guides us intimately into the relationships, desires, fears and expressions of gay men and women in the 20th century – a century of incredible change.
In the midst of organizing his brother Ben's wedding, Shel, a gay party planner, decides to go on strike for equal rights when he learns that Ben is behind a political speech against gay marriage.
Shortly after The Third Solar Term of the Chinese Calendar (the Awakening of Insects), Qizhe returns home to spend his spring break with his mother. After meeting a man who he originally met online, he begins to lose control of his double life- one which is living true to himself, and the other, which is pretending to be the perfect son.
The powerful and inspiring true story of the controversial human rights campaigner whose provocative acts of civil diso bedience rocked the British establishment, revolutionised attitudes to homosexuality and exposed world tyrants. As social attitudes change and history vindicates Peter's stance on gay rights, his David versus Goliath battles gradually win him status as a national treasure. The film follows Peter as he embarks on his riskiest crusade yet by seeking to disrupt the FIFA World Cup in Moscow to draw attention to the persecution of LGBT+ people in Russia and Chechnya.
A documentary on Queercore, the cultural and social movement that began as an offshoot of punk and was distinguished by its discontent with society's disapproval of the gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender communities.
Bull Jackson is a bouncer in a gay bar where Jordan performs as a drag queen by night and is a medical student by day. When Coco, their mentor and owner of the club, is shot in what appears to be a random homophobic attack, Bull and Jordan form an unlikely team to find those responsible.
Roberto and Miguel have been dating for ten years. A decade of that common life will return to their memories during four days of November. A seemingly strong relationship will start to crumble with each new memory. This increasingly significant life backgroung will show, little by little, the true nature of their shared life. Meanwhile, more than 2000 kilometres apart, in The Two Berlins, a greater relationship is about to change too. In the deep of a relationship lie hidden feelings forged by a common past. Secrets and resentments that the rest of the world can not see, separated by a wall that seems unbeatable. The wall separating Roberto and Miguel was not the only wall that fell down that cold November night.
In 1992, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, activist Terence Alan Smith made a historic bid for president of the United States as his drag queen persona Joan Jett Blakk. Today, Smith reflects back on his seminal civil rights campaign and its place in American history.
Over the course of a year, film follows Vancouver Pride Society president Ken Coolen to various international Pride events, including Poland, Hungary, Russia, Sri Lanka and others where there is great opposition to pride parades. In North America, Pride is complicated by commercialization and a sense that the festivals are turning away from their political roots toward tourism, party promotion and entertainment. Christie documents the ways larger, more mainstream Pride events have supported the global Pride movement and how human rights components are being added to more established events. In the New York sequence, leaders organize an alternative Pride parade, the Drag March, set up to protest the corporatization of New York Pride. A parade in São Paulo, the world's largest Pride festival, itself includes a completely empty float, meant to symbolize all those lost to HIV and to anti-gay violence.
The Advocate for Fagdom unites the puzzle pieces one by one. Testimonies are combined with rare archive images. Art galeries present movie extracts that are succeeded by images shot on location. And the other way round. Writers, film makers, art galeries owners, actors and actresses, photographers, producers, friends and loved ones all join in a game of interpretation, analysis or simple anecdotes. John Waters, Bruce Benderson, Harmony Korine, Gus Van Sant, Richard Kern, Rick Castro and others deliver their impressions, theories and confessions. Everything blends into the fascinating portrait of a singular person blessed with singular talents. A complex personality at war not with a system but all systems. The portrait of a man constantly moving between his punk attitude and extreme sensibility.
The first major uprising against police brutality, harassment, and societal oppression was not at Stonewall in 1969, but at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco three years earlier. Those who stood up were trans women and gay men. Now, nearly 40 years on, Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman tell the story of this oft-overlooked event in the history of American civil rights.
Produced by the activist video collective ACT UP/NY called DIVA TV (Damned Interfering Activist Television), this tape analyzes the collaborative demonstration "Stop the Church" by WHAM! (Women's Health Action and Mobilization) and ACT UP/NY on December 10, 1990, against Cardinal John O'Connor and the Roman Catholic Church's murderous stand on abortion rights, safer sex, and homosexuality.
Mentally ill. Deviant. Diseased. And in need of a cure. These were among the terms psychiatrists used to describe gay women and men in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. And as long as they were “sick”, progress toward equality was impossible. This documentary chronicles the battle waged by a small group of activists who declared war against a formidable institution – and won a crucial victory in the modern movement for LGBTQIA+ equality.
This short film reveals the inspiration, motivation and political challenges at San Francisco City Hall during the frantic days leading up to the first government-sanctioned same-sex marriage.
Narrated by Linda Hunt, this documentary examines the life of the late author and gay rights activist Paul Monette. Born in 1945 to a well-off Massachusetts family, Monette grows up unable to accept his homosexuality, for years hiding it from his loved ones while struggling to develop as a writer. In 1978, Monette publishes his first novel, which allows him to come out to his parents. After losing one lover to AIDS in 1986, he becomes a ferocious advocate for awareness of the disease.
Historians agree 1968 was a watershed year and so it was particularly fitting that the Yale Class of 68 invited William Sloane Coffin Jr. to their 35th reunion to give what would be his final speech. No one shared more in the actions and passions of his era then William Sloane Coffin Jr., a hero for civil rights, peace and activism, a legendary clergyman who received international acclaim for his antiwar speeches and messages of international peace. This rare and vital documentary intercuts fascinating footage of the Class of 68 with President George W. Bush (Yale 68) at the White House as well as profound and moving comments and reminiscences by prominent members of the Yale class of 68
A mini documentary about the untold contributions lesbians made during the A.I.D.S epidemic.
The story of Iowa's legendary Blazing Saddle the community that built it.
In 1998, pop star George Michael was arrested for a lewd act in a Los Angeles public toilet. This is the story of how his response to a potentially career-crushing event changed history.
