Queerguru’s TOP PICKS of LGBTQ+ films at SAN FRANCISCO DOC FILM FEST

Today, June 1st sees the Opening Day of the 22nd San Francisco DocFest at the city’s Roxie Theater. Artist Q & A sessions will be both in-person and virtual on-demand. The festival boasts it brings the most weird and wonderful aspects of real life to the big screen. And always includes some superb LGBTQ-related films which this year number 6 features and nine shorts  ….. of which these are

QUEERGURU’S TOP PICKS OF MUST-SEE MOVIES

To many people in SF, RUTH BRINKER was a real true hero who in her retirement days became such an essential part of the community,  In 1985 at the heart of the AIDS pandemic, she was the local founder of Project Open Hands that provided meals for HIV/AIDS patients.  She actually started by cooking meals in her own home and many of her clients weren’t dying so much of AIDS as malnutrition and loneliness.  This short eulogizes a compassionate caring hero who deserves to be celebrated.

If ever there was a time that the LGBTQ+ community needed powerful voices in our corner it is now.  The trouble is that for them to get to a place where they can be heard and make a real difference is getting even more impossible in the present political climate.  Not that Malcolm Kenyatta was aiming to just represent the queer community in his home state of Pennsylvania, but his attempt to run for the US Senate was severely hampered by the fact that he is a gay man of color.

Tim Harris‘s documentary Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn the inspiring story of Malcolm Kenyatta’s political campaign really grabs you both mentally and emotionally.  When the final credits roll you simply just want to dash off and vote for him,   It is of course too late but you know that even though he may have fallen at this hurdle, Kenyatta will be back. 

Chokehole: Drag Wrestlers Do Deutschland proved to be a real eyeopener for the (too sheltered?)Queerguru Team who had never come across this phenomenon.  Its a  choreographed contest,  where drag queens wrestle each other with no holds barred. in what is traditionally a very macho sport.  It proves that you can make literally everything/anything camp elements of professional wrestling. This new ‘sport’ started in New Orleans where it is technically illegal so they are invited to bring their show to Germany where they are a hit, which emboldens them when they return home to secure a state proclamation that applauds Chokehole for its spirit, courage, and pride.

When Sean Dorsey moved to San Francisco in the early 2000s attracted to the city’s history of trans and queer resistance and culture, he was shocked to discover that he was the only openly trans modern dancer and also that no one was showcased or hired trans artists on stage. He sought to remedy that lack and created the artistic vision he envisioned by forming his own company.

Since then Sean Dorsey has become recognized as the U.S.’ first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer, Dorsey has toured his work to more than 30 cities across the US and abroad – and taught with his explicitly trans-positive pedagogy in more than 35 cities.  This new documentary is a profile of the trailblazing transgender choreographer and activist.