Rivers Wash Over Me (2009)

House of Boys

It is 1984. Frank is a determined English teenager who runs away from high school to find an alternative gay lifestyle in Amsterdam. He finds a home and a job at the "House of Boys", a bar-cum-brothel run by a strict Madame who has an eye for what his punters crave. Frank works his way up from barman to on-stage dancer and falls in love with some of his housemates, Jake. The first intimations of what is described as 'the gay cancer', casts a long shadow over Frank's tight-knit group of friends. Yet despite the troubles that cloud the hopes and dreams of young Frank, his perseverance, along with support from a willing doctor, will carry him through.

Touchez Pas au Grisbi

Gentleman gangster Max and his partner, Riton, pull off their last, most successful heist and find themselves comfortable enough to retire in the style they enjoy. However, Max confides the details of the theft to his younger mistress, Josey -- who has secretly taken up with ambitious young rival gangster Angelo. Angelo then has Riton kidnapped and demands the stash of gold as ransom, which threatens Max's dreams of the perfect retirement.

Re-Kill

Five years after a zombie outbreak, the men and women of R-Division hunt down and destroy the undead. When they see signs of a second outbreak, they fear humanity may not survive.

The Venerable W.

A view of the religious tensions between Muslims and Buddhist through the portrait of the Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, leader of anti-Muslim movement in Myanmar.

The Under-Gifted In Vacation

A group of friends are planning how to spend their summer vacation. One plans to go to the Seychelles with his American girlfriend. At the airport she dumps him for another guy. He has no money so he steals a backpack and goes camping. Somehow he meets a pretty girl and convinces her to share his tent. But a famous singer sees the girl and wants her too. He convinces the luckless guy to act like a fool and the girl leaves him and goes with the singer to the French Rivera.

Re-Elected

Friends battle former U.S. presidents when they come back from the dead as zombies on the Fourth of July.

Young Ahmed

A Belgian teenager hatches a plot to kill his teacher after embracing an extremist interpretation of the Quran.

The Day of the Jackal

An international assassin known as ‘The Jackal’ is employed by disgruntled French generals to kill President Charles de Gaulle, with a dedicated gendarme on the assassin’s trail.

Brubaker

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

The Dance of Reality

“Having broken away from my illusory self, I was desperately seeking a path and a meaning to life.” This phrase perfectly sums up Alejandro Jodorowsky’s biographical project: reconstituting the incredible adventure of his life. Alejandro Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in Tocopilla, a coastal town on edge of the Chilean desert, where this film was shot. It was there where he discovered the fundamentals of reality, as he underwent an unhappy and alienated childhood as part of an uprooted family.

Kidz

Sara and Nicola are married and in love. Their lives seem to be perfect: they have an angelic six-year-old daughter, thriving careers and a stable marriage. The birth of their second child, which disrupts the family balance, leads to tragicomic scenarios.

A White, White Day

In a remote Icelandic town, an off duty police chief begins to suspect a local man to have had an affair with his wife, who has recently died in a car accident. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth accumulates and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones. A story of grief, revenge and unconditional love.

My Dog Stupid

Henri is a middle-aged writer with fading inspiration who has published nothing worthy of note in years. Feeling increasingly misunderstood by his wife and four grown up deadbeat kids, he dreams of running away to start over again. Yet when he discovers an unattractive, bad-mannered dog in his garden, he decides to adopt him and both start developing an unexpected friendship that inevitably upsets Henri’s family and neighbors.

The Working Class Goes to Heaven

After losing a finger in a work accident, an Italian worker becomes increasingly involved in political and revolutionary groups.

'o Re

One of the key factors in Italian unification was the overthrow in 1860 of Francesco, the King of Naples and the two Sicilies, who went into elegant but impoverished exile in Rome with his Queen, Maria Sofia. This seriocomic drama follows the deposed royals as they adapt to their new lives. The former king has recognized the political finality of his deposition, but his queen has taken to traveling in men's clothing all over Italy trying to foment an uprising to restore them to the throne. She is also frantic to have a baby, an heir, but the king has become celibate as a kind of homage to his beloved mother; he spends all his time lobbying the Vatican to get her declared a saint.

Maledetto il giorno che t'ho incontrato

Bernardo is dumped by his girlfriend, his career as a rock music critic is beginning to decline and stars to see a psychologist but in the meantime he meets the problematic and shy Camilla, who disrupts his life.

The Wild Boys

Island of La Réunion, in the beginning of the 20th century. Five teenagers commit a savage crime. As punishment, a Dutch captain takes them to a supernatural island with luxuriant vegetation and bewitching powers.

