An inside look into the effort to preserve Philadelphia's ballroom scene, a black LGBTQ safe-space that has endured for 30 years.
Related Movies
We Can Be Heroes (2024)
Sometimes, finding your tribe requires a bit of magic. For attendees of a live action role-playing (LARP) camp in upstate New York, the deeply accepting environment has given neurodivergent, queer, and self-proclaimed "nerdy" teenagers the space and community for self-discovery that they have never found anywhere else. As the campers immerse themselves in this imaginative world, they discover inner strength, heal from past traumas, and emerge as the heroes they are meant to be, both in the fantasy realm and in real life.
Ungochani (2010)
A young film maker's journey through one of Zimbabwe's greatest taboos. A young woman media studies student is fascinated by the uproar about homosexuality in Zimbabwe, and the people her society condemns. Courageously, Porcia sets out to approach a taboo by looking compassionately at the lives of gay people in Zimbabwe.
Translatina (2010)
The result of three years of production, more than 100 hours of filming, and interviews with people from 15 nationalities, Translatina paints an alarming portrait of the realities faced by transgender people in Latin America. Through a series of testimonies from civil society representatives and other stakeholders, this full-length documentary offers a realistic look at the challenges faced by transgender people in accessing education, work, justice, health care, and other services. It also shows how non-governmental organizations in Latin America are starting a dialogue with governments to demand opportunities for inclusion of transgender people, and how such initiatives may result in significant changes to ensure the rights of the population.
Love is in the Legend (2022)
A documentary relating to a video of the Grand Street Ball of 1988, held by Patricia Field and the House of Field. The film explores the relationships and connections between the music and culture of the Paradise Garage with the ball culture of the mid 1980's, driven by the participants' need to belong, each working, dancing, and surviving together despite the epic sweep of larger societal conflicts of the time. They are featured in present day interviews, along side 1980's archival photography and film, and iconic music representative of the theme, bridging this piece of history to the present day by the passion that lives on.
Tom Bianchi's Men in Motion (2001)
This nicely made erotic video goes behind the scenes at a Tom Bianchi photo shoot for a sports spread. There are hot shots of the games and posing for the loving camera lens. Bianchi gives us some incisive interview moments with athletes in dance, basketball, wrestling, fitness training and triathlon. After the active photo session it's into the shower with these hunks and a nude photo session. A nice glimpse behind the scenes with the most prominent photographer of nude men in the business. One note is that Bianchi is one of the most handsome guys we've seen in his age bracket - perhaps it's because he loves his job so much, who wouldn't love to photograph beautiful men all day?
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis (2007)
In this entrancing documentary on performance artist, photographer and underground filmmaker Jack Smith, photographs and rare clips of Smith's performances and films punctuate interviews with artists, critics, friends and foes to create an engaging portrait of the artist. Widely known for his banned queer erotica film Flaming Creatures, Smith was an innovator and firebrand who influenced artists such as Andy Warhol and John Waters.
Step Up and Be Vocal (2001)
Interviews from 1999, with some queer artists, activists and bands about queer punk, feminist concepts and actions. Filmed during a trip to San Francisco.
Cured (2020)
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.
The Men Who Speak Gayle (2020)
Entertainer Nathan Kennedy, who speaks Gayle, the South African cant that flourished during the Apartheid era, meets Louis van Brakel, a much older user of the secret language, and interviews him on stage at the Showroom, Prince Albert.
Baldiga: Unlocked Heart (2024)
Using diary excerpts, photographs and memories from companions, the film paints the portrait of the artist Jürgen Baldiga who sensitively and authentically captured the West Berlin queer scene of the 1980s and early 1990s with his camera.
Robert Mapplethorpe (1988)
The Robert Mapplethorpe documentary, from 1988--one year before he died--is an excellent examination of one of the most controversial of American photographers. British documentarian Nigel Finch does an outstanding job fusing interviews with Mr. Mapplethorpe himself, with critic and author Edmund White, and with several of Mapplethorpe's subjects as well, with numerous shots of the man's work. Mapplethorpe, gay, did not hesitate to photograph what he wanted to without fear of reprisal or censorship. Indeed, a good number of his pieces were not shown in the documentary at its original airing on PBS with the comment, "Considered Unsuitable for Viewing On This Transmission." His openly sexual work can at times be more than shocking, but it is always powerful and direct; as critic Lynn Davies says in the documentary, he did not pose people but photographed them doing what they would normally do in the course of their lives.
A Day of Trans (2021)
A Day of Trans is a groundbreaking, intimate look into the lives of four individuals – across three generations set against the backdrop of China's rise on the global stage. The short documentary film explores their lived experiences, professional career paths, community involvement, social barriers, and their unique approaches to life as transgender individuals across the generations.
The T Word (2014)
Documentary produced by Laverne Cox. The hour-long documentary follows the lives of seven transgender youths. They hail from New York, New Orleans and Baltimore and range in age from 12 to 24 years old, but they share common obstacles and joys.
575 Castro St. (2009)
Images set to a tape recording that slain San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk made in November 1977 to be played in case he was killed.
Stop the Movie (Cruising) (NaN)
A short film documenting street protests against the filming of William Friedkin's Cruising (1980)
Little Sister's vs. Big Brother (2002)
This documentary, filmed over a 10-year period, centers on the debate over censorship as it follows Vancouver's Little Sister's Bookstore and its 20-year struggle with Canada Customs over the seizure of books. In the face of bigotry, bombings and repeated book seizures, it wages the most important legal battle in history against Canada Customs.
T (2016)
A collage of film archives that gives an account of the artistic and territorial militancy of a group of transvestite militants during the years prior to the enactment of the gender law in the Argentine Republic.
black enuf* (2017)
A queer oddball seeks approval from Black peers despite a serious lack of Hip-Hop credentials. This short animated documentary takes you on a quest for belonging.
