Films and Documentaries

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 — PARIS IS BURNING brings it, celebrating the joy of movement, the force of eloquence, and the draw of community.

In the late 1980s, members of Act-Up and other AIDS activists battle hostility and indifference to bring attention to the disease and try to reduce the number of victims while hoping to lead the drive to find a cure.

A stunning display of filmmaking style and a fascinating love story evenly mixed into one film. Winner of the Best Director prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, Wong Kar-Wai's "Happy Together" stars Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung as gay lovers living out the waning days of their relationship in this dazzlingly distinctive film.

Jared Eamons, the son of a small-town Baptist pastor, must overcome the fallout after being outed as gay to his parents. His father and mother struggle to reconcile their love for their son with their beliefs. Fearing a loss of family, friends and community, Jared is pressured into attending a conversion therapy program. While there, Jared comes into conflict with its leader and begins his journey to finding his own voice and accepting his true self.

In 18th century France a young painter, Marianne (Noémie Merlant), is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). Day by day, the two women become closer as they share Héloïse's last moments of freedom before the impending wedding.

The heartbreaking true story of a Nebraskan teen's struggles under transphobia. Young female-to-male transgender Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) leaves his hometown under threat when his ex-girlfriend's brother discovers that he's biologically female. Resettling in the small town of Falls City, Nebraska, Brandon falls for Lana (Chloë Sevigny), an aspiring singer, and begins to plan for their future together. But when her ex-convict friends, John (Peter Sarsgaard) and Tom (Brendan Sexton III), learn Brandon's secret, things change very quickly.

About the perception and misrepresentation of trans and non-binary persons in the media. In this documentary, leading trans creatives and thinkers share heartfelt perspectives and analysis about Hollywood's impact on the trans community.

Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn't been faithful during the days she was locked up, a sex worker and her best friend embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the rumor. Their odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles.

This short documentary profiles the lives of three men of color who have undergone gender transition from female to male. The film explores what life is like living as a black man, when no one knows you are transgender. This award-winning film is one of the few films to address the intersectionality of race, gender, and the experiences of those who walk multiple paths in life.

Victoria Cruz investigates the mysterious 1992 death of black gay rights activist and Stonewall veteran, Marsha P. Johnson. Using archival interviews with Johnson, and new interviews with Johnson's family, friends and fellow activists.

The rise and fall of Exodus, a pray the gay away operation. “I lived transgender, but I left it all to follow Jesus.” So explains self-identified ‘ex-trans’ Jeffrey, whose belief that change is possible reflects the core message of the conversion therapy movement today. In the 1970s, five men struggling with being gay in their Evangelical church started a bible study to help each other leave the "homosexual lifestyle." They quickly received over 25,000 letters from people asking for help and formalized as Exodus International, the largest and most controversial conversion therapy organization in the world. Julie is one of hundreds of thousands of people caught in Exodus’ wake. When she came out at sixteen, her mom took her to a residential conversion therapy program where she spent the next decade going through weekly psychological, behavioral, and religious counseling to make her straight. But leaders struggled with a secret: their own “same-sex attractions” never went away. After years as Christian superstars in the religious right, many have come out as LGBTQ, disavowing the very movement they helped start. PRAY AWAY chronicles that movement’s rise to power, persistent influence, and the harm it causes.

The life of a prominent gay rights activist in California. In the aftermath of Stonewall, a newly politicized Vito Russo found his voice as a gay activist and critic of LGBT representation in the media. He went on to write "The Celluloid Closet," the first book to critique Hollywood's portrayals of gays on screen. During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Vito became a passionate advocate for justice via the newly formed ACT UP, before his death in 1990.

Forms a conversation on how different interpretations of the Bible inform or dispel homophobia. We meet five Christian families, each with a gay or lesbian child. Parents talk about their marriages and church-going, their children's childhood and coming out, their reactions, and changes over time. The stories told by these nine parents and four adult children alternate with talking heads - Protestant and Jewish theologians - and with film clips of fundamentalist preachers and pundits and news clips of people in the street. They discuss scripture and biblical scholarship. A thesis of the film is that much of Christianity's homophobia represents a misreading of scripture, a denial of science, and an embrace of quack psychology. The families call for love.