The Child

Bruno and Sonia, a young couple living off her benefit and the thefts committed by his gang, have a new source of money: their newborn son. Bruno, 20, and Sonia, 18, live off the young girl's allowance and the petty thefts committed by him and his gang. Sonia has just given birth to Jimmy, their child. The carefree Bruno, who until then had only cared about the here and now, must now learn to become a father.

Tulipani: Love, Honour and a Bicycle

After losing his farm during the floods of 1953, a romantic Dutch farmer is tired of getting his socks wet. He cycles to Italy and decides to grow tulips in the sweltering heat of Puglia.

The Bar

In downtown Madrid, a series of mysterious gunshots trap a motley assortment of people in a decrepit bar.

Macadam Stories

Improbable encounters bring tenderness, laughter and compassion to a world of urban alienation.

Youth

A group of performing art troupe members each face their own trials and tribulations in Chengdu; from escaping a family scandal to dealing with unrequited love, each experiences rejection that shapes their lives.

La Notte

A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship in Milan.

Laurence Anyways

The story of an impossible love between a woman named Fred and a transgender woman named Laurence who reveals her inner desire to become her true self.

Seven Psychopaths

A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu.

We Still Kill the Old Way

A leftist professor wants the truth about two men killed during a hunting party; but the mafia, the Church and corrupt politicians don't want him to learn it.

Madame Satã

A story inspired by the life of one of the most remarkable figures in Brazilian popular culture, João Francisco dos Santos (1900-1976). In turn, bandit, transvestite, street fighter, brothel cook, convict and father to seven adopted children, dos Santos – better known as Madame Satã – was also a notorious gay performer who pushed social boundaries in a volatile time.

Tricked

During his 50th birthday party thrown by his wife, Remco's life takes a turn for the worse. His business partners are scheming behind his back to sell him and his former mistress shows up pregnant.

Captain Fantastic

Deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, beginning a journey that challenges his idea of what it means to be a parent.

Interiors

When Eve, an interior designer, is deserted by her husband of many years, Arthur, the emotionally glacial relationships of the three grown-up daughters are laid bare. Twisted by jealousy, insecurity and resentment, Renata, a successful writer; Joey, a woman crippled by indecision; and Flyn, a budding actress; struggle to communicate for the sake of their shattered mother. But when their father unexpectedly falls for another woman, his decision to remarry sets in motion a terrible twist of fate…

18 Years Later

Mirko and Genziano are two 35-year-old brothers who have not seen each other since their mother died in a freak accident in which they were involved—eighteen years ago. Since then, Genziano left to live in the UK and now is a stockbroker; Mirko instead remained in Rome, to stay with their father Marcello, working at the same run-down family shop. When Marcello dies, he leaves a task for the two brothers in his will: he asks them to take, on an old restored roadster, his ashes to the grave of his old mother in a village in Calabria, where the accident happened.

An Average Little Man

A middle-aged government accountant is determined to secure a stable job for his son before retiring, willing to go to great lengths to achieve his goal.

Boys Cry

Mirko and Manolo are best friends and live in the suburbs of Rome. They both live in poor conditions with their single parents, are still in school and struggle with occasional odd jobs to make ends meet. Together they share dreams of women, of sex and money, of a better life to come. Then, after killing a man in a hit-and-run one night, they get involved with the local mafia and their lives change dramatically.

The Occupant

An unemployed executive is forced to sell his apartment. When he discovers that he still has the keys, he becomes obsessed with the family that now lives there and decides to recover the life he has lost, at any price.

Bullhead

A young cattle farmer is approached by an unscrupulous veterinarian to make a shady deal with a notorious beef trader.

Small Time Crooks

A loser of a crook and his wife strike it rich when a botched bank job's cover business becomes a spectacular success.

Frivolous Lola

In 1950s northern Italy, a woman tests her fiancé's love and passion by trying to break his commitment to premarital chastity.

Ogni maledetto Natale

Massimo Marinelli Lops and Giulia Colardo meet by chance in Rome and fall in love. Giulia asks Massimo to spend Christmas Eve with her family.

Made in Dagenham

A dramatization of the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant, where female workers walked out in protest against sexual discrimination.

Moonlight

The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

Young Soul Rebels

Two disc jockeys have a friend's murder to solve in the fringe-group melting pot of 1977 London.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.

Saturday Church

Ulysses is a shy and effeminate boy who finds himself coping with new responsibilities as man of the house after the death of his father. Living alongside his mother, younger brother, and conservative aunt, Ulysses is also struggling with questions about his gender identity. He finds an escape by creating a world of fantasy filled with dance and music. Ulysses' journey takes a turn for the better when he finds a vibrant transgender community.

