Mentality “Girls Like Us” (2016)

Queer Japan

Trailblazing artists, activists, and everyday people from across the spectrum of gender and sexuality defy social norms and dare to live unconventional lives in this kaleidoscopic view of LGBTQ+ culture in contemporary Japan.

Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric

Katie Couric travels across the U.S. to talk with scientists, psychologists, activists, authors and families about the complex issue of gender.

Rebel Dykes

A heady, energised mash-up of animation, unseen archive footage and interviews, Rebel Dykes provides an intimate insight into the politically charged, artistically radical subculture in 1980s London, and the individuals who helped shape and change their world. Bringing together BDSM nightclubs, inclusive, sex-positive feminism, DIY zine culture, post-punk musicians and artists, squatters, activists and sex workers, these rebel dykes went out onto the streets to make their voices heard. [Feature length version of 2016 short of the same name.]

Chained Girls

This exploitation classic purports to expose the secrets of the 1960s lesbian underworld.

The Rape of Recy Taylor

Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story.

Maynard

Director Sam Pollard constructs a portrait of charismatic trailblazer Maynard Jackson, who became Atlanta’s first black mayor in 1973. The son of pastors raised in the segregated South, Jackson entered college at 14 and took office at 35. During his three-term tenure, he led the city through the traumatic Atlanta child murders scare and triumphantly hosted the 1996 Olympics, all while championing racial equality. Family and colleagues, including Bill Clinton, Andrew Young and Al Sharpton, tell the epic story of a dynamic leader and his legacy of honor and progress.

Sœur Sourire: Who Killed the Voice of God?

1962. A crystalline voice becomes a planetary tube. A Belgian nun jostles Elvis and the Beatles on the world charts. Her name: Sister Smile. A popstar with the trajectory of a comet who understands her success no more than the double meaning of her words… The harder the fall will be. Even God does not protect sharks' appetites or pretenses of success! Who killed the little voice of God? Here is the tragic story of an innocent voice, of an extraordinary fate, almost of a curse ...

Loving Highsmith

The story of the life, loves and work of US writer Patricia Highsmith (1921-95), told through her unpublished diaries, her own voice and that of those who knew her, both family and close friends.

Memphis Heat: The True Story of Memphis Wrasslin'

Memphis Heat: The True Story of Memphis Wrasslin' is the definitive documentary about the history of Memphis wrestling from the 1950's with legendary battles between Sputnik Monroe and Billy Wicks, the 1960's with strutting Jackie Fargo, & the glory days of the '70s with Jerry "the King" Lawler, Tojo Yamamoto, "Superstar" Bill Dundee, & Jimmy Hart.

Shinjuku Boys

This documentary is set in the New Marilyn night club in Tokyo, Japan - where the hosts are transgender men. They can only make their living as hosts in a nightclub with other wannabes like them. The young women who come there often have relationships with them but the underlying fear is whether such a relationship can withstand the pressures on a girl to get married and have children. All three boys deal with this in different ways. These three hosts, the Shinjuku Boys, take us into their lives.

The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young

In its first 25 years only 10 people have finished The Barkley Marathons. Based on a historic prison escape, this cult like race tempts people from around the world to test their limits of physical and mental endurance in this documentary that contemplates the value of pain.

What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?

Summer 2017, a string of brutal police killings of young African American men has sent shockwaves throughout the country. A Black community in the American South tries to cope with the lingering effects of the past and navigate their place in a country that is not on their side. Meanwhile, the Black Panthers prepare a large-scale protest against police brutality.

The Seven Ages of Elvis

Documentary about the life and career of Elvis Presley produced for Sky Arts. Includes rarely seen clips and photos from throughout Elvis' career as well as comments from music historians and musicians, songwriters, producers, actors, etc. who worked with him. Narrated by producer/director David Upshal.

Transhood

Filmed over five years in Kansas City, this documentary follows four transgender kids – beginning at ages 4, 7, 12, and 15 – as they redefine “coming of age.” These kids and their families show us the intimate realities of how gender is re-shaping the family next door in a unique and unprecedented chronicle of growing up transgender in the heartland.

