Difficult Love

Jimmy Somerville: Queer Rebel of British Pop

2025 · ★ 5

With his soaring falsetto and magnetic yet understated stage presence, Jimmy Somerville burst onto the 1980s new wave scene, making the world dance to songs rooted in struggle and resilience. From the harsh realities of Glasgow’s working-class neighborhoods to the challenges of growing up gay in a hostile world, and the devastating impact of the AIDS crisis, Somerville transformed pain into anthems of freedom. First with Bronski Beat, then The Communards, and later as a solo artist, he became both rebel and diva—the unmistakable voice of a generation fighting for equality. Through intimate stories from those who have stood by him for four decades, this portrait reveals a rare artist who has never wavered in his convictions.

PRIDE: To Be Seen - A Soul of a Nation Presentation

2022 · ★ 7.5

It’s the resilience and love that keeps this community marching to the beat of its own drum; each generation redefining what it means to be queer and to be seen.

For the Love of a Man

2015 · ★ 7.2

Tamil superstar Rajinikanth: Actor, Leader, Hero, God. Men from various generations alter their lives, sell their belongings, and place fandom above their families in devotion to an iconic South Indian superstars.

The Woman Who Loves Giraffes

2018 · ★ 6.4

Dr. Anne Innis Dagg re-traces the steps of her groundbreaking 1956 journey to South Africa to study giraffes in the wild. Now, at 85 years old, Anne sees a startling contrast between the world of giraffes she once knew and the one it has become. Weaving through the past and present, her harrowing journey gives us an intimate look into the factors that destroyed her career and the forces that brought her back.

Strange and Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island

2015

Architect Todd Saunders’s buildings on Fogo Island, Newfoundland embrace the excitement of being on the edge of nature and contemporary design while fulfilling the goal of doing ‘new things with old ways’. Saunders and commissioner, Zita Cobb, provide a personal account of the ideas and traditions that inspire this bold and socially ambitious architectural venture. Gorgeously photographed over the Island’s seven seasons, the film is a flowing, visual narrative that unfolds over time as the principal stage of the project, the Fogo Island Inn, approaches completion.

Guantanamo's Child: Omar Khadr

2015

Examines the case of Omar Khadr, a Toronto-born teen captured in Afghanistan by U.S. forces in 2002 and branded by some as a child soldier and accused by many others of being a terrorist and murderer.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers

2015 · ★ 1

Follows three women in an all female, predominantly Muslim unit of police officers sent to post-earthquake Haiti as UN Peacekeepers for one year. The mission challenges these women while shattering commonly held stereotypes.

Miss Sharon Jones!

2015 · ★ 7.1

Two-time Academy Award® winner Barbara Kopple shines a powerful, inspiring and entertaining spotlight on contemporary soul queen Sharon Jones. As she prepares to release her much-anticipated new album, Sharon comes face to-face with the greatest challenge of her life: a grave cancer diagnosis. Follow this tour de force over the course of an eventful and remarkable year as she struggles to hold her band The Dap-Kings together while battling her way back to the stage with the unstoppable determination of a true soul survivor

Tokyo Girls

2000 · ★ 4.7

A candid journey into the world of 4 young Canadian women who work as well-paid hostesses in exclusive Japanese nightclubs. Lured by adventure and easy money, these modern-day geisha find themselves caught up in the mizu shobai—the complex "floating water world" of Tokyo clubs and bars. Drawn by fast money, some women become consumed by the lavish lifestyle and forget why they came; one hostess calls this "losing the plot." With a pulsating visual style, Tokyo Girls captures the raw energy of urban Japan and its fascination with the new.

Grenzgänger Krug

Manfred Krug became a star in both East and West. An artist who stood up against authoritarian structures, yet in his private life was a chauvinist—boastful, tender, funny, but also a pain in the neck full of contradictions. His story is told through archival footage spanning six decades, from a contemporary female perspective and with the understanding that resistance is necessary.

Gertrude Stein: When You See This, Remember Me

1970 · ★ 8

The thoughts, words, and compelling presence of Gertrude Stein flows richly through this portrait of the author's Paris years from 1905 through the 1930s.

Mary Cassatt: Impressionist From Philadelphia

1977

This documentary portrait is the first to celebrate the only American member of the French Impressionist school and the first American woman to become a famous painter. 'Mary Cassatt Impressionist From Philadelphia' is not only a biography of the artist’s life and work; the film sees both in the context of the status of the woman painter in Victorian America in the second half of the 19th century.