I Wish I Never Met You

Lauren Thomas is turning 40 and no one is more excited than her. She is married to Andrew, an amazing husband, a true provider and father. Andrew's brother, Franklin, is in a wheelchair due to a military attack. His wife, Mahogany, is currently pregnant with their first child. The two couples, along with three other couples and a few friends, are celebrating Lauren's birthday during the holidays since she is a Christmas baby. However, once the other women grow tired of Lauren bragging about her success, even though she is a stay-at-home wife, attitudes and snide comments take control. Over the course of the evening, things escalate and the entire cast gradually gets involved in the free-for-all until everything hits the proverbial fan.

Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom

As Noah and Wade prepare to marry in Martha's Vineyard, the personal problems of their friends - and the unexpected arrival of rapper Baby Gat - threatens to permanently end their relationship.

Blackbird

Seventeen-year-old Randy tries very hard to be a good person. Since his father left, Randy takes care of his emotionally disturbed mother, and he's the kind of friend all of his classmates can depend on. As strong as he seems on the outside, Randy is hiding a secret inner struggle and denial of his true self. It's not until he opens himself up to love that he discovers that becoming a man means accepting who you really are.

Tangerine

It's Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn't been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity.

The Watermelon Woman

A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.

Indestructible

He is a sensitive boy who represses his true personality. After experiencing traumatic experiences, our protagonist begins to open to the world on a journey that made him the person who is. This is not the complete story, but shows a trajectory of overcoming and change.

Gold Star

Two black non-heterosexual masculine leaning men attempt to escape their sexuality.

Pariah

A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

Naz & Maalik

Two closeted Muslim teens hawk goods across Brooklyn and struggle to come clean about their sexuality, as their secretive behavior leads them unknowingly into the cross-hairs of the War on Terror.

Bessie

The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.

Flying Lessons

Two estranged adopted sisters are forced together by their mother's sudden death: Beatrice, an autistic Chinese high school senior who wants to learn to fly, and Talia, a queer black musician who never wanted custody of Beatrice in the first place. Starring the autistic actress the story is based on, the film blurs narrative and documentary styles and showcases a unique and underrepresented perspective on death and grief.

Norman... Is That You?

Ben and Beatrice Chambers discover that their son Norman is gay and so Ben is intent on setting him right.

As I Am

A story of a young man running from the truth about his childhood returns in order to correct his past but ends up discovering a side of himself that he suppressed.

Finding Me

Faybien Allan has it all going on; he's young, stylish, and knows the importance of being seen with hip friends at NYC's trendiest spots. But beneath the sparkle of his nightlife and his stunning good-looks, is a man buckling under his father's homophobia. Filled with self-loathing and desperate for direction, he meanders through life until meeting Lonnie, a confident activist with a flirtatious smile. However, despite their obvious chemistry and fireworks in bed, Faybien's insecurities have him looking for the door. Can a budding romance and a few good friends keep him from making the biggest mistake of his life?

Grace

A 1950s Southern teen questions her faith and sexuality on the eve of her baptism when urged to repent her feelings for her best friend.

District

A young adult learns that some boys in the hood are simply just goods to wealthy men in the area. It's a tale that truly questions how much you value your self-worth.

A Luv Tale

Two women finally find the love and respect they deserve after both of their long-term, loveless relationships fail and they meet each other.

Rafiki

Kena and Ziki long for something more. Despite the political rivalry between their families, the girls resist and remain close friends, supporting each other to pursue their dreams in a conservative society. When love blossoms between them, the two girls will be forced to choose between happiness and safety.

Stud Life

Stud lesbian JJ works with her gay best friend Seb as wedding photographers. When JJ falls in love with a beautiful diva, JJ and Seb's friendship is tested, and she’s forced to chose between her hot new lover and her best friend.

Destiny

Though gay-themed stories about "coming out" and accepting one's sexuality are not uncommon in Western countries, such tales are still rare in many conservative African nations. Considered a ground-breaking film in its native Guinea, and filmed amidst a storm of controversy, Mohamed Camara's Dakan is the first of its nations films to directly address issues surrounding homosexuality. The story centers on the romance between two 20-year-old men, Manga and Sory who are first seen making out in a car. The trouble begins when Manga tells his widowed mother about his love for Sory, who is busy contending with his outraged father. The parents insist that the two never see each other again. Manga's mother then uses witchcraft to cleanse her son and change him into a heterosexual. Time passes and eventually Manga begins to date a girl. But it soon becomes apparent that try as he might, Manga's heart belongs to Sory.

The New Black

The New Black is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community's institutional pillar-the black church and reveals the Christian right wing's strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda. The New Black takes viewers into the pews and onto the streets and provides a seat at the kitchen table as it tells the story of the historic fight to win marriage equality in Maryland and charts the evolution of this divisive issue within the black community.

