Out Run by S. Leo Chiang , Johnny SymonsPublication Date: 2016
As leader of the world’s only LGBT political party, Bemz Benedito dreams of being the first transgender woman in the Philippine Congress. But in a predominantly Catholic nation, rallying for LGBT representation in the halls of Congress is not an easy feat. Bemz and her eclectic team of queer political warriors must rethink traditional campaign strategies to amass support from unlikely places. Taking their equality campaign to small-town hair salons and regional beauty pageants, the activists mobilize working-class trans hairdressers and beauty queens to join the fight against their main political opponent, a homophobic evangelical preacher, and prove to the Filipino electorate that it’s time to take the rights of LGBT people seriously. But as outsiders trying to get inside the system, will they have to compromise their political ideals in order to win? Culminating on election day, Out Run provides a unique look into the challenges LGBT people face as they transition into the mainstream and fight for dignity, legitimacy, and acceptance across the globe.
Moonlight by Barry Jenkins (Director)Publication Date: 2017
Oscar-winner for Best Picture, MOONLIGHT is a moving and transcendent look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to adulthood, as a shy outsider dealing with difficult circumstances, is guided by support, empathy and love from the most unexpected places.
The Way He Looks: Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho by Daniel RibeiroPublication Date: 2014
Set against the music of Belle and Sebastian, Daniel Ribeiro’s coming of age tale, THE WAY HE LOOKS is a sweet and tender story about friendship and the complications of young love. Leo is a blind teenager who’s fed up with his overprotective mother and the bullies at school. Looking to assert his independence, he decides to study abroad to the dismay of his best friend, Giovana. When Gabriel, the new kid in town, teams with Leo on a school project, new feelings blossom in him that make him reconsider his plans. Meanwhile, Giovana, grows jealous of this new found companionship as tensions mount between her and Leo.
A Road to Home: Stories of Homeless LGBTQ Youth of New York City by Cal SkaggsPublication Date: 2015
Imagine yourself 18 years old wandering city streets without a place to go to sleep or eat or shelter from the cold. Imagine you’re homeless because your parents kicked you out when they discovered you are gay or transgender. This is the subject of A Road to Home, which follows 6 LGBT youth through New York City as they learn to survive in the streets, then struggle to find beds, jobs, and some sense of purpose and direction for their lives. Four have grown up in poverty, two not. Five are people of color, one not. All have been rejected. Their lives typify the experience of the 500,000 homeless youth on American streets every night, 40% of them LGBT. In the course of their journeys, four of the characters in A Road to Home get aid from the Ali Forney Center, a program devoted solely to homeless LGBTQ youth. The struggle of its founder Carl Siciliano to keep its programs alive mirrors the journeys of the kids themselves. What the film reveals is not only the dangers, the fears, the lonely anxiety of being homeless, but also the resulting wounds to the heart that must be healed. The 6 characters in this film are determined that their current traumas will not define them for the rest of their lives.
The Same Difference: Gender Roles in the Black Lesbian Community by Nneka OnuorahPublication Date: 2015
A compelling documentary about lesbians who discriminate against other lesbians based on gender roles. Director Nneka Onuorah takes an in-depth look at the internalized hetero-normative gender roles that have become all too familiar within the African American lesbian and bisexual community. This film features many queer celebrities, including actress Felicia “Snoop” Pearson from the critically acclaimed HBO drama The Wire, and Lea DeLaria from Orange Is the New Black, living daily with opinions about how identity should be portrayed. Onuorah's engaging documentary shines a light on the relationships and experiences within the queer black female community, intersecting race, gender and sexuality.
Gaysians by Vicky Du (Film director) (Screenwriter)Publication Date: 2015
SummaryGaysians is an exploration of family, immigration and language through the voices of five queer and trans Asian-Americans from New York City. The subjects share stories about their families, and in doing so, shed light on the complicated histories that have shaped these intimate and personal relationships. This moving short is an illuminating patchwork documentary exploring family and culture through the personal stories of a diverse panoply of LGBTQ individuals.
Tongues Untied by Marlon Riggs(Film director)Publication Date: 1989
Marlon Riggs' essay film Tongues untied gives voice to communities of black gay men, presenting their cultures and perspectives on the world as they confront racism, homophobia, and marginalization. It broke new artistic ground by mixing poetry (by Essex Hemphill and other artists), music, performance and Riggs' autobiographical revelations. The film was embraced by black gay audiences for its authentic representation of style, and culture, as well its fierce response to oppression. It opened up opportunities for dialogue among and across communities. Tongues Untied has been lauded by critics for its vision and its bold aesthetic advances, and vilified by anti-gay forces who used it to condemn government funding of the arts. It was even denounced from the floor of Congress. "Black men loving black men is the revolutionary act" is the rallying cry at the film's end and after more than 20 years, Tongues untied remains a celebrated vehicle for eloquent self-expression and liberation.
