Great LGBTQ+ documentaries
Top LGBTQ+ documentaries
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29 titles
- DirectorDavid ThorpeStarsDavid ThorpeGeorge TakeiTim GunnA documentary about the stereotype of the gay voice.
- DirectorDavid WeissmanBill WeberStarsEd WolfDaniel GoldsteinGuy ClarkA deep and reflective look at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco and how individuals rose to the occasion during the first years of this unimaginable crisis.
- DirectorJennie LivingstonStarsBrooke XtravaganzaAndré ChristianDorian CoreyA chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.
- DirectorRob EpsteinStarsHarvey FiersteinHarvey MilkAnne KronenbergA documentary of the successful career and assassination of San Francisco's first elected gay city supervisor.
- DirectorRob EpsteinJeffrey FriedmanStarsLily TomlinTony CurtisSusie BrightA documentary surveying the various Hollywood screen depictions of homosexuals and the attitudes behind them throughout the history of North American film.
- DirectorGreta SchillerRobert RosenbergStarsRita Mae BrownBruce NugentHenry OtisThe history of the Gay and Lesbian community before the Stonewall riots began the major gay rights movement.
- DirectorJennifer M. KrootStarsGeorge TakeiBrad TakeiWalter KoenigA look at the many roles played by eclectic actor/activist George Takei, whose wit, humor and grace have helped him to become an internationally beloved figure and Internet phenomenon with 7-million Facebook fans and counting.
- DirectorDavid FranceStarsKurt WolfeSue YackaCatherine Shugrue Dos SantosVictoria 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.
- DirectorMalcolm IngramStarsJim BishopTerry CappsJackie CoxThe story of community in the Deep South that is forced to deal with the struggles of ignorance, hypocrisy and oppression.
- DirectorMark Kenneth WoodsStarsRoy HaylockDanny NoriegaShane Jenek-An intimate, behind-the-scenes look at performance, glamor, fame, family, love and sacrifice as some of the world's most renowned drag queens come together for World Pride in Toronto (in Canada).
- DirectorIlppo PohjolaStarsTom of FinlandRobert Henry MizerNayland BlakeTom of Finland is one of the gay world's few authentic icons. His drawings have had an enormous influence on gay identity. Tom's ultimate leather men are known and seen everywhere. They are symbols of gay pride and friendship. The documentary includes some titillating 'enactments' inspired by Tom's art work.
- DirectorYony LeyserStarsJohn WatersBruce La BruceBeth DittoA 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.
- DirectorAngela TuckerStarsAlizaAntoniaBarbFacing a sex obsessed culture, a mountain of stereotypes and misconceptions, and a lack of social or scientific research, asexuals - people who experience no sexual attraction - struggle to claim their identity.
- DirectorCaroline BerlerStarsDesiree AkhavanJanet BausVicky DuA history of queer cinema from the women who made it happen.
- DirectorSophie DrosA story about five young people who neither feel male nor female, but rather position themselves somewhere in between. They all have their own struggles, but together they create a compelling story about acceptance.
- DirectorSelene KapsaskiStarsLaganja EstranjaOlivia BurginLola FierceLaganja Estranja teaches a dance class in London followed by a performance at the West 5.
- DirectorAlex BerryStarsJinkx MonsoonBenjimen BlairZan GibbsDrag Becomes Him provides an intimate glimpse inside the life of internationally acclaimed drag performer Jinkx Monsoon.
- DirectorMalcolm IngramStarsDouglas LangwayKevin SmithMalcolm Ingram introduces us to gay men who dig big dudes who are stockier and hairier than the airbrushed ideal served by up lifestyle magazines and underwear ads.
- DirectorJem CohenPeter SillenStarsBenjamin DickersonTim CampionBrian HalloranThis highly unorthodox documentary follows the crooked path of Benjamin (no last name). He lives in a hidden neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia called "Cabbagetown." Drag-queen, speed-freak, all-around renegade, Benjamin left the straight (in every sense of the word) world behind a long time ago.
- DirectorFenton BaileyRandy BarbatoStarsCherChaz BonoGeorgia HoltDocumentary following Chaz (formerly Chastity) Bono's gender transition. Includes interviews with family members and friends as the transition is followed.
- DirectorAngélique BosioStarsBruce La BruceGlenn BelverioBruce BendersonThe 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.
- DirectorRob EpsteinJeffrey FriedmanStarsSara LewinsteinDavid MandellSuzi MandellA collection of profiles of people dead from AIDS who are remembered in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
- DirectorMonika TreutStarsSusan StrykerTexas TomboyAnnie SprinkleMonika Treut explores the worlds and thoughts of several transgender individuals. As with Treuts first film, Jungfrauenmaschine, Gendernauts, enters a minority sector of San Fransisco culture. The individuals in this film are people whose assigned gender at birth does not match their social gender identity. The subject is pinpointed in the film independent of sexual orientation. Leave your conservative hats at the door, this is going to need your special attention.
- DirectorLisa AdesLesli KlainbergStarsRandy BarbatoDan BucatinskyJonathan CaouetteA chronological look at films by, for, or about (or 'by, for, and about') gays and lesbians in the United States, from 1947 to 2005, from Kenneth Anger's "Fireworks" to Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain." Talking heads, anchored by critic and scholar B. Ruby Rich, are interspersed with an advancing timeline and with clips from two dozen films. The narrative groups the pictures around various firsts, movements, and triumphs: experimental films, indie films, sex on screen, outlaw culture and bad guys, lesbian lovers, films about AIDS and dying, emergence of romantic comedy, transsexual films, films about diversity and various cultures, and then mainstream Hollywood drama. What might come next?
- DirectorParvez SharmaStarsMuhsin HendricksA.K. HoosenMazenA documentary on gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims across the Muslim and Western worlds.
- DirectorEliezer Pérez AngueiraGay Rights is an issue heard around the world, including Cuba. Free Havana paints a vivid picture of what it has been like to be gay in Cuba through the candid stories of six gay and lesbian individuals. From the Batista era to the Revolution to the Mariel Boatlift to present-day Cuba, Free Havana exposes the evolution of gay life from a time when homosexuality was considered a punishable crime to current efforts to promote a greater acceptance of freedom of sexual orientation. Honest in approach and poignant in content, the stories of the six Cubans will inform and inspire as they touch your heart. In 2006, a shorter version of Free Havana (Habana Libre) became the first documentary of its kind to be screened at Havana's International Festival of New Latin Cinema, a milestone for LGBT cinema given the strict censorship in Cuba.
- DirectorJeffrey SchwarzStarsPhyllis AntonellisGeorge BancroftRichard BarriosThe story of Vito Russo, founding father of the gay liberation movement, author of "The Celluloid Closet," and vociferous AIDS activist in the 1980s.
- DirectorBen CotnerRyan WhiteStarsTed OlsonChristopher D. DusseaultJeffrey J. ZarrilloA behind-the-scenes look inside the case to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage. Shot over five years, the film follows the unlikely team that took the first federal marriage equality lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- DirectorDaisy AsquithStarsLeigh BoweryNicola BoweryQuentin CrispCompilation of archive footage from 1919 to the present, from both documentary and fictional sources, set to music, illustrating the huge changes in LGBTQ life in Britain (mainly England) over the 20th century.