Always for Pleasure

An intense insider's portrait of New Orleans' street celebrations and unique cultural gumbo: Second-line parades, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest. Features live music from Professor Longhair, the Wild Tchoupitoulas, the Neville Brothers and more. This glorious, soul-satisfying film is among Blank's special masterworks. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.

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.

The Musicians' Green Book: An Enduring Legacy

Stories and music of Black artists who relied on an underground travel guide to navigate the injustices of racial segregation while on the road. The Negro Travelers’ Green Book was a directory of lodgings, restaurants, and entertainment venues where African Americans were welcomed. Features performances and interviews with vocalists, musicians, activists, historians, and others.

Uferfrauen - Lesbian Life and Love in the GDR

Portraits six lesbian protagonists from rural and metropolitan parts of the formerly socialist Republic and has them tell their captivating and sometimes outrageous life stories.

Lesvia

Since the 1970s, lesbians from around the world have been drawn to the island of Lesvos, the birthplace of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. When they find paradise in a local village and carve out their own queer lesbian community, tensions simmer with the local residents. With both groups claiming ownership of lesbian identity, filmmaker Tzeli Hadjidimitriou—a native and lesbian herself—is caught in the middle and chronicles 40+ years of love, community, conflict, and what it means to feel accepted.

My Pregnant Husband

Couples Ari and Caitlin and Myles and Precious experience the joy of a transgender pregnancy when Ari and Myles, the men in their relationships, become pregnant.

A Secret Love

Amid shifting times, two women kept their decades-long love a secret. But coming out later in life comes with its own set of challenges.

My Transparent Life

My Transparent Life chronicles the journey of one trans man, one trans woman and a trans couple as transition from the sex they were born with to the sex they identify with.

Erotica: A Journey Into Female Sexuality

This feature-length documentary explores a wide range of lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual women’s erotic fantasies and sexual practices. It reveals the conflicts and complexities of female sexuality as well as the joys and triumphs of self-discovery and personal empowerment.

Jelly Roll: Save Me

An inside look as the 38-year-old prepares to perform at the famed Bridgestone Arena in his hometown of Nashville, featuring never-before-seen tour footage and interviews with the musician and those closest to him. It also shows how Jelly Roll balances life on tour with philanthropic work, including a visit to a juvenile detention facility where he was incarcerated multiple times to share his story in the hopes of inspiring positive change in others.

The Lesbian Bar Project: FLINTA

The Lesbian Bar Project: FLINTA documents the complex and triumphant stories of the FLINTA communities in Cologne & Berlin; a reflection of where the queer community is headed internationally. Despite Lesbian Bars disappearing in Germany, there’s a growing FLINTA movement that epitomizes the evolution of queer culture. Featuring Boize Bar owner Payman Neziri, comedian Ricarda Hofmann, human rights activist Anbid Zaman, politician Tessa Ganserer, and party collectives Bebex and Girlstown.

Jackson

With a single abortion clinic remaining in the state of Mississippi, the city of Jackson has become ground zero in the nation's battle over reproductive health-care. Jackson is an intimate portrait of the interwoven lives of three women in this town. Wrought with the racial and religious undertones of the Deep South, the lives of two women are deeply affected by the director of the local pro-life crisis pregnancy center and the movement she represents.

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives

Ten women in Canada talk about being lesbian in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: discovering the pulp fiction of the day about women in love, their own first affairs, the pain of breaking up, frequenting gay bars, facing police raids, men's responses, and the etiquette of butch and femme roles. Interspersed among the interviews and archival footage are four dramatized chapters from a pulp novel, "Forbidden Love".

Mr. Angel

Buck Angel: trans man, porn star, pioneer. Here we see his life through a documentary lens that evidences the power and personality of an amazing human being.

Queendom

In defiance of Russia’s anti-LGBTQ laws, a queer, 21-year-old artist risks her life performing in surreal costumes throughout Moscow. Jenna Marvin’s radical public performances blend artistry and activism in this SXSW documentary.

