Foundations of LGBTQ+ Cinema
Trace the history of LGBTQ+ representation in film with this list of movies directed and/or about LGBTQ+ people and characters. From documentaries to romance to drama and beyond, these key films depict a broad range of LGBTQ+ experiences and perspectives. (Created June 2022)
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Saving Face
Alice Wu's full-length feature debut stars Michelle Krusiec as Wil, a lesbian Chinese American surgeon who is not out to her mother Gao, played by Joan Chen, and Lynn Chen as Wil's girlfriend Vivian.
Format: DVD
Availability: Available
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Tongues Untied
This innovative experimental documentary from black gay filmmaker Marlon Riggs was one of the first films to present the experiences and lived realities of black gay men in a homophobic and racist society in their own voices.
Format: Streaming Video
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Totally F***ed Up
Another key example of New Queer Cinema, this provocative 1993 drama about a ragtag group of queer teenagers who form a makeshift family is the first installment of director Gregg Araki's Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy.
Format: Streaming Video
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The Watermelon Woman
Another New Queer Cinema classic, The Watermelon Woman was the first feature film directed by a black lesbian. Director Cheryl Dunye also stars in this witty, thought-provoking film about representation and erasure of black queer history in cinema.
Format: Streaming Video
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Word Is Out
Collectively directed by the Mariposa Film Group (which included director Peter Adair), Word is Out is a trail-blazing 1977 documentary featuring voices of 26 gays and lesbians from a wide variety of backgrounds across the United States,
Format: Streaming Video
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