Presentation
MOVIES
France, 1760. Marianne is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Because she is a reluctant bride-to-be, Marianne arrives under the guise of companionship, observing Héloïse by day and secretly painting her by firelight at night. As the two women orbit one another, intimacy and attraction grow as they share Héloïse's first moments of freedom. Héloïse's portrait soon becomes a collaborative act of and testament to their love.
Focusing on drag queens living in New York City and their "house" culture, which provides a sense of community and support for the flamboyant and often socially shunned performers. Groups from each house compete in elaborate balls that take cues from the world of fashion. Also touching on issues of racism and poverty, the film features interviews with a number of renowned drag queens, including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija and Dorian Corey.
A timeless story of human connection and self-discovery, Moonlight chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami. At once a vital portrait of contemporary African-American life and an intensely personal and poetic meditation on identity, family, friendship, and love, Moonlight is a groundbreaking piece of cinema that reverberates with deep compassion and universal truths.
High school athlete Cyd Loughlin lives alone with her depressive father in South Carolina, perpetually longing to get away from it all. When her aunt, famous novelist Miranda Ruth, agrees to host her for a few weeks during the summer, Cyd jumps at the opportunity. Arriving in Chicago, the curious, earthbound Cyd begins to sense her vulnerability as she encounters points-of-view different from her own. Cyd discovers that her aunt is more interested in literature, Christian theology and food than romance and sexuality, while Miranda realizes her niece is operating in a different register, embracing body over soul, and hungry as hell. After a jog one afternoon, Cyd meets the strikingly androgynous Katie.
As she fights the tide of violence against trans women, activist Victoria Cruz probes the suspicious 1992 death of her friend Marsha P. Johnson. She was one of the icons of the gay rights movement in the 1960s, the self-described "street queen" of NY's gay ghetto, and founded the Transvestites Action Revolutionaries with fellow luminary Sylvia Rivera. When Johnson's body was found in the Hudson River in 1992, police called it a suicide and didn't investigate. In David France's new documentary, trans activist Victoria Cruz seeks to uncover the truth of her death while celebrating her legacy.
Starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara and set against the glamorous backdrop of 1950s New York, Carol is an achingly beautiful depiction of love against the odds. From the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley and acclaimed queer director Todd Haynes comes a powerful drama about a married woman who risks everything when she embarks on a romance with a younger department store worker.
An American satirical romantic comedy directed by Jamie Babbit. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, a high school cheerleader whose parents send her to a residential inpatient conversion therapy camp to cure her lesbianism. There Megan soon comes to embrace her sexual orientation, despite the therapy, and falls in love.
Follow singer and YouTube sensation Todrick Hall as he launches an original musical based on growing up gay in Texas and finding showbiz success.
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality. Director David Lynch calls it simply, “a love story in the city of dreams.”
A Fantastic Woman is the story of Marina, a waitress and singer, and Orlando, an older man, who are in love and planning for the future. After Orlando suddenly falls ill and dies, Marina is forced to confront his family and society, and to fight again to show them who she is: complex, strong, forthright, fantastic.
Packed with great interviews and clips, this dynamic, fun and often poignant portrait of the legendary Divine brings to life a complex understanding of John Waters's favored muse. I Am Divine is the story of Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, from his humble beginnings as an overweight, teased Baltimore youth to internationally recognized drag superstar through his collaboration with filmmaker John Waters. Spitting in the face of the status quos of body image, gender identity, sexuality, and preconceived notions of beauty, Divine was the ultimate outsider turned underground royalty. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality, and revolutionized pop culture. I Am Divine is a definitive biographical portrait that charts the legendary icon's emotional complexities and rise to infamy.
Finding meaning can be one of the hardest things we grapple with in our lives. In My Own Private Idaho, Gus Van Sant takes a vulnerable and heart-wrenching look at love and the pursuit of purpose. Mike Waters (River Phoenix) and Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves) are young hustlers on the streets of Portland, Oregon. They come from different worlds — Mike has lost all connection with his mother, and Scott is a spoiled rich kid whiling away the time as he awaits his inheritance — yet they find solace in one another. As time goes on, their feelings and circumstances change, leaving the two to decide what they truly want. Van Sant beautifully and truthfully captures this journey of self-discovery, loss, and heartbreak. At its core, My Own Private Idaho is about longing for a place to call home, for love, for stability, and for control. This iconic 1991 road movie was ahead of its time for its portrayal of queerness, familial relationships, and the desire to find yourself in a way that you’ll never forget.
The movies are over 100 years old, and gay movie characters have been with us since the very beginning -- even during the Production Code years, when "sex perversion" was explicitly forbidden. From comic sissies to lesbian vampires, from pathetic queens, to sadistic predators, Hollywood has both reflected and defined how we think about homosexuality and about what it means to be a man or woman. With clips from over 100 Hollywood movies, and interviews with many of the filmmakers and stars who created them, The Celluloid Closet is an epic story -- by turns surprising, hilarious, and disturbing. The Celluloid Closet makes us see Hollywood images in a whole new light, exploding sexual myths and examining our attitudes about sexuality and sex roles as they evolved through the 20th century.
Ludovic is waiting for a miracle. With six-year-old certainty, he believes he was meant to be a little girl and that the mistake will soon be corrected. But where he expects the miraculous, Ludo finds only rejection, isolation and guilt as the intense reactions of family, friends, and neighbors strip away every innocent lace and bauble. As suburban prejudices close around them, family loves and loyalties are tested in the ever-escalating dramatic turns of Alain Berliner's critically acclaimed first feature. Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and a favorite at festivals around the world, this unique film experience delivers magic of the rarest sort through a story of difference, rejection, and childlike faith in miracles.
Pennsylvania, 1993. After getting caught with another girl, teenager Cameron Post is sent to a conversion therapy center run by the strict Dr. Lydia Marsh and her brother, Reverend Rick, whose treatment consists in repenting for feeling “same sex attraction.” Cameron befriends fellow sinners Jane and Adam, thus creating a new family to deal with the surrounding intolerance…
England, early 18th century. The close relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill is threatened by the arrival of Sarah’s cousin, Abigail Hill, resulting in a bitter rivalry between the two cousins to be the Queen’s favourite.
A story of two coalitions – ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) – whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time.
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.
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a young woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering uncle. But, the maid has a secret: she is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese count to help him seduce the heiress to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan until the women discover some unexpected emotions
Kena and Ziki long for something more. Despite the political rivalry between their families, the girls resist and remain close friends, supporting each other to pursue their dreams in a conservative society. When love blossoms between them, the two girls will be forced to choose between happiness and safety.
For decades, a nice Jewish couple ran Circus of Books, a porn shop and epicenter for gay LA. Their director daughter documents their life and times.