Lyne Lapointe – L'art et la matière

Everything about the Quebec visual artist Lyne Lapointe reflects the grip of art on her life. Lesbian and feminist, she tirelessly highlights in her work the challenging position of women in society and in the art world. This concern is the common thread in the story of her life and projects. Despite a serious accident that ended her first series, revolutionary urban creations that earned her international reputation, she reinvents her approach with the tenacity that characterizes her, ultimately becoming the subject of significant exhibitions in Quebec, Canada, and abroad.

Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth

Director Jeanie Finlay charts a transgender man's path to parenthood after he decides to carry his child himself. The pregnancy prompts an unexpected and profound reckoning with conventions of masculinity, self-definition and biology.

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.

We Are Their Children

A documentary film comprising of 26 interviews with students who are LGBTQIA+ and who go to L’Anse Creuse High School. The film is the first feature-length film by and about queer youth. The film was made to combat recent anti-trans laws.

Shakedown

‘Shakedown’ was a series of parties founded by and for African American women in Los Angeles that featured go-go dancing and strip shows for the city’s lesbian underground scene. Inspired by transwoman Mahogany who, as the mother of the scene, presided over queer strip shows and balls for non-heterosexual audiences in the 1980s, butch Ronnie Ron created, produced and presented the new shows. In them, the largely female clientele from the ‘hood’ slipped dollar notes into lap dancers’ panties while celebrating lesbian sexuality to pulsating hip-hop beats.

Paris Was a Woman

Women (many of them lesbian) artists, writers, photographers, designers, and adventurers settled in Paris between the wars. They embraced France, some developed an ex-pat culture, and most cherished a way of life quite different than the one left behind.

Novena

In 2012, Stephen Vaughan and Kay Ferreter are invited to address the congregation at St. Joseph's Redemptorists Church in Dundalk, Ireland for the Solemn Novena Festival. In a powerful speech, the pair describe their experiences being gay and lesbian in Ireland, feeling excluded by Catholic doctrine, and the importance of a more inclusive church.

Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria

The first major uprising against police brutality, harassment, and societal oppression was not at Stonewall in 1969, but at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco three years earlier. Those who stood up were trans women and gay men. Now, nearly 40 years on, Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman tell the story of this oft-overlooked event in the history of American civil rights.

The Feelings Are the Same

Interview-based documentary about the conditions for gays and lesbians in Danish society.

Hide and Seek

Mixes documentary interviews of memories of lesbian adolescence with the story of the 12-year-old girl Lou discovering her sexuality in 1960s America.

Primal Scream: The Lost Memphis Tapes

The programme shows Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie's fascination with music from an early age, listening to the sounds of Elvis and Aretha Franklin before graduating to punk. He talks about his passion for music and how to keep creativity on the right track. In the early 90s the UK music scene was changing - with Oasis and Blur emerging, this alternative rock band was recording in Memphis but suddenly sounded out of step with the music scene.

The Edge of Possible: A Barkley Marathons Tale

The Edge of Possible: A Barkley Marathon Tale takes you deep inside the legendary Barkley Marathons, the world’s most elusive and punishing ultramarathon. Set in the unforgiving terrain of Frozen Head State Park, this film follows elite ultrarunner Harvey Lewis as he battles the course, his limits, and time itself. Halfway through, we meet Jasmin Paris, whose grit and endurance add another layer to this epic test of human resilience. With insights from race founder Lazarus Lake, past Barkley finisher John Kelly, Gary Robbins and others, this documentary is an unprecedented look at the fine line between ambition and impossibility.

Life Without It

A documentary film about 20 people who identify somewhere on the aro/ace spectrum, from Asexuality and Aromanticism to Aegosxuality and Cupioromanticsm, along with other featured identities. With additional personal anecdotes from the life of Maxwell Reh, the film’s director.

Women 50 Minutes

A representation of queer and feminist imagery that was mainly shot in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, remote and developing areas in southwest China, and metropolitan cities like Beijing from 2000 to 2004 to document the social changes in contemporary China. The director sympathetically and erotically represents a variety of women, including women as laborers, women as prayers, women in the ground, women in marriage, and women who lie on the funeral pyre with their dead husbands. Her camera juxtaposes the mountains and rivers in old times, the commercialized handicrafts as exposition, the capital exploitation of the elders’ living space, and the erotic freedom of the young people in a changing city.