A doc about the life of a very overlooked Civil Rights icon. Brother Outsider captures the full extent of Rustin's complex, 60-year career as an activist. The film contains rare archival footage, including impassioned debates between Rustin and Malcolm X as well as Rustin and Stokely Carmichael. In later years, Rustin continued to champion human rights including gay rights in campaigns around the globe. As King aide and former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young recalls in the film, "His commitment to justice was always very strong and very consistent. It was easier when he had allies like Martin Luther King and A. Philip Randolph, but when they were gone, he didn't stop." Brother Outsider relies on Rustin's extensive FBI records as a form of narration, which become chilling commentaries on the government's political surveillance programs. In a 1948 FBI report, for example, American diplomats suggested that "a prominent American Negro should tour India to counteract the unfavorable impression made by Rustin." Whatever the circumstance beaten, accused, shunned or celebrated Rustin embraced the struggle with fearless dignity. Brother Outsider is an exuberant film about a passionate and tireless human being. "Bayard Rustin was an extraordinary American who's been slighted in the historical record because he was gay," says filmmaker Nancy Kates. "We wanted not only to correct that record but also examine what Rustin's amazing life teaches us about issues of equity and the fight for social justice."

About the vibrant queer safe haven in San Francisco in the 80s. 'We Were Here' is the first film to take a deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco, and how the City's inhabitants dealt with that unprecedented calamity. It explores what was not so easy to discern in the midst of it all - the parallel histories of suffering and loss, and of community coalescence and empowerment. Though this is a San Francisco based story, the issues it addresses extend not only beyond San Francisco but also beyond AIDS itself. 'We Were Here' speaks to our societal relationship to death and illness, our capacity as individuals to rise to the occasion, and the importance of community in addressing unimaginable crises.

A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. A wake is going on, with mourners gathered around a coffin. Downstairs is an elegant bar where tuxedoed men dance and talk. One of them has a dream in which he comes upon Beauty, who seems to reject him, although when he awakes, Beauty is sleeping beside him. His story and his visits to the jazz and dance club are framed by voices reading from the poetry and essays of Hughes and others. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.

A baseball player keeps her lesbian romance a secret for decades. Falling in love in 1947, two women -- Pat Henschel and pro baseball player Terry Donahue -- begin a 65-year journey of love and overcoming prejudice.

The story of three interconnected people living in a remote Navajo reservation, starring and written by transwomen: On a beautifully desolate Navajo reservation in New Mexico, three young people - a college-bound, devout Christian; a rebellious and angry father-to-be; and a promiscuous but gorgeous transgender - search for love and acceptance. As the three find their lives becoming more complicated and their troubles growing, their paths begin to intersect

A Colorado family is thrust into the international media spotlight when they fight for the rights of their 6-year-old transgender daughter in a landmark civil rights case. “Growing Up Coy” is a feature-length documentary about a young Colorado family who engages in a highly publicized legal battle and landmark civil rights case, as they fight for their 6-year-old transgender daughter's right to use the girls' bathroom at her elementary school. The film asks a universal question that any parent could face: “How far would you go to fight for your child’s equal rights?

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture is a feature documentary that follows the story of tireless researchers who trace the origins of the anti-gay movement among Christians to a grave mistranslation of the Bible in 1946. It chronicles the discovery of never-before-seen archives at Yale University which unveil astonishing new revelations, and casts significant doubt on any biblical basis for LGBTQIA+ prejudice. Featuring commentary from prominent scholars as well as opposing pastors, including the personal stories of the film’s creators, 1946 is at once challenging, enlightening, and inspiring. While other documentaries have been successful in their attempt to treat the symptom of homophobia in the church, 1946 is working to diagnose and treat the disease - Biblical Literalism.