This Is Not Me (2022)

(0) based on 0 votes
Iran is the only country in the region to recognise trans people (any other LGBQ+ identity is banned). Both Shervin and Samar offer a glimpse into what life is like for trans youth, who despite loving and supportive parents are forced to live covert lives, shy away from their neighbours and even consider emigration, in order to be who they truly are. One of the many heartrending scenes in this documentary features one of the boys, fully clothed on the beach and yearning to go swimming, while the other shouts at his parents, asking whether his father is also forced to wear a headscarf. This is Not Me is a detailed depiction of the legal and social labyrinth that promises a slim aperture of freedom.
Directors
Release Date
Mar 16, 2022
Runtime
01h 11m
Genre
Available in streaming on

Iran is the only country in the region to recognise trans people (any other LGBQ+ identity is banned). Both Shervin and Samar offer a glimpse into what life is like for trans youth, who despite loving and supportive parents are forced to live covert lives, shy away from their neighbours and even consider emigration, in order to be who they truly are. One of the many heartrending scenes in this documentary features one of the boys, fully clothed on the beach and yearning to go swimming, while the other shouts at his parents, asking whether his father is also forced to wear a headscarf. This is Not Me is a detailed depiction of the legal and social labyrinth that promises a slim aperture of freedom.

Movies like This Is Not Me

1979: Big Bang of the Present

Deng Xiaoping's economic and political opening in China. Margaret Thatcher's extreme economic measures in the United Kingdom. Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution in Iran. Pope John Paul II's visit to Poland. Saddam Hussein's rise to power in Iraq. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The nuclear accident at the Harrisburg power plant and the birth of ecological activism. The year 1979, the beginning of the future.
Search similar movies
5.7
1979%3A+Big+Bang+of+the+Present
1979: Big Bang of the Present

2019

Search similar movies
Nila's Dream in the Garden of Eden

Leyla and her six-year-old daughter Nila live in the holy city of Mashhad in Iran. Nila is the result of a temporary marriage, which allows a man to marry a woman even if he is already married. Children born from such a relationship are legally non-existent. As long as the father does not recognize the child, no birth certificate can be issued and Nila cannot attend school. The documentary depicts Leyla's tireless efforts to clarify Nila's legal status in order to offer her a perspective for her future. In a never-ending bureaucratic battle, Leyla fights not only against the legal system, but also against a judgmental society.
Search similar movies
8.0
Nila%27s+Dream+in+the+Garden+of+Eden
Nila's Dream in the Garden of Eden

2024

Search similar movies
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.
Search similar movies
6.9
Orlando%2C+My+Political+Biography
Orlando, My Political Biography

2023

Search similar movies
Queens Don’t Cry

Bosom buddies BeV StroganoV, Ovo Maltine, Ichgola Androgyn and Tima die Göttliche are four Berlin drag queens who met in the mid 1980s. These four queens became Germany’s most popular drag performers and have been busy fertilizing the German cultural scene. Besides being performers, they are also political activists – in AIDS awareness, anti-gay violence, the sex workers movement and the struggle against the extreme right and racism. The film tells their story.
Search similar movies
3.0
Queens+Don%E2%80%99t+Cry
Queens Don’t Cry

2002

Search similar movies
Cinema Fouad

Cinema Fouad is a documentary portrait of Khaled El Kurdi, a Syrian trans woman living in Beirut, where she earns a living as a domestic worker and belly dancer. Soueid shows us scenes of El Kurdi’s domestic world: eating, applying make-up, dancing in her bedroom, all while reflecting on her life and experiences. She expresses her desire to undergo gender reassignment surgery, and mourns the death of her lover, a Palestinian freedom fighter. She often alludes to the aggressions she faces outside of her home, and through her adept defiance in the face of some of Soueid’s more goading questions, we recognize the echoing of these aggressions in his role as interviewer.
Search similar movies
Cinema+Fouad
Cinema Fouad

1993

Search similar movies
Seven Winters in Tehran

After seven years in prison, a female student in Tehran is hanged for murder. She had acted in self-defence against a rapist. For a pardon, she would have had to retract her testimony. This moving film reopens the case.
Search similar movies
7.6
Seven+Winters+in+Tehran
Seven Winters in Tehran

2023

Search similar movies
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.
Search similar movies
6.2
The+Dads
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.
Search similar movies
A+Long+Way+From+Heaven%3A+The+Rainbow+Y+Story
A Long Way From Heaven: The Rainbow Y Story

2024

Search similar movies
We Are Perfect

In this documentary, a group of trans and nonbinary actors share common experiences while pursuing a life-changing role for the film "Fanfic".
Search similar movies
We+Are+Perfect
We Are Perfect

2026

Search similar movies
Iran : La Stratégie du chaos

Plot unavailable
Search similar movies
8.0
Iran+%3A+La+Strat%C3%A9gie+du+chaos
Iran : La Stratégie du chaos

