The World Is Round So That Nobody Can Hide In The Corners: Part I — Refuge (2017)

Friendship of Men

In this docudrama Rosa von Praunheim looks into Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s sexual orientation, especially into his erotic experiences during his travels in Italy. Contrary to the common belief, von Praunheim argues that Goethe was not a heartbreaker and conqueror after all. It was only in Italy, that he had diverse sexual experiences, not least with men. Von Praunheim bases his assumption on letters written by Goethe to his friend Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi about these sexual encounters. Some of the content of these letters is re-encated in the film. At the same time, historians and linguists analyse and classify the letters into their historical context.

A Moffie Called Simon

A collage of found footage from different media presenting the case of Simon Nkodi, a black gay activist and student leader in South Africa, who had been in jail for two years when the film was produced. Exploring the connections between anti-apartheid struggles and gay liberation, A Moffie Called Simon is based on letters from Nkodi to his lover, Ray, a Canadian gay journalist.

Brief Tender Light

At America's elite MIT, a Ghanaian alum follows four African students as they strive to graduate and become agents of change for their home countries Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Over an intimate, nearly decade-long journey, all must decide how much of America to absorb, how much of Africa to hold on to, and how to reconcile teenage ideals with the truths they discover about the world and themselves.

Light in the Water

In 1982, soon after the first Gay Games, 'West Hollywood Swim Club,' as it was known then, registered as the first openly gay masters swim and water polo club. This feature documentary film follows their battle for acceptance: from their humble beginnings, to how these men and women have become a renowned force fighting injustice in the world of competitive sports.

Stolen Kisses: Homosexual Love in Fascist Italy

Through letters, diaries and personal testimonies, an account of the complexity and variety of experiences of LGBT Italians during the Fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini (1922-43); intimate words that contrast with the lyrics of popular songs and the propaganda of the time, obsessed with extolling the myths of virility, femininity and motherhood and constrained by sexual repression.

Liam

Just after Isidore moves to France to study filmmaking, his best friend dies back in the US. Through documentary, performance, and animation, a ghostly portrait emerges, prompting Isidore to question his relationships with his parents and his boyfriend in Paris.

Faggots

Absolute pleasure as an identity. Alfonso de Sierra, Luis Escribano, Ramón Massa, Ces Martí and Enric Bents were “Els 5 QKs”, a group of amateur filmmakers who, in 1975, decided to get together and create a transgressive and courageous filmography breaking social, religious, and political boundaries; placing the faggot as leading role hero: proud of himself, shameless, beyond good and evil. In this documentary film, Luis Escribano and Ces Martí, only living members of the group, review, alongside some actors, their creative process and what those films, forgotten till now, meant to Barcelona during La Trancisión.

Where's My Roy Cohn?

Roy Cohn personified the dark arts of American politics, turning empty vessels into dangerous demagogues - from Joseph McCarthy to his final project, Donald J. Trump. This thriller-like exposé connects the dots, revealing how a deeply troubled master manipulator shaped our current American nightmare.

Halston

From Iowa to Studio 54, this investigation into the rags-to-riches story of America’s first superstar designer uncovers the cautionary tale of an artist who sold his name to Wall Street.

The Blue Flower of Novalis

Marcelo, a 40-year-old dandy, has a memory like no other. Monologuing between coffee and gay hookups, he holds court on a wide range of topics: his status, his Catholic grandmother, and his unusual sexual fantasies. At times, he takes himself for Genghis Khan or poet-philosopher Novalis.

An Army of Lovers

Documentary about the fight for LGBTQ-rights in Sweden during the 1970s.

The Red Tree

A powerful and poetic short film that tells the little known history of Italian gay men being arrested and exiled to a remote island during Mussolini’s Fascist regime.

Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life

Jonathan Agassi is a superstar in the world of gay porn. He lives the wild life in Berlin and Tel Aviv, where he works in films and live shows and has a second job as an escort. Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll – and all of it in large quantities. But the industry is tough, and behind the confident smile is an insecure boy with an absent father and a very close relationship to his broad-minded mother. The contrast to the superficial success grows and grows, but in the world of porn there is no room for crises. Here, you must deliver the goods, every single time – and every single day. Otherwise you are done. The identity crisis is smouldering, Agassi is floundering and drugs become tempting as an easy way out. But how long can he hold onto himself? Over the course of eight years, and with much mutual trust, the director Tomer Heymann has followed Agassi right up to the culmination of his life's biggest crisis.

