1. The Red Tree (L’albero rosso)
A powerful and poetic short film that tells the little known history of Italian gay men being arrested and exiled to a remote island during Mussolini’s Fascist regime.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
2. Two Spirits
Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he 'bug-smashed a fag'. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the 'nadleeh', or 'two-spirit', who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits.
It has an average vote of 4.833 on TMDB.
3. Saving Marriage
A landmark court decision in Massachusetts allows gay people in that state to marry - forcing activists, legislators, and ordinary people to reconsider how they view same-sex relationships.
It has an average vote of 5.9 on TMDB.
4. 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.
5. Dear Thirteen
A nuanced portrait of a new generation, Dear Thirteen is a cinematic time capsule of coming of age in today’s world. Through the eyes of nine thirteen-year-olds, we see how pressing social, geographical and political challenges are shaping, and being shaped by, young people: rising anti-Semitism in Europe, guns in America, gender identity and racial divisions across Australia and Asia. With no adult commentary outside the filmmaker, Dear Thirteen offers an intimate view into the universal uncertainty inherent in growing up.
6. A Queer City
A documentary following three young nascent drag artists as they navigate a rising queer scene in Norwich City - a place wherein they express their queerness and identities freely through performance, visual artistry, and community.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
7. 575 Castro St.
Images set to a tape recording that slain San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk made in November 1977 to be played in case he was killed.
It has an average vote of 4 on TMDB.
8. I'm Not Everything I Want to Be (Ještě nejsem, kým chci být)
After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Libuše Jarcovjáková, a young female photographer, strives to break free from the constraints of Czechoslovak normalization and embarks on a wild journey towards freedom, capturing her experiences on thousands of subjective photographs.
9. Finding Kim
50 year old Kim is transitioning from female to male gender over a period of two years. The story follows his life, surgery and struggles with his self-image and self-acceptance. Alongside Kim's narrative are interviews with luminaries in the field and trans community.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
10. Kenya (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.”
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
11. Mentiras Revolucionárias (Mentiras Revolucionárias)
(Mentiras Revolucionárias)
12. Robert Mapplethorpe
The Robert Mapplethorpe documentary, from 1988--one year before he died--is an excellent examination of one of the most controversial of American photographers. British documentarian Nigel Finch does an outstanding job fusing interviews with Mr. Mapplethorpe himself, with critic and author Edmund White, and with several of Mapplethorpe's subjects as well, with numerous shots of the man's work. Mapplethorpe, gay, did not hesitate to photograph what he wanted to without fear of reprisal or censorship. Indeed, a good number of his pieces were not shown in the documentary at its original airing on PBS with the comment, "Considered Unsuitable for Viewing On This Transmission." His openly sexual work can at times be more than shocking, but it is always powerful and direct; as critic Lynn Davies says in the documentary, he did not pose people but photographed them doing what they would normally do in the course of their lives.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
13. Muxes (Muxes)
Highlighting the unique culture of the Zapotec people of Oaxaca, Mexico, this groundbreaking documentary chronicles the lives of those who identify as muxes, a widely recognized third gender.
It has an average vote of 2 on TMDB.
14. Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story
A former U.S. Navy Seal seeks life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness living life as a transgender woman.
It has an average vote of 4.9 on TMDB.
15. Ungochani
A young film maker's journey through one of Zimbabwe's greatest taboos. A young woman media studies student is fascinated by the uproar about homosexuality in Zimbabwe, and the people her society condemns. Courageously, Porcia sets out to approach a taboo by looking compassionately at the lives of gay people in Zimbabwe.
16. Glory Daze: The Life and Times of Michael Alig
A review of the wild New York City nightlife of the 90s. The cast of characters who made up the infamous Club Kids speak candidly about that era, culminating with Alig's release from incarceration.
It has an average vote of 6.3 on TMDB.
17. Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation
The parallel lives of writer Truman Capote and playwright Tennessee Williams : two friends, two geniuses who, while creating sublime works, were haunted by the ghosts of the past, the shadow of constant doubt, the demon of addictions and the blinding, deceptive glare of success.
It has an average vote of 3 on TMDB.
18. Paper Dolls
Paper Dolls follows the lives of transgender migrant workers from the Philippines who work as health care providers for elderly Orthodox Jewish men and perform as drag queens during their spare time. It also delves into the lives of societal outcasts who search for freedom and acceptance.
It has an average vote of 7.2 on TMDB.
19. Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened...
This film from acclaimed theater director Lonny Price charts the journey of the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along" in the 30-plus years since the musical debuted on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre in 1981.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.
20. LGBT Experience
We are faced with a cultural and moral battle. Human sexuality is sitting on the bench. Have homosexuals the right to validate their sexuality? Are the religious rights of millions of Americans being violated? LGBT Experience is a documentary that shares the perspective, impressions and conflicts from different points of view in this new chapter in the human experience. For some this is the beginning of the end, for others this is the end of injustice.
It has an average vote of 0.8 on TMDB.