2024

Search similar movies
Russia, China, Iran: The Axis of Revenge

Russia, China and Iran: three former empires are determined to take their revenge and reassert their power after centuries of humiliation. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, they have never been so aligned on the international stage. Their common goal: to put an end to Western hegemony, restore their zone of influence and propose a new model of society. To achieve this, they are waging a hybrid war against the democracies: military, technological, economic, informational and ideological. Are they on the verge of joining forces to create a new world order?
Search similar movies
6.7
Russia%2C+China%2C+Iran%3A+The+Axis+of+Revenge
Russia, China, Iran: The Axis of Revenge

2024

Search similar movies
Into My Name

Nic, Leo, Andrea and Raff determine their own gender identities. Each of their gender biographies is different, but the societal barriers to their social, physical and legal changes are the same. Together they are strong.
Search similar movies
4.4
Into+My+Name
Into My Name

2022

Search similar movies
Dolores guapa!

Religious-based images and traditions permeate the lives of all the people who inhabit Seville. Historically, the city's mariquitas ("sissies") have also assimilated them in their childhood and, through them, have been creating their own encounter spaces and their own codes. Nowadays, new dissident identities continue to respond to them: they participate or distance themselves, they continue what exists or transform it. This film looks at these traditions from a perspective always relegated to the margins.
Search similar movies
4.7
Dolores+guapa%21
Dolores guapa!

2022

Search similar movies
Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!

A documentary by Magnus Hirschfeld, which contains a shortened version of Different From the Others (1919).
Search similar movies
5.4
Laws+of+Love%3A+Innocently+Outlawed%21
Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!

1927

Search similar movies
Googoosh: Made of Fire

On stage since she was a toddler, Googoosh has been an icon of Iranian pop culture since the 1970s. Her progressive style and raw singing talent attracted worldwide acclaim and saw her performing alongside the likes of Tina Turner and Ray Charles. But the star's career came to an abrupt halt after the Islamic Revolution, which banned women from singing in public. Googoosh was placed under house arrest, where she remained for the next two decades. Niloufar Taghizadeh's documentary, which includes interviews with the charismatic singer (now in her seventies, but still performing and advocating for women and girls) and arresting archival footage, offers both a loving portrait of a national icon and a fascinating historical and cultural record of Iran.
Search similar movies
6.8
Googoosh%3A+Made+of+Fire
Googoosh: Made of Fire

2024

Search similar movies
AMERICAN REFLEXXX

AMERICAN REFLEXXX is a short film documenting a social experiment that took place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Alli Coates filmed performance artist Signe Pierce as she strutted down a busy oceanside street in stripper garb and a reflective mask. The pair agreed not to communicate until the experiment was completed, but never anticipated the horror that would unfold in under an hour. The result is a heart wrenching technicolor spectacle that raises questions about gender stereotypes, mob mentality, and violence in America.
Search similar movies
7.7
AMERICAN+REFLEXXX
AMERICAN REFLEXXX

2015

Search similar movies
Victoria

In a small and conservative city in Jalisco, Alex builds his identity and defends his dreams: fatherhood, music, being a man.
Search similar movies
Victoria
Shâd Bâsh

Plot unavailable
Search similar movies
Sh%C3%A2d+B%C3%A2sh
Shâd Bâsh

2024

Search similar movies
The Right Girls

In this documentary about friendship and perseverance, three young transgender women from El Salvador and Honduras go on a 2,400-mile journey with the high-profile migrant caravan. These women, strangers at the outset and fleeing extortion, discrimination, and abusive relationships, endure hardship as they slowly make their way to the US, teaming up with other trans girls along the route and integrating with the caravan’s LGBTQ community.
Search similar movies
1.0
The+Right+Girls
The Right Girls

2020

Search similar movies
Soul of the Desert

A documentary on the road that tracks the journey by Georgina, an elderly transgender woman forced to cross the sandy peninsula Guajira, on foot, to obtain the thing she has desired for almost half a century: a document that will hand her the right to be what she has always felt she was, and will allow her, at long last, to vote.
Search similar movies
5.0
Soul+of+the+Desert
Soul of the Desert

2025

Search similar movies
Iran: Between Two Worlds

A short film on early 1950s Iran.
Search similar movies
Iran%3A+Between+Two+Worlds
Iran: Between Two Worlds

1954

Search similar movies
Sculpture

Video art of sculpture is the real life story of Rumi (Mevlana) and Shams Tabrizi. Rumi and Shams are well known international poets of Persian language. One day, Rumi invites Shams Tabrizi to his house, Shams throws the book into the pool of water and Rumi is worried and Shams returns the book to Rumi without any trace of water. The lost half of the sculpture in the film is a representation of the same concept. "Sculpture" has won more than 69 International Awards, third place (semi-final) in called Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival (Academy Award ® Qualifying, BAFTA Qualifying, Canadian Screen Award Qualifying) , Winner of the 2025 Jury Award for Best Short Documentary – Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival (TINFF) – A Canadian Screen Award-Qualifying Festival , Crown Point International Film Festival(Chicago),(US),Gold Star Movie Awards (US),One-Reeler Short Film Competition (US),Accolade Competition (US), and many other events.
Search similar movies
10.0
Sculpture
Holy Bread

