6 minute read
OUT ON FILM: Documentaries
OUT ON FILM
CHECK OUT SOME BRILLIANT DOCUMENTARIES
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There are a plethora of documentaries relating to LGBTI people, issues confronting the community, our collective history and coming out. With a little perseverance and research many can be streamed online ... here are a handful that you will find interesting and informative, some can be found on You Tube... for others you will need to have access to Netflix or an online streaming site ...
PARIS IS BURNING is a 1990 American documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-tolate 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in it. The film is considered to be an invaluable documentary of the end of the “Golden Age” of New York City drag balls, and critics have praised it as a thoughtful exploration of race, class, gender, and sexuality in America.” the extraordinary life of Billy Haines, the only matinee idol who ever decided that Hollywood’s price was too high and walked away from film stardom.
An excellent You Tube documentary.
Paris Is Burning
The quality on You Tube is not great so if you have access to a high speed internet connection this brilliant documentary can be streamed, free, from other sites. It’s the original Pose.
THE CELLULOID CLOSET tracks the history of LGBTI+ people in the movies from the very first ever 17 second Dickson Experimental Sound Film in 1895 featuring two men waltzing to the late 1990’s. The documentary is based on Vito Russo’s 1981 book The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies and interviews various men and women connected to the Hollywood movie industry commenting on various film clips and their own personal experiences with the treatment of LGBT characters in films. From the sissy characters to the censorship of the Hollywood Production Code, the coded gay characters and cruel stereotypes to the changes made in the early 1990’s.
It is a fascinating 107 minutes that will keep you engrossed, and the You Tube quality is ok.
MURDER IN CAPE TOWN: WHO
KILLED BRUNO BRONN. Bruno Bronn was a popular figure in the Cape Town gay community, running one of the most popular bars. Following the death of his long term partner, he suffered from depression, but a few years later began a new relationship. After expressing anxiety about his partner’s mental state, Bronn was found strangled in his home, and speculation about a hidden treasure trove in the home was raised. We unravel the truth of this dramatic crime.
William Haines
Interesting as most readers will remember that famous bar/club in de Waterkant in Cape Town. You’ll find it on You Tube.
HAINES. What price Hollywood? was the title of an early George Cukor film, but is a question every closeted movie star has probably asked himself. In 1930, the top box office star was a gay man. Billy Haines lived with his lover, Jimmie Shields, and never posed on the red carpet with a beard on his arm. By 1933, he was washed up in show business; and by 1936, he had become hugely successful in an entirely new line of work-interior decorator. Out of the Closet, Off the Screen: the Life of William Haines details
DISCLOSURE is a documentary that chronicles over 100 years of trans representation on screen, from silent film to Dog Day Afternoon, The 40-Year-Old Virgin to Pose. The Netflix documentary features leading trans creatives and thinkers sharing heartfelt perspectives and analysis about Hollywood’s impact on the trans community. Directed by Sam Feder and with the fabulous Laverne Cox as executive producer this documentary is essential viewing for all LGBTI people, especially in the lead-up to Pride.
Sit back, break out the popcorn and enjoy...
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P
JOHNSON is Another brilliant documentary available on Netflix. Trans activist, Victoria Crus probes the suspicious 1992 death of her friend Marsha P Johnson, an icon of the gay rights movement in the 1960s and self-described “street queen” of NYC’s gay ghetto. 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 documentary, Cruz attempts to uncover the truth of her death, while celebrating her legacy.
THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI
VERSACE. Whilst not strictly a documentary, the 9-part mini-series on the defining moments of Andrew Cunanan’s life leading to the murder of the iconic fashion designer is another engrossing and not to be missed docu-drama on Netflix. The first episode starts with the assassination and subsequent episodes look back at the killers life and his murderous journey.
A warning ... this docu-series is engrossing, you might want to binge-watch it, so diarise it for a free weekend!
NUREYEV, also streaming on Netflix, is a fascinating look at the world famous ballet dancer. The documentary traces the life of the dancer from his humble beginnings in Soviet Russia, to his defection to the West, the loves of his life and his internationally acclaimed partnership with prima-ballerina, Margot Fonteyn. The documentary includes footage that has never been shown before.
Wonderful viewing for lovers of ballet and the arts, but interesting for those millennials who may never have heard of the iconic, hugely accomplished and talented dancer.
Nureyev
CIRCUS OF BOOKS. For over 35 years, the gay porn shop Circus of Books gave Los Angeles’s LGBT+ community a space to socialise and celebrate themselves without judgment. Circus of Books is the debut documentary from artist Rachel Mason, who finally asks the least radical people she knows- her parents- how they became American’s biggest distributors of gay porn.
One critic wrote, “A fabulous documentary of historic importance to both LGBTQ and straights alike, but also one about an iconic Jewish couple who made great changes to human rights in America. A must see!”
Disclosure
Martha P Johnson
Others to look out for are HATING PETER TATCHELL, the excellent documentary charting the life of the well-known LGBT+ activist.
HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE - an Oscar-
nominated film documenting the activism of the AIDS crisis as it ravaged the gay community in the late 1980’s.
TONGUES UNTIED is a provocative, unflinching look at what it meant to be gay and Black in America in the 1980’s. Filmmaker Marlon T. Riggs sought to, “...shatter the nation’s brutalizing silence on matters of sexual and racial difference.” In exposing matters both brutal — a college student who is gaybashed; the loneliness and isolation of the drag queen — and beautiful — protests and marches; vogue culture — Tongues Untied is seminal viewing on the foundations of queer people of colour.
A SECRET LOVE is a charming documentary about a lesbian couple who came out after being together for 60 years .
Finally, OUT IN THE NIGHT. Blair Dorosh-Walther’s award-winning doc focuses on four lesbian women – Renata, Patreese, Venice and Terrain – who, a decade ago in New York City, fought back when a man threatened them and three other lesbians in the streets. The film chronicles their experience, particularly as they battle injustices and biases within the U.S. criminal justice system.
