Through a creative blend of mixed-media and charismatic narration balancing humor, sass and historical gravity, discover the queer history of the carabiner in this latest WaterBear Original, directed by Gianna Mazzeo and made in partnership with Nikon. Follow the carabiner’s story, from its humble 1911 climbing roots (thanks, Otto "Rambo" Herzog), to empowering butch mechanics and postal workers in the 60s, becoming a potent signal of identity and attraction in the 80’s (think Tinder, but with hardware) and as a TikTok fashion sensation today.
For the last quarter century, Houston native Arden Eversmeyer journeyed across the country to record hundreds of oral "herstories" with a mostly invisible population that is rapidly disappearing. Old Lesbians honors Arden's legacy by animating the resilient, joyful voices she preserved in the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project, from first crush to first love, from the closet to coming out, and finally from loss to connection.
Old Lesbians
2023
7
During the women's demonstration on March 8, 1972, Mariasilvia SPOLATO was there with a placard: Liberazione omosessuale. A month later, Simone de Beauvoir came to Rome to give an interview, and this placard illustrated her article. Mariasilvia could no longer teach, ended up homeless and spent her life on the trains.
È pericoloso esporsi
2024
0
At a time when the far right is ascending to power around the world, the 2020 Brazilian municipal elections saw a surprising and unprecedented record of LGBT candidates. This film follows four young queer politicians during their electoral campaigns and reveals their struggle to affirm their rights to exist and be heard.
Corpolítica
2022
10
The intimate journey and unpublished backstory of BeBe Zahara Benet – a charismatic drag performer originally from Cameroon, and the very first winner of the culture-changing phenomenon, RuPaul’s Drag Race. With over a decade of unprecedented access, we observe BeBe’s struggles with celebrity, authenticity, success, and failure.
Being BeBe
2021
9
Sexual minorities were oppressed, imprisoned and murdered by the Nazis. Paragraph 175 criminalized homosexual men during the Nazi era – but the Nazis also discriminated against lesbians and trans people. They should be excluded from the national community. More than 50,000 queer people have been proven to have been persecuted. The documentary highlights three poignant fates in the context of Nazi terror.
Verbotene Liebe - Queere Opfer der NS-Diktatur
2024
0
Archive footage from 2006 - 2010 of a young girl growing up during the ages of four to eight. Only fragments of what is remembered exists. Words from a transgender man float to the surface as fleeting memories go on.
to boyhood, i never knew him
2022
0
The oldest known "out" African-American lesbian remembers ten colorful decades in this hour-long documentary, which won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 1999. Born July 23, 1899, in Springfield, IL, Ruth Ellis spent most of her life in Detroit. A pioneering independent black businesswoman, she operated her own print shop until the age of 65. In the home she shared with Cecilene "Babe" Franklin, her partner of more than 30 years, she played host to innumerable gatherings of the city's African-American gays and lesbians in an age when segregation excluded them from white homosexual society. A participant in the civil rights movement and a witness of the riots that tore Detroit apart in the 1960s, Ellis later became an icon for, and active participant in, the city's multicultural lesbian and feminist community.
Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100
1999
1
In 1967, New York City is host to the Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant. This documentary takes a look behind the scenes, transporting the viewer into rehearsals and dressing rooms as the drag queen subculture prepares for this big national beauty contest. Jack/Sabrina is the mistress of ceremonies, and their protégé, Miss Harlow, is in the competition. But, as the pageant approaches, the glamorous contestants veer from camaraderie to tension.
The Queen
1968
6
By issuing marriage licenses to same gender couples, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom uproots the status quo and attempts to change the way the nation looks at life, love, and marriage.
Pursuit of Equality
2005
1
From the sweaty basement bars of 70s New York to the glittering peak of the global charts, how disco conquered the world - its origins, its triumphs, its fall and its legacy.
Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution
2023
8
Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.
The Times of Harvey Milk
1984
7
This documentary contains dramatized episodes about the lives of Erika and Klaus Mann, the brilliant children of German writer Thomas Mann.
Escape to Life: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story
2001
4
The documentary features the journey of the Voltrans initiative, a solidarity platform for trans men in Turkey.
Voltrans
2014
10
The Purge traces a dark and little-known moment in Canadian history: the systemic discrimination faced by members of the LGBT community within the Armed Forces and the federal public service. From 1950 to 1996, it was yesterday, no effort was spared to flush out these men and women deemed "immoral" and representing a "danger to national security": intensive and coercive interrogations, humiliating tests, polygraphs, forced confessions and denunciations.
La purge LGBT : La sombre histoire
2023
0
A parallel story of two generations of gay activism, 'Belonging' explores the impact and legacy of LGBTQI+ campaigner Rodney Croome through the lens of a road trip across the state by young Tasmanian Sam Watson. With archival footage and interviews with Sam and Rodney's families and friends, 'Belonging' examines Tasmania's journey from a place of exclusion to inclusion, from prejudice to acceptance, from hatred to embrace.
Belonging
2020
1
In the first person, a documentary that shows us the experience of Vida Rodriguez, formerly Inocente Duke, in situations that the Trans Law favors: what happens when entering a sauna, locker room, or a public service (even in the Congress of Deputies). An experience that, with respect and large doses of humor, brings us face to face with a law and its difficulties in its implementation.
Cómo me convertí en mujer
2024
9
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.
Λεσβία
2025
6
The documentary focuses on the story of QueerFest, the first and only LGBTI+ film festival in Turkey, which has been organized in Ankara since 2011. Through interviews with the founders of QueerFest, volunteers and staff who have contributed to the festival, the 14-year journey of the festival and the culture and arts landscape shaped by Turkey's political climate are told. QueerFest's self-organizational connection with the Pink Life Association, its connection with the “lubunya” (queer community) of Ankara and the cultural capital it inherited from there, is transformed into a powerful political voice by developing the practice of mobilizing through art. Since 2017, the festival has continued its resistance against the bans and heavy censorship obstacles every year and opens a space for many queer people living in Turkey who are interested in the field of culture and art and want to produce in this sphere.
BELLEKVARİ: Kuirfest'in Sözlü Tarihi
2025
0
"There are things in this world that are yet to be named" centers around Solanum plastisexum - an Australian tomato whose sexual expression is unpredictable and unstable, challenging even the fluid norms of the plant kingdom. Footage of the team of botanists who recently used their Solanum research to explode notions of sexual normativity in any plant or animal is combined with a voiceover of letters sent between science writer Rachel Carson and her lover Dorothy Freeman. "There are things in this world that are yet to be named" is a meditation on erasure, indefinability, and the intersection of queer and environmental histories.
There are things in this world that are yet to be named
2020
0
Drag Race star Peppermint takes center stage in this up close and personal documentary about her journey with fame, identity, and the art of drag. Sharing her story alongside a close network of trans individuals, one of the world’s favorite drag performers takes you inside her rise from humble beginnings to her current reign as outspoken trailblazer for the trans community.
A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint
2025
0