A documentary on the precarious lives of the koolbari, who carry goods on foot across the mountainous borders from Iran's northwestern Kurdish region.
Search similar movies
Holy+Bread
Holy Bread

2022

Search similar movies
Raving Iran

Anoosh and Arash are at the center of Tehran’s underground techno scene. Tired of hiding from the police and their stagnating career, they organize one last manic techno rave under dangerous circumstances in the desert. Back in Tehran they try their luck selling their illegally printed music album without permission. When Anoosh is arrested, there seems to be no hope left. But then they receive a phone call from the biggest techno festival in the world. Once landed in Switzerland, the haze of the instant euphoria evaporates quickly when the seriousness of the situation starts to dawn on them.
Search similar movies
6.6
Raving+Iran
Raving Iran

2016

Search similar movies
The Fabulous Ones

It often happens that at the moment of death, transgender individuals are shorn of their identity. Their families are ashamed, the funeral takes place in secret, and on the tomb appears the name the deceased had before their transition, in one stroke nullifying the entire life path they had chosen. The same thing happened to Antonia. Her girlfriends gather to honor her memory and give her back her identity denied. In telling her story, the film’s stars, all drawn from the variegated transgender world, interweave the narrative with tales of their own lives, experiences, and memories.
Search similar movies
5.9
The+Fabulous+Ones
The Fabulous Ones

2022

Search similar movies
Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story

Celebrated skateboarder Leo Baker shares the details of their rise to fame and the clash between their career and self-discovery as a trans person.
Search similar movies
6.4
Stay+on+Board%3A+The+Leo+Baker+Story
Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story

2022

Search similar movies
Tie and Red Nail

Several characters realize their personal way to build their own identity from the choice of genre. Transsexual, transgender, crossdressing – the defining of terminologies different ways of looking at yourself are constantly rising, portraying a universe of possibilities, expanding the boundaries of the possible and permitted.
Search similar movies
7.4
Tie+and+Red+Nail
Tie and Red Nail

2014

Search similar movies
Where Love Lives: A Story of Dancefloor Culture & Expression

Documentary by the music label Defected and its brand Glitterbox about electronic music, its beginning in New York and its importance for minorities all around the world.
Search similar movies
4.0
Where+Love+Lives%3A+A+Story+of+Dancefloor+Culture+%26+Expression
Where Love Lives: A Story of Dancefloor Culture & Expression

2021

Search similar movies
Taraneh: A Documentary

Nearly three years have passed since the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests in Iran. Many who took part in the 2022 (1401) demonstrations paid a heavy price: some were killed, many were permanently injured, others were sentenced to long prison terms, and many lost their jobs. Among the well-known figures who supported the protests was Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran’s most prominent film actresses. After she posted an unveiled photo of herself and later protested the execution of Mohsen Shekari, she was imprisoned. Following her release, she became ill and remained out of the public eye for some time. Alidoosti has also been banned from acting in cinema. For the first time, in the documentary Taraneh, produced by Pegah Ahangarani, Alidoosti speaks about her decision to join the protest movement after the killing of Mahsa Amini. She talks about the day she was arrested at home in front of her little daughter and about the loss of her skin due to an autoimmune disease.
Search similar movies
10.0
Taraneh%3A+A+Documentary
Taraneh: A Documentary

2025

Search similar movies
Wërapara

Amidst the Colombian Andes, a group of trans women from the Embera Chami community make their way into the international fashion scene, empowered through artistic collaboration and creation while preserving their spiritual heritage and ancestral connection to their territory.
Search similar movies
W%C3%ABrapara
Kenya

Trans women face extreme violence in Mexico City, and sex workers are even more vulnerable. This raw and deeply affecting portrait of Kenya gives an insider’s view of the impact that violence has on the community, and how complex life is for them. The film begins shortly after Kenya witnesses her friend Paola being murdered by a client. The film follows Kenya closely. Will the family accept burying Paola as she was: a flamboyant trans woman? Kenya approaches Paola’s loved ones with great respect and understanding—something she rarely experiences herself. When the murderer is released, she embarks on a lengthy battle for justice, backed up by her “sisters.”
Search similar movies
6.0
Kenya
Tribute to the Teachers

A documentary featuring interviews with teachers and officials on the profession of teaching and what it means to them.
Search similar movies
5.5
Tribute+to+the+Teachers
Tribute to the Teachers

1977

Search similar movies