It’s the first feature-length narrative film written and directed by an out Black lesbian about Black lesbians. She seeks to uncover even more information on this mysterious actress.
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Cheryl in turn becomes entranced, and somewhat obsessed, with an actress credited only as “Watermelon Woman” in a movie called Plantation Memories. She soon finds herself frustrated with the lack of queer Black women presented in historical cinema. The film’s lead Cheryl (played by Dunye), is also a Black lesbian filmmaker who journeys through film archives as she attempts to produce her own work. Dunye is an auteur, in every sense of the word, as she weaves issues of race, sexuality, and gender in her work and most notably, explores the Black queer female experience. The Watermelon Woman (1996)Ī maybe unknown but beloved cult queer Black film is Cheryl Dunye’s 1996 feature film debut The Watermelon Woman. Modern ballroom dancing is their main medium, which they call the “kiki scene.” This film has never felt more relevant. The doc profiles queer and transgender teenagers over a two-year period, as they galavant all over the city, namely Christopher Street Pier. Kiki kicks the doors wide open to Harlem’s youth-of-color drag, queer, and voguing scene. The 2016 documentary, directed by Swedish filmmaker Sara Jordenö, is often considered an unofficial sequel to Paris (Jordenö was invited to create the film with Twiggy Pucci Garçon, a leader in the kiki community in New York).
Kiki (2016)Īfter you watch 1990’s Paris is Burning, and let it ruminate fully, add Kiki to your film list. In 2017, Rafiki was banned in Kenya ahead of its Cannes premiere.
It’s a lighthearted, lively, and colorful romance with an LGBTQ rights backdrop. As they navigate their friendship circles and growing tensions between their father’s political battles in the neighborhood, the magnetic energy of Kenya and their zest for life brings them together. It’s a tale of friendship and forbidden romance between Kena and Ziki, two teenage girls in Kenya whose family political ties serendipitously bring them together. The 2018 Kenyan drama Rafiki is a much-needed updated and feel-good modern-day Romeo and Juliet. If you’re unfamiliar with Johnson or Rivera’s life, this is a compelling and heartbreaking primer to the transgender movement, which has gained even more momentum in recent years across the world. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera’s rise during the gay liberation and transgender rights movement in New York City from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Activist Victoria Cruz goes in-depth in the doc chronicling Marsha P. Johnson, suspiciously ruled a suicide and believed by many to have actually been a wrongful murder. Johnson recounts the 1992 death of transgender legend Marsha P. The 2017 Netflix documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Move this LGBT movie to the top of your list. The cinematography is stunning, as is the thoughtfulness of the setup - it’s a quiet film, but one that says so much. This LGBT movie is a meditative look at three periods in a man’s life as he grows up, comes out, and settles into himself. Heartbreaking and lovely, this movie absolutely deserved the 2017 Best Picture Oscar (but not the shenanigans that came along during the award ceremony).
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It’s an intimate look at a community that has continued to influence our culture in the three decades since its release, most recently in series like FX’s Pose and HBO Max’s Legendary. The joyful explosion of elaborate runway competitions, in which unforgettable contestants show off costuming, choreography, and general fabulousness as only they can, exists alongside the harsh realities of AIDS, racism, poverty, and violence. One of the most beloved documentaries in the queer canon and beyond and one of our favorite LGBT movies of all time, this singular film takes us inside the ballroom culture of late-’80s New York City.