The First Drop of Rain: Making MATAR

Follow the emotional journey of Hiba Noor, a talented artist forced to flee her home country, as she navigates a new life in London while awaiting her asylum fate. This film takes you on a journey into the production of MATAR, a short film about a fellow asylum seeker facing similar problems.

Destiny in Alice

In the Heart of Australia, one of the harshest places on the planet, the town of Alice Springs has become a haven for lesbians, confronting the challenges of loving across racial and cultural gaps.

Egon Schiele: Dangerous Desires

The dramatic story of Egon Schiele in his own words, celebrating his remarkable artistic achievements but also debating the controversies around his work.

Age of Consent

The story of the HOIST, London's first and only Gay Fetish Bar, coincides with the political struggle to decriminalize homosexual activity within the United Kingdom.

DeRosa: Life, Love & Art in Transition

Chronicles the extraordinary life of artist Felicia DeRosa, who came out as transgender at the age of 41. With her life, career, and marriage potentially at risk, Felicia embarks on a journey towards authenticity and self-acceptance.

Body Without Soul

A stark documentary about young male prostitutes in Prague, aged 15 to 18, who work the streets, train stations, and clubs. Through candid interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of gay porn shoots, the film explores their lives, struggles, and dreams, touching on themes of exploitation, identity, AIDS, and survival.

I'm Your Venus

The two very different families of "Paris Is Burning" star Venus Xtravaganza unite to honor her and reopen her unsolved murder case.

No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin & Phyllis Lyon

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon have been partners in love and political struggle for fifty years. With incisive interviews, rare archival images and warmhearted humor, Joan Biren's 2003 film reveals their inspiring public work, as well as their charming private relationship. When they courageously launched the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955, it became the first public organization for lesbians in America. Today, these tireless activists are educating both the LGBT and aging movements on the needs of older lesbians.

Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution

This rapturous documentary steps into the dynamic world of queer stand-up and examines the powerful cultural influence it has had on social change in America. The film combines rare archival materials, stand-up performances, and interviews with a show-stopping lineup to present a definitive history of queer comedy.

Small Town Gay Bar

The story of community in the Deep South that is forced to deal with the struggles of ignorance, hypocrisy and oppression.

Sound It Out: The Untitled LGBTQIA Music Documentary

An edgy and unapologetic look at the growing impact that open LGBTQ music artists, and their straight allies, are having on the portrayal of sexuality and gender politics in music, and its affect on the normalizing of gay culture. Using artists personal experiences as a lens, we'll look at sexuality's influence on music and the role of social media in helping artists complicate mainstream expectations of identity. How far are artists willing to push their music, messages and imagery to challenge the way pop culture defines notions of sexuality, masculinity, femininity, gender and what it means to be queer?

Girl Like You

Over six years, a couple battles to stay together as one of them transitions genders; confronting the effects of new body parts, changing gender roles as well as navigating their own evolving sexual identities.

Gendernauts: A Journey Through Shifting Identities

Monika Treut explores the worlds and thoughts of several female to male transgendered individuals. As with Treuts first film, Jungfrauenmaschine, Gendernauts, enters a minority sector of San Fransisco culture. The characters in this film have a lot to complain about, and they do. They are people whose physical appearance (female) does not match their inner sexual identity (male). The subject is pinpointed in the film independant of sexual orientation. Leave your conservative hats at the door, this is going to need your special attention.

101 Rent Boys

Paid 50 dollars for their time, 101 male prostitutes -- spanning all ages, ethnicities, and personal backgrounds -- are questioned by the filmmakers about their lives.

The Dads

On a fishing trip with Matthew Shepard's father, five disparate dads discuss their love, hopes and fears for their trans kids in this short documentary.

Orlando, My Political Biography

Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel "Orlando: A Biography" follows the centuries-spanning life of a young nobleman who awakens to find that they are a woman. Almost a century after its publication, Paul B. Preciado claims that fiction has become reality and Orlando's story lies at the root of all contemporary trans and non-binary life.

This is an Address

Stonewall veterans (including prominent trans activist Sylvia Rivera) and HIV-positive New Yorkers take up residency on the Hudson River piers as cranes raze vacant buildings for a new skyline.