Punks

The life and times of a group of twentysomething black gay men living in West Hollywood.

Good Stock On The Dimension Floor: An Opera

A collectively made filmic opera in 35 parts. The Black and predominantly queer art collective, an evolving line up of poets and artists from across the world, abstracts and reimagines opera in any traditional conception. Set to hip-hop, blues, noise, R&B and electronica, the piece uses the voice (chanting, singing, screaming; written by poet and activist Dawn Lundy Martin) as its primary tool, verbalising centuries of alienation, vulnerability and protest in the global African diaspora through its disruptive libretto.

The Beauty President

In 1992, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, activist Terence Alan Smith made a historic bid for president of the United States as his drag queen persona Joan Jett Blakk. Today, Smith reflects back on his seminal civil rights campaign and its place in American history.

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.

Black Is… Black Ain’t

African-American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs was working on this final film as he died from AIDS-related complications in 1994; he addresses the camera from his hospital bed in several scenes. The film directly addresses sexism and homophobia within the black community, with snippets of misogynistic and anti-gay slurs from popular hip-hop songs juxtaposed with interviews with African-American intellectuals and political theorists, including Cornel West, bell hooks and Angela Davis.

Game Face

Game Face shows the quest to self-realization of LGBT athletes and the acceptance in society. The film follows athletes during their coming out process, and sheds light on the obstacles LGBT sports players deal with throughout their career.

Poly-Love

A documentary that approaches polyamory from the intimate point of view of an Afro-American family who decided to live an authentic life without denying the option of diversity in their love and family.

Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back

Maurice Hines, a charming, gay African-American entertainer navigates the complications of show business while grieving the loss of his more famous, often estranged younger brother, tap dance legend Gregory Hines.

BONDED

Doctor Reeve and his group of friends discover their annual trip is being stalked by a patient from the past.

Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen

Frequently marginalized within a community that already struggles against marginalization -- that is, the gay, lesbian and bisexual community -- African American transgender males make their voices heard in this film from Kortney Ryan Ziegler. Six articulate black transmen -- who are also artists, students, husbands, fathers, lawyers and teachers -- speak candidly about race, gender, body image and status.

Finding Me: Truth

Truth follows the loves, losses, fights, jealousies and broken hearts of a group of friends. It centers around the sweet, bright-eyed and emotionally vulnerable Faybien (RayMartell Moore). Comfortable with his gayness but saddled with self-esteem issues, Faybien's love life is put into an emotional spin when his ex, Lonnie, returns with an interest in reigniting their relationship. You'd think that he'd get a sympathetic ear from his friends, but they already have their own issues. Reggie's in love with bisexual, non-committal Greg; high-strung queen bee Amera is certain her boyfriend is cheating on her; and the always-meddling muscle queen Jay is busy confronting his rough trade boyfriend's girlfriend.

Man Made

From adoption and homelessness to navigating relationships and overcoming self-harm, the four transmen in MAN MADE all have something else in common: they are all bodybuilders. Through the lens of FTMFitCon, the world’s only FTM bodybuilding competition, we delve into the lives of Dominic, Rese, Mason, and Kennie as they define what it means to be a man while contextualizing that definition through the social, racial, and economic realities of their lives. For the men of MAN MADE, it’s not about winning—it’s about stepping on stage and being seen for everything they are.

Dark and Lovely, Soft and Free

A road trip through gay spaces in small town South Africa, Graeme Reid's documentary introduces viewers to hairstylists, preachers, traditional healers, and beauty queens. This moving film provides an alternative vision of acceptance and celebration, in contrast to the wave of homophobia that is sweeping across sub-Saharan Africa.

Tongues Untied

Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the "Institute of Snap!thology," where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.

Smile

The story of Gloria Carter in her youth, raising her children while coming to terms with her sexuality.

Check It

Fed up with being pushed around, a group of gay and trans teens of color form a gang and fight back on the brutal streets of Washington D.C. They call their gang ‘Check it’ and this group of one-time victims of bullying, rape and abuse have turned the tables on anyone trying to hurt them. The group formed to provide its members safety in numbers and let people know that if they jump a queer kid in D.C., they may get beaten into a coma. This raw and intimate portrait follows three childhood friends as they struggle to survive and claw their way out of gang life through an unlikely avenue: fashion.

Portrait of Jason

Interview with Jason Holliday aka Aaron Payne. House-boy, would-be cabaret performer, and self-proclaimed hustler giving one man's gin-soaked, pill-popped view of what it was like to be black and gay in 1960s United States. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Milestone Films in 2013.