Gen silent by Stu Maddux(Film producer)(Film director)Publication Date: 2015
Gen Silent is the critically acclaimed documentary from filmmaker Stu Maddux that asks six LGBT seniors if they will hide their friends, their spouses- their entire lives in order to survive in the care system. Their surprising decisions are captured through intimate access to their day-to-day lives over the course of a year. It puts a face on what experts in the film call an epidemic: gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender older people so afraid of discrimination by caregivers or bullying by other seniors that many simply go back into the closet. Unlike any film before, Gen Silent startlingly discovers how oppression in the years before Stonewall now affects older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people with fear and isolation.
The Pearl by Christopher Lamarca(Film director)Jessica Dimmock(Film director)Publication Date: 2018
An intimate and cinematic profile of 4 transgender women that come out for the first time in their senior years. Set against the backdrop of logging towns in the Pacific Northwest, the visceral and observational story captures the indelible moment in time as they begin the long journey towards acceptances. Coming out as trans after decades of hiding from those closest to them, theirs is a story not of transitioning into womanhood, but rather explores what it means to leave behind living as a man. Official Selection at the **Hot Docs Film Festival.** *"...one can't help but emphasize with the four women as they experience their travails and triumphs. Their courage is often astonishing, as well as is their outlook." - Frank Schene, **Hollywood Reporter***
Forbidden : undocumented and queer in rural America by Tiffany Rhynard(Film director)(Film producer)Publication Date: 2017
This film is about an inspiring young man whose story is exceptional, although not unique. When Moises Serrano was just a baby, his parents risked everything to flee Mexico in search of the American dream. Forbidden to live and love as an undocumented gay man in the country he calls home, Serrano saw only one option: to fight for justice. Serrano is like the thousands of other young people growing up in the United States with steadfast dreams but all the cards stacked against them. The film chronicles Serrano's work as an activist traveling across his home state of North Carolina as a voice for his community, all while trying to forge a path for his own future. In the fall of 2016, presidential candidate Donald Trump is preaching damaging rhetoric towards immigrants and in North Carolina progress is unraveling as discriminatory laws continue to oppress the LGBTQ community. FORBIDDEN humanizes the issues and demonstrates how a loving family has the power to defeat prejudice. This is a story about love conquering hate.
Off the Straight & Narrow by C A GriffithLarry GrossSut JhallyKatherine SenderPublication Date: 1998
How are we to make sense of the transformation in gay representation - from virtual invisibility before 1970 to the "gay chic" of today? OFF THE STRAIGHT & NARROW is the first in-depth documentary to cast a critical eye over the growth of gay images on TV. Leading media scholars provide the historical and cultural context for exploring the social implications of these new representations.
OFF THE STRAIGHT & NARROW challenges viewers to consider the value and limits of available gay images: who is represented, what they get to say, and how people respond to them. The video is an invaluable tool for all educators interested in introducing students to issues of representation and diversity in the media.
![The Believers - The First Transgender Gospel Choir](https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/310153/images/believers.jpeg)
The Believers - The First Transgender Gospel Choir by Todd Holland (2006)
The Believers is an unprecedented feature documentary that shatters assumptions about faith, gender, and religion. Built around the world's first transgender gospel choir, the film portrays the choir's dilemma: how to reconcile their gender identity with a widespread belief that changing one's gender goes against the word of God. Set against the story of the Transcendence Gospel Choir's founding, the documentary reveals the lives of its members, including Tom, once a radical lesbian feminist; Ashley, choir founder and professional sound engineer; and Bobby, a recovering drug addict and former sex worker. The intimate personal stories shed light on the complexity of balancing social change, family history, religion and identity.
![Larken Street Stories](https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/310153/images/larken_street_stories.PNG)
Larkin Street stories. Confronting hate speech and homophobia. by Toby Eastman, Homelessness Resource Center (U.S.) (2011)
Episode 1: Introduces the staff and clients of Larkin Street Youth Services, a shelter for homeless youth in San Francisco, and covers its programs for those rejected by family because of their sexual identities. Provides statistics for behaviors and crises experienced by LGBTQ homeless youth. Features comments by Toby Eastman and Loch McHale, the center's Chief of Programs and Director of Services, and their teen and young adult clients.
Episode 2: Covers the reactions and tactics of staff at Larkin Street Youth Services, a shelter for homeless youth in San Francisco, in response to tense interactions of young, homeless, LGBT clients in a group counseling session. Features comments by Toby Eastman, the center's Chief of Programs.
Episode 3: Presents a discussion among counseling staff of Larkin Street Youth Services of open approaches to gender identity among LGBTQ youth, particularly transsexuals. Includes coverage of semantics and an interview of a transgender-male-to-female client conducted by Toby Eastman, the center's Chief of Programs.