A Brief History of Gay and Lesbian Cinema
2017 · 8m · Documentary
In this FilmStruck Original, film critic and What the Flick?! host Alonso Duralde discusses the evolution and progression of gay and lesbian cinema.
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A Good Man
2012 · ★ 9
Bryan Wilmoth is the oldest of eight children who grew up in a very strict household. Eventually, all the siblings became estranged from their parents. At StoryCorps, Bryan told his brother mike about the day their father discovered that Bryan was gay.
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Narrow Path to Happiness
2023 · ★ 3
A young gay Romani couple from a remote village in Hungary has a dream so absurd that it seems impossible: making a musical film based on their lives.
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We Were Here
2011 · ★ 6.9
A reflective look at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco and how individuals rose to the occasion during the first years of the crisis.
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A Kind of Family
1992 · ★ 4
This feature documentary tells the complex and touching story of Winnipeg city councilor Glen Murray and his 17-year-old adopted son Mike, whose struggles with addiction and behavioural problems cyclically repeat. Glen, now an Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament, was one of the first openly gay elected politicians in Canada. He adopted Mike during an era when homophobic stereotypes often prevented gay men and women from adopting children. Glen and Mike's relationship is always tenuous and always turbulent as they struggle to define themselves together and alone.
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Open Secrets
2004 · ★ 6.7
This provocative documentary uncovers a lost chapter in Canadian military history: how the Armed Forces dealt with homosexual behaviour among soldiers, during and after World War II. More than 60 years later, a group of five veterans, barely adults when they enlisted, break the silence to talk about how homosexual behaviour "was even more unmentionable than cancer." Yet amidst the brutality of war, instances of sexual awakening among soldiers and officers were occuring. Initially, the Army overlooked it, but as the war advanced, they began to crack down: military tribunals, threats of imprisonment, discharge and public exposure. After the war, officers accused of homosexuality were discharged. Back home in Canada, reputations and careers were ruined. For the young men who had served their country with valour, this final chapter was often too much to bear. Based on the book Courting Homosexuals in the Military by Paul Jackson.
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Silence Is a Falling Body
2017 · ★ 5.7
The film follows Agustina as she finds the videotapes that her father Jaime recorded before the accident that took his life. The family secrets surrounding Jaime push Agustina to get involved. Her search will reveal a story marked by sexuality and political activism.
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The Year We Thought About Love
2015
With passion, wit, intelligence and attitude, an LGBTQ youth theater group creates a play about love in all its forms, while bonding together to make change in their own lives. With candor, they tell their stories through intimate interviews, entertaining and powerful clips of their self-written plays, and glimpse into their everyday lives. Members range from a transgender woman being kicked out of her home, to a runway model who likes men’s clothing, to an out gay man accepted unconditionally by his mother. The plays they write and perform are close to their experiences and not only provide catharsis but insight into what it means to be gay, lesbian, transgender, or just queer. It’s an inspirational work of art about the hardships one faces in realizing that they are different and the courage it takes to find the pride within that.
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McKellen: Playing the Part
2018 · ★ 7.2
Built upon a 14 hour interview, McKellen: Playing the Part is a unique journey through the key landmarks of McKellen's life, from early childhood into a demanding career that placed him in the public eye for the best part of his lifetime. Using an abundance of photography from McKellen's private albums and cinematically reconstructed scenes, a raw talent shines through in the intensity, variety and devotion to that moment in the light.
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Passage
2020
Gabrielle and Yoan are 18 years old. Even though they both grew up in Temiscamingue, their aspirations are opposite. While Yoan wants to leave the area to break away from his loneliness and explore his homosexuality, Gabrielle is torn at the thought of going over a hundred kilometers away from home to carry on with her studies.
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Breaking Walls
2026
Journalist and activist Hoi Yi fights against the global rise of surveillance and censorship, while suppressing his queer identity from his family. The personal repression he faces is reflected in his commitment to the freedom of others.
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The Homosexuals
1967 · ★ 1
On March 7, 1967, 40 million Americans tuned in to watch CBS Reports: The Homosexuals, network television’s first documentary on homosexuality. Near the top of the program, host and interviewer Mike Wallace calls homosexuals “the most despised minority in the United States.” The hour that follows is filled with salacious location footage, sermonizing therapists, and shadowed interviews with distraught homosexuals.
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Blow Job
1964 · ★ 4.3
Andy Warhol directs a single 35-minute shot of a man's face to capture his facial expressions as he receives the sexual act depicted in the title.
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