The Contestant

Argenis, Yanvaldo, Carlos, Eduardo and Javier have something in common: they will compete in the Miss Gay Venezuela, a trans beauty contest where the man who most resembles a “Miss” wins. For several weeks, we follow them in their preparations for the final night of the contest, seeing how that illusion is built: that of being a beauty queen for one night. The event is the excuse and the ideal setting to find ourselves with wishes, fantasies and the search for a dream come true. They look for the beautiful and feminine to achieve a desire: to be admired and recognized as the most beautiful trans in the contest.

Imagine… Pet Shop Boys: Then and Now

Featuring exclusive access to their recent tour and their new album, this documentary reveals the fascinating world of Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.

Believer

Imagine Dragons’ Mormon frontman Dan Reynolds is taking on a new mission to explore how the church treats its LGBTQ members. With the rising suicide rate amongst teens in the state of Utah, his concern with the church’s policies sends him on an unexpected path for acceptance and change.

Kiss/Kiss

Hosted by Micaella Raz and Zsara Laxamana. Your favorite VMX crushes kiss, lick, and tease each other in the sexiest girl-on-girl scenes ever caught on camera. Every touch is electric. Every moan, real.

Paragraph 175

During the Nazi regime, there was widespread persecution of homosexual men, which started in 1871 with the Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code. Thousands were murdered in concentration camps. This powerful and disturbing documentary, narrated by Rupert Everett, presents for the first time the largely untold testimonies of some of those who survived.

The Pleasure in Pain

A short film that follows key figures of the London kink scene on an exploration into BDSM and the notorious fetish event Klub Verboten. The film touches upon themes of psychology, trauma, LGBTQ+ rights and black representation.

Gay Sex in the 70s

A chronicle of gay culture in New York during the post-Stonewall, pre-AIDs era. Thirteen men and one woman look back at gay life and sex in Manhattan and Fire Island - from Stonewall (June, 1969) to the first reporting on AIDS (June, 1981). They describe the rapid move from repression to celebration, from the removal of shame to joy, the on-going search for "someone," the freedom before AIDS, the friendships, and brotherhood.

Kokomo City

Four Black transgender sex workers in Atlanta and New York City break down the walls of their profession.

The Celluloid Closet

Exuberant, eye-opening movie that serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Film contains fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s.

Before Stonewall

New York City's Stonewall Inn is regarded by many as the site of gay and lesbian liberation since it was at this bar that drag queens fought back against police June 27-28, 1969. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots.

Outrage

An indictment of closeted politicians who lobby for anti-gay legislation in the US.

The Life and Loves of Oscar Wilde

The story of Oscar Wilde's life, told by his grandson and others.

The Uninhabitable Ones

A dance group rehearses for their latest performance Inabitáveis about black homosexuality. While the choreographer conducts research and gives guided tours, he meets Pedro, a young trans girl looking for her own means of expression. She desperately wants to be taught by him.

A Long Way From Heaven: The Rainbow Y Story

The true story of the students of Brigham Young University's queer underground, as they lit the school's iconic "Y" in rainbow colors. But, A Long Way From Heaven does a lot more than tell the story of the Rainbow Y. It outlines the history of queer treatment at BYU - the good (where it exists), the bad, and the very, very ugly. The film combines new, original footage with a huge variety of historical images, videos, newspaper articles, and other mixed media from every conceivable source to tell the story of BYU's queer students, and the bravery and risks they constantly take to make their voices heard.

The Beach of Enchaquirados

Vicky is fisherman by day and bar owner at night. When she was a little boy her dream was to be a radio soap opera star, nowadays she dreams of falling in love again. How is it possible that a small, barren place in the third world has managed to achieve this special form of freedom and tolerance?

Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over

The story of the iconic singer's fascinating six-decade career in both music and Black and LGBTQ activism.

Mr. Gay Syria

In focusing his attention on the competitors of Mr Gay Syria, director Ayse Toprak shatters the one-dimensional meaning of “refugee”. Using the pageant as a means of escape from political persecution, the organiser Mahmoud — already given asylum in Berlin — hopes to offer the winner a chance to travel as well as bring international attention to the life-threatening situations faced by LGBT Syrians.

Paris Is Burning

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.

Steelers: The World's First Gay Rugby Club

Told through the eyes of an Australian news reporter, Eammon Ashton-Atkinson, who moved to the UK to escape depression, the documentary, follows 3 characters on their journey to overcome their struggles as the club competes against 60 other gay clubs in the Bingham Cup in Amsterdam – the World Cup of gay rugby.

Always Amber

Amber belongs to a queer generation which no longer wants society to dictate their identity. The teenagers proudly inhabit a spectrum of fluid identities and master their first loves and losses.