Fear and Survival: Being LGBTQ in Iraq (2022)

I Love You Phillip Morris

Steven Russell leads a seemingly average life – an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force. That is until he has a severe car accident that leads him to the ultimate epiphany: he’s gay and he’s going to live life to the fullest – even if he has to break the law to do it. Taking on an extravagant lifestyle, Steven turns to cons and fraud to make ends meet and is eventually sent to the State Penitentiary where he meets the love of his life, a sensitive, soft-spoken man named Phillip Morris. His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts him to attempt (and often succeed at) one impossible con after another.

Without Destination

Sin Destino follows the life of a 15 year old Mexican boy, Francisco, as he struggles to survive on the streets. His primary source of income is money raised by prostituting himself to men for sex, and the film implies that this learned behaviour has arisen as a result of a contact with a single man when Francisco was 9 years old. This man, Sebastien, is an "artist" who initially claimed to want to photograph the boy, but it is clear that their relationship at one time extended far beyond that of photographer/model.

Port Authority

Paul, a 20 year old midwesterner, arrives at the central bus station and quickly catches eyes with Wye, a 22 year old girl voguing on the sidewalk. After Paul seeks her out in secret, an intense love between them blossoms. But when Paul discovers Wye is trans, he is forced to confront his own identity and what it means to belong.

Trans in Trumpland

A transgender Iranian-American embarks on a road trip to discover the everyday realities of being trans in conservative states across the United States. As he travels through some of the country’s most anti-trans states, he uncovers the struggles and triumphs that define being trans in America today.

All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White

Bambino and Bawa meet in Lagos and hit it off immediately. During their long trips around the city they develop a deep affection for each other. But in a society which considers homosexuality taboo, they feel the pressure of social norms.

Turtles Can Fly

Turtles Can Fly tells the story of a group of young children near the Turkey-Iraq border. They clean up mines and wait for the Saddam regime to fall.

Badland

Jerry (Jamie Draven) was an idealist when he served in the first Gulf War. But when he was later deployed to Iraq, Jerry was an older man, a father of three and embittered by broken promises and unfulfilled desires. When Jerry returns from Iraq he has been transformed by horrors that cannot be forgiven. He lives a life of poverty, his children afraid of him and his wife, Nora (Vinessa Shaw), unsympathetic and unhappy. When Jerry discovers that Nora has betrayed him, his anger and despair drive him to commit an act so heinous and irreversible that nothing he had experienced in combat could have prepared him for.

Lonesome Cowboys

Five lonesome cowboys get all hot and bothered at home on the range after confronting Ramona Alvarez and her nurse.

When Night Is Falling

Camille is a professor at a Protestant college who is engaged to Martin, a respected minister and fellow professor. When Camille meets Petra, a bold and flamboyant performer in a circus troupe, she is inexplicably drawn. Pursuing Petra, Camille throws her whole conservative life into disarray.

Welcome to New York

The story of five young people's unique first experiences in New York City.

Instinct

A queer metaphysical love story that weaves itself through real and imagined sexual encounters across darkrooms, forest cruising zones and highway shoulders. In these fantastical playgrounds, bodies are free to imagine themselves in a multiplicity of forms as they encounter other bodies without preconceived notions of what those other bodies desire, what they will need, and how they should be touched. While trusting the energetic attraction of bodies towards each other and learning through the encounter, INSTINCT simultaneously asks: what does it mean for a queer body to actively (un)learn what it might assume about another body's sex, gender, and desire?

The Child I Never Was

A serial killer dispassionately discusses the nuts and bolts of his grisly avocation, as well as the youthful traumas which helped to mold him into a psychopath, in this disturbing independent drama from Germany, based on the true story of of Germany's most famous child murderer Juergen Bartsch who, between the ages of 15 and 19, abused, tortured and killed four schoolboys in the Ruhr region of Germany from 1962 to 1966.

La Cage aux Folles

Two gay men living in St. Tropez have their lives turned upside down when the son of one of the men announces he is getting married. They try to conceal their lifestyle and their ownership of the transvestite club downstairs when the fiancée and her parents come for dinner.

Pepi, Luci, Bom

After a young heiress is assaulted by a policeman, she seeks revenge by befriending the policeman’s mousy wife and introducing her to her circle of outrageous punk friends.

The Heir to the Underworld

Sentenced to spend a day with the imprisoned demons, a woman who belongs to the noblest celestial clan meets someone who changes her world.

Escaping the Fragile Planet

A boy-meets-boy tale, a few hours before the world ends.

Standard Operating Procedure

Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Service

A struggling family owns a Filipino porn theater where prostitutes conduct their business.

You Are Not a Woman

In the coffee-growing village of Santuario, Colombia, lives an indigenous transgender community. That is where Juliana and Berómica were banished due to the prejudices of their own strongly Catholic community.

