1. 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.
It has an average vote of 4.2 on TMDB.
2. Being Marcus
Marcus Pabon-Lara loves swimming but is too self-conscious to take off his top in public. Will a mastectomy give him the body confidence needed to go for his first swim since he was a teenager? An honest insight into the experiences of a Deaf trans man, follows self-proclaimed “proud geek” Marcus during the lead up to his much-anticipated operation. Along the way, we meet his friends and his mother, finding out more about Marcus and how he feels about his transition.
3. Assume Nothing
Many of us assume that there are only two genders and that being female or male follows from the sex of our biological bodies. Focusing on the art, photography and performances of four "alternative" gender artists Assume Nothing poses the questions: "What if "male" and "female" are not the only options?
It has an average vote of 5.7 on TMDB.
4. Trans-Action (Trans-akcja)
Trans-Action tells the story of an extraordinary woman. Anna Grodzka who in 2011 became the first transgender person in the Polish government, and the third transgender member of government in world history, was born in the male body and decided to finally begin her life as a woman only in her 50s. The film documents the most important chapters in this intimate process of transformation. We observe Anna in her daily activities in Warsaw, we witness her intimate conversations with her son and closest friends.
It has an average vote of 4.2 on TMDB.
5. The Out List
Through the voices of Americans from all walks of life, The Out List explores the identities of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in America. In this series of intimate interviews, a diverse group of LGBTQ personalities bring color and depth to their experiences of gender and sexuality. With wit and wisdom, this set of trailblazing individuals weaves universal themes of love, loss, trial, and triumph into the determined struggle for full equality.
It has an average vote of 6.1 on TMDB.
6. We Are Here
Family comes in many shapes and sizes. And this family are bound by the urge to make change. This film follows individuals from an international order of queer nuns as they live their lives, just a little larger than most. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence stand proudly across the globe as a beacon of self-acceptance and self-expression, but not everyone agrees with their message. The judgement they face may be challenging but their intentions are clear: to spread joy, end stigmatic guilt and do it all in a habit.
7. Leaving Vogue Moran
In this documentary, a Hollywood hopeful immersed in geek subculture decides it's time to tell the world that he loves transgender women.
It has an average vote of 1 on TMDB.
8. DeRosa: Life, Love & Art in Transition
Chronicles the extraordinary life of artist Felicia DeRosa, who came out as transgender at the age of 41. With her life, career, and marriage potentially at risk, Felicia embarks on a journey towards authenticity and self-acceptance.
9. Face to Face: The Schappell Twins
Two bodies and one mind, this is the extraordinary story of one pair of conjoined twins in today's world.
10. Becoming Colleen
Starting her life as Colin, a husband, father, policeman, film-projectionist and self-declared shoe fetishist, Colleen and her wife Heather's love transcended their gender roles. But what are the medical complications that can arise from transitioning later in life? Ian Thomson's Becoming Colleen examines the role of gender, about society's own transition to understanding, and a caring community that ultimately offers support for an individual to express themselves, to find comfortability in their own skin.
11. Visible: Transgender Youth Stories (Visibles: Historias de Adolescencias Trans)
Two teenagers seek the fullness of their identities with time on top and normality against it. First hand testimony of transgender kids and the support of their family.
It has an average vote of 1 on TMDB.
12. Kate Bornstein Is a Queer & Pleasant Danger
For decades, performance artist and writer Kate Bornstein has been exploding binaries and deconstructing gender. And, her own identity. Trans-dyke. Reluctant polyamorist. Sadomasochist. Recovering Scientologist. Pioneering Gender Outlaw. Kate Bornstein Is a Queer and Pleasant Danger, joins her on her latest tour capturing rollicking public performances and painful personal revelations as it bears witness to Kate as a trailblazing artist theorist activist who inhabits a space between male and female with wit, style, and astonishing candor. By turns meditative and playful, the film invites us on a thought provoking journey through Kate's world to seek answers to some of life's biggest questions.
It has an average vote of 4.3 on TMDB.
13. La trans de la patria (La trans de la patria)
(La trans de la patria)
It has an average vote of 4 on TMDB.
14. Better Things: The Life and Choices of Jeffrey Catherine Jones
Jeffrey Catherine Jones is one of the most revered comic book and fantasy artists of all time and a complex character with an unusual life, an ideal subject for an insightful and captivating documentary. Tracing the early history as part of The Studio with fellow artists Bernie Wrightson, Barry Windsor-Smith and Michael William Kaluta through to gender transition in later life, Maria Paz Cabardo assembles a collage of artwork and archive alongside interviews with collaborators and some touchingly intimate conversations with the artist herself shortly before she died.
It has an average vote of 6.3 on TMDB.
15. Julia (Julia)
Julia is a young transgender woman who left her home country of Lithuania. Now living in Germany, she walks the streets of Berlin, working as a prostitute to survive. This documentary revisits Julia over a ten-year period of her life.
16. My Child (Benim Çocuğum)
What happens when your child comes out to you? In this feature documentary, parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender individuals in Turkey intimately share their experiences with the viewer, as they redefine what it means to be parents in this conservative society.
It has an average vote of 6.222 on TMDB.
17. Spectacular Intimacy (L'intime spectaculaire)
In the age of YouTube, exhibitionism and voyeurism echo and reach a climax. The boundaries between private and public life are blurring. The intimacy becomes a spectacle. Gabrielle Marion knows this better than anyone. As a famous Quebec Youtuber, she has been documenting her life and her sexual transition for eight years.
18. Aravani Girl
Sixteen year olds Palani and Karthik want to become "ladyboys." They're bullied in school and beaten by their families. Their parents would like to see them grow up as normal boys, but they're falling deeper and deeper into the world of the "Aravanis." Loved as dance performers but hated as homosexuals, their stories emblazon the inner conflicts of India's gender culture today.
19. A Day of Trans (跨越性别的一天)
A Day of Trans is a groundbreaking, intimate look into the lives of four individuals – across three generations set against the backdrop of China's rise on the global stage. The short documentary film explores their lived experiences, professional career paths, community involvement, social barriers, and their unique approaches to life as transgender individuals across the generations.
20. Transformation
Documentary about a group of transgender teens and young adults struggling to find the resources, safety, and confidence to express their gender identity.
