Documentary
see all genres ›After decades of invisibility and misrepresentation in mainstream cinema, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender filmmakers dove headlong into documentary territory, seeing it as a vehicle for activism, historical preservation and affirmation of the community's diverse identities.
Watch Documentary Films
Genres / LGBTQ / Documentary
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Sergei / Sir Gay
As a teenager, Eisenstein signed his drawings with 'Sir Gay'. Roguish essayist Rappaport sees clear signs of his sexual preferences throughout the Russian’s film oeuvre. Numerous asides illustrate how Hollywood productions likewise frequently played with nods and winks and...Watch Movie
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That Man: Peter Berlin
With his trademark Dutch Boy haircut, Tom of Finland physique and oh-so-tight trousers, Peter Berlin was the poster boy for the hedonistic and sexually liberated 1970s. Director Jim Tushinski's fascinating and touching portrait, THAT MAN: PETER BERLIN, traces Berlin's story...Watch Movie
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The Dog
John Wojtowicz took pride in being a pervert. Coming of age in the 1960s, his libido was excessive even by the libertine standards of the era, with multiple wives and lovers, both women and men. In August 1972, he attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to finance his lover's sex-reassignment surgery....Watch Movie
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The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
From the ground-breaking director of ROCK HUDSON'S HOME MOVIES, Mark Rappaport takes us on a hilarious and provocative romp through the hidden and not-so-hidden undercurrents of Hollywood's Golden Years. Dan Butler acts as tour guide as he uncovers (despite efforts to launder...Watch Movie
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Jobriath A.D.
Seventies glam rock musician Jobriath was known as the "American Bowie," "True Fairy of Rock and Roll" and "Hype of the Year." The first openly gay rock star, Jobriath's reign was brief, lasting less than two years and two albums. Done in by a over‐hyped publicity machine, shunned by the gay...Watch Movie
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Gone
Kathy Gilleran is a twenty-year veteran police officer from Cortland, New York, just south of Syracuse. Her son, Aeryn Gillern, is a researcher working at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in Vienna and a former Mr. Gay Austria. On October 31st, 2007, Kathy receives a call...Watch Movie
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Portrait of Jason
On the night of December 2, 1966, Shirley Clarke and a tiny crew convened in her apartment at the Hotel Chelsea to make a film. There, for twelve straight hours they filmed the one-and-only Jason Holliday as he spun tales, sang, donned costumes and reminisced about good times...Watch Movie
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Rock Hudson's Home Movies
“It was all up there,” says Rock Hudson (Eric Farr) at the start of this rule-breaking, dizzying assortment of clips from Rock Hudson’s Hollywood career that make up Mark Rappaport’s feature film, ROCK HUDSON'S HOME MOVIES. Employing a narrative commentary from beyond the...Watch Movie
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Chris and Don: A Love Story
The true-life story of the passionate three-decade relationship between British writer Christopher Isherwood (whose "Berlin Stories" was the basis for all incarnations of the much-beloved CABARET) and American portrait painter Don Bachardy, thirty years his junior. From...Watch Movie
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The Polymath
A cinematic portrait of the larger than life Samuel R. Delany, a visionary and subversive novelist and one of the most important and innovative writers of the last fifty years. Delany, the grandson of a slave, is an award-winning author, gay activist, cultural and social historian, professor,...Watch Movie
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Let It Come Down
One of the most enigmatic artists of the 20th century, writer, composer and wanderer Paul Bowles is profiled by a filmmaker who has been obsessed with his genius since age nineteen. Set against the dramatic landscape of North Africa, the mystery of Bowles (famed author of "The...Watch Movie
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I Always Said Yes
The story of a sometimes-overlooked gay liberation and independent filmmaking pioneer is told in I ALWAYS SAID YES. In late 1971, Wakefield Poole, a respected Broadway dancer and choreographer, had the audacity to put his real name above the title of his first film, a low-...Watch Movie
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Uncle Bob
On a fateful night in 1974, millions of Americans tuned in to the Academy Awards® and watched in shock as an anonymous man streaked naked across the stage in the middle of the show. In an instant, the prankster named Robert Opel rocketed to iconic status, but to this day few people know the full...Watch Movie
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Body Without Soul
From director Wiktor Grodecki, this startling and disturbing feature is a graphic insider's view of the seedy but burgeoning East Europe industry that trades in nubile young men. Told with unflinching honesty, BODY WITHOUT SOUL provides an explicit view of the exploitation,...Watch Movie
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Before Stonewall
In 1969 the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, leading to three nights of rioting by the city's gay community. With this outpouring of courage and unity the Gay Liberation Movement had begun. BEFORE STONEWALL pries open the closet...Watch Movie
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Strange Powers
Stephin Merritt is known as "the Cole Porter of his generation" for his memorable melodies, lovelorn lyrics and wry musical stylings. Shot over 10 years, STRANGE POWERS explores his friendship with longtime bandmate/manager, Claudia Gonson. Through his recording/songwriting process, the film...Watch Movie
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Fifi Howls from Happiness
Mitra Farahani's lyrical documentary explores the enigma of provocative artist Bahman Mohassess, the so-called "Persian Picasso," whose acclaimed paintings and sculptures dominated pre-revolutionary Iran. Irreverent and uncompromising, a gay man in a hostile world, Mohassess...Watch Movie