Two Eyes

In late 19th century Montana, an artist seeking inspiration explores the landscape with his Native American guide, and finds his conceptions of himself and of the world around him challenged. In 1970s Barstow, California, a questioning youth's mundane existence is given a shot of adrenaline by the arrival of a new exchange student who envelops them within her own lust for life. In present-day Wyoming, a trans teenager works through his self-destructive feelings with his perceptive, non-binary therapist.

Regular Guys

Christoph, cop and self-confident macho, has trouble with his fiance. After a long night he wakes up in the arms of Edgar, a good-looking, gay auto-mechanic. His live gets more and more troublesome after his girl friend throws him out of their apartment and as last resort he moves to Edgars place. Working together with a new, good-looking, very self-confident, female collegue, but living with a good-looking gay guy makes him pretty uncertain about his sexuality and his role as a cop. Written by Konstantin Articus

The Wedding Banquet

A Taiwanese-American man is happily settled in New York with his American boyfriend. He plans a marriage of convenience to a Chinese woman in order to keep his parents off his back and to get the woman a green card. Chaos follows when his parents arrive in New York for the wedding.

The Strange Ones

A man and a boy, traveling to an unknown destination, find respite in a motel swimming pool. On the surface all seems normal, but nothing is what it seems to be. Short film not to be confused with the 2017 feature film with the same name.

Farewell to Autumn

Decadence, homosexuality, excess wealth, infidelity, alcoholism and drugs all played a major role in the decline of aristocracy.

Bro

Best friends Aaron and Harris deal with a dynamic change in their friendship when romantic feelings surface. How will they continue being best bros?

Trophy Boy

James, a sexy, youthful sought-after instagram star in high-society and self-proclaimed 'Trophy,' is dumped by his wealthy live-in benefactor. Now he must learn that the real world is not the facade he's built for himself on social media.

Bend It Like Beckham

Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe.

My Own Private Idaho

In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

7 Virgins

Tano is 16-years-old and is already sitting in jail. In 48 hours he’s a free man and off to the wedding of his brother. In the two days he recounts his neighborhood in a section of Sevilla.

Fire

In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.

Back Again

Alex returns to his village with Jordi, after a while, in order to celebrate San Juan night. However, due to a summer storm, they have to shelter in an old abandoned house where both played when they were children. In there, some conflicts of the past will turn up.

Into the Storm

Pol and Lucas are having a vacation in Galicia. They dance, they scream, they discover themselves, they argue...In the end, the words that weren't said are the heaviest ones. In that silence, the storm begins.

Pride

In 1984, a group of LGBT activists decide to raise money to support the National Union of Mineworkers during their lengthy strike. There is only one problem: the Union seems embarrassed to receive their support.

Delicate Skillful Fingers

A girl falls for a pickpocketer who gets arrested, so she hooks up with his ex-girlfriend and his ex-cellmate.

Natchan's Little Secret

When three drag queens, Virgin, Moririn, and Zubuko, learn that their mentor and former drag queen, Natchan, has died suddenly, they take it upon themselves to keep the secret of her sexuality from her bereaved family.

Near The Sea

Luna and Gabriela meet again after years without seeing each other and decide to travel to Itaparica, a city in the state of Bahia, where they enjoyed childhood vacations. On this journey, they know each other for the second time, talking about their fears and ambitions while strolling through places full of memories and love.

Lipstick

A highschool kid is bullied for putting lipstick on himself in a bathroom. As he dries his clothes in the laundry, he meets a mysterious girl.

Black Cat in a Dark Room

After years of helping euthanize the terminally ill, a "hospice" worker begins to question the ethics of her job.

7 Kinds of Wrath

Petros is a gay archaeologist who experiences the naked Greek paranoia in the center of Athens. Either by choice or coincidence, he comes into contact with people who are "different": An Arab immigrant, who comes to Greece, a land of "infidels", determined to conquer it by any means; A Greek-French cello player, who is burdened by the agony of her alcoholic mother; A young Albanian pianist, who carries the curse of his own personal genius and divinity; A Greek immigrant, who was repatriated but now has nowhere to call home; A bank director, who believes everything can be bought, even love; A patrolman, who creates his own version of socio-political reality. Petros' contact with these people is in fact a traumatic experience. For each encounter he has to pay a price. Sometimes the price is material, while other times it's emotional. At times it is both. Will the experience gained make up for the loss?

Necro-Mancing Dennis

A cemetery worker hides his disfigurement under the cloak of a sinister hood. But it doesn't hide his twisted attempt to recapture the one he loves. Even if he has to kill him first.

Requiem for a Dream

The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.

Golden

A tale of being different and growing up.

Platero

Set on a hot summer day, when clothes are few in number and sex is seemingly on the mind of almost everyone present, this short film tells the story of Walter; a young man infatuated with his sister's boyfriend and a teenager crush that is set to take a new direction when he overhears his sister remark that object of desire Platero would "bang anything." But will he? Based on the story "Platero y yo" by Natalia Moret.

