1. Mirror, Mirror
Portrait of the last year of the life of famous New York drag queen Consuela Cosmetic.
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
2. 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.
It has an average vote of 7.306 on TMDB.
3. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.
It has an average vote of 7.451 on TMDB.
4. Boys on Film 23: Dangerous to Know
Boys on Film presents ten encounters from across the globe, where the dangerous allure of a risky attraction yields emotional results — proving that the age-old adage of taking the plunge is as relevant — and sexy — as ever before. The 10 short films are: My Uncle's Friend ; Budapest, Closed City ; Eden ; Chaperone ; Break Me ; By His Will ; Red Ants Bite ; Jim ; Hornbeam ; Too Rough .
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
5. Tom Daley: Illegal to Be Me
As thousands of athletes prepare to compete on the global stage at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Olympic gold medallist and double world champion diver Tom Daley wants to shine a light on an issue that he cares passionately about. Some competitors live in fear of horrific brutality inside the countries they represent. With punishments including whipping, life imprisonment and even death, it is illegal to be gay in over half of the 56 member states of the Commonwealth. His journey takes him to some of the Commonwealth's most homophobic countries to ask what the sporting world can do to help. The film culminates with Tom taking a very public stand at this year's opening ceremony, in a powerful statement against homophobia.
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
6. Caro Comes Out
Caro Comes Out is a queer torture experiment, but also a comedy, but also a short film about coming out to your entire Cuban family.
7. To Live Is Better Than To Die (好死不如赖活着)
In the 1990s HIV/AIDS came to Wenlou through a blood purchasing program. To supplement their income many poor villagers sold their blood and 60% of those who sold blood contracted HIV/AIDS from unsanitary equipment. Many have died from the disease. In his documentary film, To Live is Better than to Die, Wiejun Chen tells of the impact AIDS has had in parts of rural China by showing how it has affected the Ma family. It is spring when the film takes up the family’s story.
It has an average vote of 8.3 on TMDB.
8. Women on Watch
A mini documentary about the untold contributions lesbians made during the A.I.D.S epidemic.
9. Memory Books
In Uganda, AIDS-infected mothers have begun writing what they call Memory Books for their children. Aware of the illness, it is a way for the family to come to terms with the inevitable death that it faces. Hopelessness and desperation are confronted through the collaborative effort of remembering and recording, a process that inspires unexpected strength and even solace in the face of death.
10. After Goodbye
Award-winning actress Ruby Dee narrates this powerful documentary about the impact of AIDS on the families, friends and members of the acclaimed Turtle Creek Chorale. In the past decade, 145 member of the Chorale have died, most from HIV and AIDS. Although grief is a constant presence, After Goodbye: An AIDS Story shows that the singers and their loved ones are also engaged in a continual process of healing. This ultimately uplifting and inspirational video is a testament to the amazing strength of the human spirit.
11. The Gift
Controversial documentary about gay men purposely contracting the AIDS virus.
It has an average vote of 4.8 on TMDB.
12. Panic Bodies
"Panic Bodies is a 70-minute, six-part exploration of the ways we experience the body's betrayals: disease, decline and death. The film is a panorama of emotionally charged recollections of strange relatives and estranged siblings, staged recreations of fast-fading pasts and personal mythologies, and reflections on the anxious states created by the body's fragile claims on time and space. It's about being a stranger in your own skin. Panic Bodies perfects the phantom quality of any good work about mourning, but it is not reducible to that. It is also enlivened by the intimacy that comes from having made a spectacle of personal secrets."
13. A Powerful Noise
Bookended by call-to-action quotes from Margaret Mead and Mahatma Gandhi, this inspiring documentary follows three extraordinary women -- in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mali, and Vietnam -- as they lead day-to-day battles against ignorance, poverty, oppression, and ethnic strife.
14. Darwin's Nightmare
Africa in the sixties. The Nile perch, a ravenous predator, is introduced into Lake Victoria as a scientific experiment, causing the extinction of many native species. Its meat is exported everywhere in exchange for weapons, creating a globalized evil alliance on the lake shores. An infernal nightmare in the real world that wipes out Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
15. Liam
Just after Isidore moves to France to study filmmaking, his best friend dies back in the US. Through documentary, performance, and animation, a ghostly portrait emerges, prompting Isidore to question his relationships with his parents and his boyfriend in Paris.
16. Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End
Narrated by Linda Hunt, this documentary examines the life of the late author and gay rights activist Paul Monette. Born in 1945 to a well-off Massachusetts family, Monette grows up unable to accept his homosexuality, for years hiding it from his loved ones while struggling to develop as a writer. In 1978, Monette publishes his first novel, which allows him to come out to his parents. After losing one lover to AIDS in 1986, he becomes a ferocious advocate for awareness of the disease.
It has an average vote of 1 on TMDB.
17. First Love, Fatal Love
A docudrama telling the true story of a young woman who learns she has contracted the AIDS virus after an encounter with a fellow student while in college.
18. AIDS Inc.
AIDS, Inc. is a film about the multi-billion dollar AIDS industry, and how it profits from continuing fears and misconceptions about the disease.
It has an average vote of 1 on TMDB.
19. Which Is Scary
A set of seven portraits consisting of personal accounts from the lives of gays and lesbians. The narration includes stories about coming out, bashing, cross-dressing and AIDS.
20. Paris Is Burning
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
