Interview with Jason Holliday aka Aaron Payne. House-boy, would-be cabaret performer, and self-proclaimed hustler giving one man's gin-soaked, pill-popped view of what it was like to be coloured and gay in 1960s Unites States. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.
Ben and Beatrice Chambers discover that their son Norman is gay and so Ben is intent on setting him right.
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the "Institute of Snap!thology," where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.
A look at what it's like to be gay and black in America.
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.
Two disc jockeys have a friend's murder to solve in the fringe-group melting pot of 1977 London.
African-American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs was working on this final film as he died from AIDS-related complications in 1994; he addresses the camera from his hospital bed in several scenes. The film directly addresses sexism and homophobia within the black community, with snippets of misogynistic and anti-gay slurs from popular hip-hop songs juxtaposed with interviews with African-American intellectuals and political theorists, including Cornel West, bell hooks and Angela Davis.
This is an experimental documentary chronicling the March 1995 groundbreaking conference on lesbian and gay sexualities in the African diaspora. The conference brought together an array of dynamic scholars, activists and cultural workers including Essex Hemphill, Kobena Mercer, Barbara Smith, Urvashi Vaid and Jacqui Alexander to interrogate the economic, political and social situations of diasporic lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgendered peoples. The video brings together the highlights of the conference and draws connections between popular culture and contemporary black gay media production. The participants discuss various topics: Black and queer identity, the shortcomings of Black nationalism, and homophobia in Black communities. Drawing upon works such as Isaac Julien's "The Attendant" and Jocelyn Taylor's "Bodily Functions", this documentary illuminates the importance of this historic conference for Black lesbians and gays.
Bill Moyers and filmmaker David Grubin give viewers a rare glimpse into dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones’s highly acclaimed dance Still/Here. At workshops around the country, people facing life-threatening illnesses are asked to remember the highs and lows of their lives, and even imagine their own deaths. They then transform their feelings into expressive movement, which Jones incorporates into the dance performed later in the program. For this documentary, Jones demonstrates the movements of his own life story: his first encounter with white people, confusion over his sexuality, his partner Arnie Zane’s untimely death from AIDS, and Jones’s own HIV-positive status.
A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.
Though gay-themed stories about "coming out" and accepting one's sexuality are not uncommon in Western countries, such tales are still rare in many conservative African nations. Considered a ground-breaking film in its native Guinea, and filmed amidst a storm of controversy, Mohamed Camara's Dakan is the first of its nations films to directly address issues surrounding homosexuality. The story centers on the romance between two 20-year-old men, Manga and Sory who are first seen making out in a car. The trouble begins when Manga tells his widowed mother about his love for Sory, who is busy contending with his outraged father. The parents insist that the two never see each other again. Manga's mother then uses witchcraft to cleanse her son and change him into a heterosexual. Time passes and eventually Manga begins to date a girl. But it soon becomes apparent that try as he might, Manga's heart belongs to Sory.
Two women finally find the love and respect they deserve after both of their long-term, loveless relationships fail and they meet each other.
A road trip through gay spaces in small town South Africa, Graeme Reid's documentary introduces viewers to hairstylists, preachers, traditional healers, and beauty queens. This moving film provides an alternative vision of acceptance and celebration, in contrast to the wave of homophobia that is sweeping across sub-Saharan Africa.
The life and times of a group of twentysomething black gay men living in West Hollywood.
Documentary on Bayard Rustin, best-remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
A drama that looks back on the Harlem Renaissance from the perspective of an elderly, black writer who meets a gay teenager in a New York homeless shelter.
New Yorker Corey Brown is just turning 30 and has just been dumped by his boyfriend. Sounds like the perfect time for a trip with his friends outta the city.
Rise Up And Shout! tells the story of four generations of creative gay voices in Los Angeles who unite to create a theatrical showcase for gay youth on September 9, 2006. In the process, a unique community is created made up of young and old, black and white, shy and loud -- including an 83 year-old priest and an 18 year old former prostitute and poet.
This documentary is about the perspectives and lives of black lesbians from assorted backgrounds.
As Noah and Wade prepare to marry in Martha's Vineyard, the personal problems of their friends - and the unexpected arrival of rapper Baby Gat - threatens to permanently end their relationship.