Bikechess

Dina works as a journalist for the national television station. The stories she is asked to report on are becoming increasingly absurd and full of praise for the government. Her love life is limited to a few secret meetings with her married camera­man. Dina looks after her young sis­ter, a lesbian activist, who regularly finds herself in trouble with the au­thorities.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Amidst her own personality crisis, southern housewife Evelyn Couch meets Ninny, an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the 1920s.

Blue Lights

Alejandro's 70th birthday unveils tensions and secrets within his gay/lesbian friend circle. Relationships evolve as truths about love, loss, and societal shifts emerge, exploring complexities that bind people together.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Michael Moore's view on how the Bush administration allegedly used the tragic events on 9/11 to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Velvet Goldmine

Almost a decade has elapsed since glam-rock superstar Brian Slade escaped the spotlight of the London scene. Now, investigative journalist Arthur Stuart is on assignment to uncover the truth behind the enigmatic Slade. Stuart, himself forged by the music of the 1970s, explores the larger-than-life stars who were once his idols and what has become of them since the turn of the new decade.

Nowhere

In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.

Trick

Gabriel is a young, aspiring musical composer whose life seems stuck in the First Act. When his new musical number gets a critical reception, a theatre colleague, Perry, tells Gabriel that he needs to get a life before he can write about one – so he heads straight for his local gay bar.

The Big Sleep

Private eye Philip Marlowe investigates a case of blackmail involving the two wild daughters of a rich general, a pornographer and a gangster.

A Chorus Line

A group of dancers congregate on the stage of a Broadway theatre to audition for a new musical production directed by Zach. After the initial eliminations, seventeen hopefuls remain, among them Cassie, who once had a tempestuous romantic relationship with Zach. She is desperate enough for work to humble herself and audition for him; whether he's willing to let professionalism overcome his personal feelings about their past remains to be seen.

Rent

This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in late 1980s East Village, New York, USA. The film centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates. While a tragedy has made Roger numb to new experiences, Mark begins capturing their world through his attempts to make a personal movie. In the year that follows, they and their friends deal with love, loss, and working together.

We Shall Overcome

A drama about a boy who's inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and challenges repressive school authority in 1969 Denmark.

Rustin

Activist Bayard Rustin faces racism and homophobia as he helps change the course of Civil Rights history by orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington.

Prohibido

A pulsating ride, sexually charged with emotion, men discovering their taste for other men, awkward situations that force the characters to get in touch with that taste.

Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis

In this entrancing documentary on performance artist, photographer and underground filmmaker Jack Smith, photographs and rare clips of Smith's performances and films punctuate interviews with artists, critics, friends and foes to create an engaging portrait of the artist. Widely known for his banned queer erotica film Flaming Creatures, Smith was an innovator and firebrand who influenced artists such as Andy Warhol and John Waters.

Alexander

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

Sailor Uniform: Lily Lovers 2

Two high school lesbians have their relationship tested when they take summer jobs at a resort town and meet various men.

Office Ladies: Lesbians in Uniforms 3

Two young women, Minako and Naomi, have been friends and lovers since their school days, and are now living as roommates in the city, working together for a large company. Although she cares for Minako, Naomi decides that she should leave behind her past, find a husband and have kids. Minako, on the other hand, is happy with things as they are and doesn't want to change. The two must work out what they really want out of life, going their separate ways if need be.

Fluff

An avant-garde gay theatre group decide to make a gay porn film based on the Greek classics.

AL + ER

AL and ER are among those who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a time of desperate financial need, they turn to selling sex videos online.

The Finnster

Finn (15) is an uncomplicated schoolboy until one day, coming home from school, he catches his father Roelof in his moms dress. The man Finn has looked up to his whole life, wants to become a woman. Finn, just discovering his own sexuality, is troubled by this new discovery. A struggle with feelings of shame, love and loyalty follows. Luckily Lizzie, his newfound friend, is there to help him.

Hotel Paradijs

Every day Paul crosses a canal that separates the Amsterdam city center from the north side, where his lover Christiaan lives and waits for him. A dear routine for both - until one day Paul meets Claire, who starts seducing him into her very own universe, the Hotel Paradijs. Claire makes Paul the audience of her own play: a play where the roles are reversed and into which Paul is undeniably drawn.

I'll Be With You

Yoon-il and Jinwoo attend to the funeral of Seong-gyu, who committed suicide. The funeral parlor is crowded, and Yoon-il can't endure the strange noises that Hyeon-jin makes.

Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall

Ang, a transgender sex worker with a pretty, feminine voice is assigned a special mission as an undercover spy. She disguises herself as a cisgender man to enter into a romantic relationship with Jit, a belligerent yet idealistic student activist with an evil voice.

Tom of Finland

Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specialising in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work – made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.

The Son

Pedro is a 17 years old boy who attends high school as all the boys do. In the afternoon he and his friends mess around. What Pedro loves the most is mothers baked beans.

Laura

Laura never had independence. Her mother, her abusive ex-boyfriend, always something holding her. When she goes to Coimbra to study, she finds the opportunity to discover who she is.