2016 was a particularly golden year for the number of LGBTQ documentaries that found their way onto our screens. From movies that looked back at our history and iconic cultural figures in our past, to the ones that focused on the everyday struggles of queer youth coming to terms with their identity and fitting in within our community, to others who discovered larger-than-life activists that are making such a difference. For every one of the excellent films that made our list, we had to leave dozens out that so deserved both our attention and acknowledgement. Queer cinema has never been stronger.
Here then our TOP TEN PICKS of the BEST LGBTQ DOCUMENTARIES of 2016 (and all but No 10 are available on streaming platforms everywhere).
1) Check It : Literally just a stone’s throw from the corridors of power in our nation’s capital, lies a whole area of Washington that is completely alien territory to most Americans. This area is home to hundreds of African/American and Latino gay and transgender youth who have to survive in a culture which has one of the highest rates of anti-gay violence in the whole country, but who have now collectively decided that enough is enough, and it is time to fight back.
Ten years ago, a group of middle-schoolers started ‘Check It’ to provide its members safety in numbers and let people know that if you jumped a gay kid in DC now, you’d likely get jumped back in retaliation. The original 10 members have grown to over 200 tough, rough kids who put up this angry aggressive front with everyone outside of the tight clique that they encounter. They are mouthy and sassy and although most of them are extremely effeminate and outrageously flamboyant, they are far from being sissies for as well as their wickedly sharp tempers, they are also packing knives and brass knuckles. They walk around wearing lipstick and dresses daring anyone to say something to them which is pretty brave …… and very crazy too ……and all caught on camera in this mind blowing documentary.
2) Out Of Iraq : Grab at least two boxes of Kleenex to watch this documentary of a heartbreaking love story between an Iraqi soldier and an Iraqi military translator that always looks like it could end badly at any moment with either of the men being killed simply for being gay. The newsreels are full each day of so called ‘honor killings’ in the Middle East where family and neighborhoods take the law into their own hands and subject any LGBT person they can catch to a brutal barbaric killings. Somehow though it takes on even greater significance when you realize that this is the very same fate that could befall these very charming young men whose own tale is unfolding on the screen.
3) Political Animals : This wonderfully uplifting documentary from filmmakers Jonah Markowitz and Tracy Wares is the remarkable story of the first four openly gay members of the Californian Legislature whose fierce determination to get some basic LGBT rights were crucial milestones in the continuing journey to full equality. The four were all women Sheila Kuehl who was first one to be elected to the Assembly in 1994, followed by Carole Migden, and then later by Christine Kehoe and Jackie Goldberg.
Each of them proved to be a very shrewd political operator as they introduced Bills piecemeal to stop discrimination a little at a time, which was no easy feat given the rigid opposition that they faced. We can see through all the revealing archival footage in the documentary all the horrifying and shocking hostility hurled at them mainly from the extreme rightwing faction of the male dominated Republican Party who just loved to enter the Chamber brandishing their bibles.
4) Mapplethorpe : Look At The Pictures : the main thrust of this compelling profile from the prolific gay filmmakers Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato is actually to show the full range of the celebrated gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe’s prolific work over the different periods of his life and how, like the men he chose for lovers, covered a very broad spectrum and not just for the homoerotic images that gave him a certain notoriety. His work usually in highly stylized black and white featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-portraits and still-life images of flowers.
The very best thing about this HBO film are the pictures themselves and they show a great many of them and in detail that simply remind you (if it was really necessary) of what a sheer genius the man truly was, and probably the likes of whom we will never see again.
5. Uncle Howard : Filmmaker Aaron Brookner set out to find the lost negatives of ‘Burroughs : The Movie’ a critically acclaimed film made by his uncle Howard Brookner who had died of AIDS in 1989 aged just 34 years old. The 1983 movie on the celebrated queer writer and Beat Generation poet William S Burroughs got Howard involved with some of seminal cultural icons of that period including Warhol, and in fact Tom DeCillo was the cinematographer on the film, and sound recordist was a a very young unknown Jim Jarmusch.
This excellent and very touching profile also serves as a fitting reminder that Howard Brookner was a remarkable and gifted filmmaker, but also of the wealth of talent and all the other extraordinary people we lost in the AIDS pandemic.
6) Strike A Pose : For many Madonna fans the peak of the musical career for the diva and superstar was in the 1990’s about the time when she was traveling the globe with her Blond Ambition World Tour which thrilled the audiences crammed packed into stadiums with the same vehement passion that it was also condemned by The Catholic Church. On this tour she was accompanied by her fabulous troupe of male dancers whom she had literally picked from Harlem ballrooms where they were masters of the hot new trend of voguing. They formed a tight-knit clique with Madonna recognizing that for them this was the biggest career break of their young lives, but they in turn were adding this whole layer of incredible sexiness and street credibility that helped take Madonna’s performance up to a whole new level.
Now 25 years later the remaining boys …. now in their mid 40’s ….. look back with great affection and nostalgia at this one exciting year in their lives even though, despite being regarded as Madonna’s ‘family’ at the time, it still ended badly. They are without doubt a disarmingly charming and very tight-knit crew and in this refreshing new documentary from first-time Dutch filmmaker Reijer Zwaan and his co-director Ester Gould, they recount how they were initially bowled over when they were picked for the ‘Vogue’ music video (directed by David Fincher) and then the Tour.
7) Real Boy : Any documentary that makes a contribution to the continuing transgender dialogue is important, but when it is as poignant and compelling as ‘Real Boy’, then it can play a significant role in nurturing more understanding and acceptance both within the community and society at large.
Queer filmmaker Shaleece Haas subject is a disarmingly charming young teenage musician Bennett Wallace who she starts following when he takes his very first steps of beginning to take testosterone . Haas keeps with Ben up to the part where he has ‘top surgery’ and even beyond when he is adjusting to the fact that he is finally achieving his dream.We see through early home movies that as Rachel, she is ecstatically happy on the 5th birthday when she gets the gift she has always wanted : a suit jacket. There are other clues too that clearly show that Ben’s desire to re-align his body to his real gender were present right through his childhood.
Directed by a young Swedish visual artist Sara Jordenö who co-wrote the movie with Twiggy Pucci Garcon who is the ‘housemother’ of the House of Pucci and one of the leading lights of the movement. They both take pains to show that what this tight knit community does much more than just creating a safe zone for LGBT youth, as it provides them with an outlet for their energies and talents and a way for them to express their sexuality. Their numbers include an increasing number of trans men and women, and others who are beginning their transitioning. There are some who simply want to retain a fluidity to their sexuality and reject labels in favor of individualistic ‘realness’.
9) Coming Out: Unless you are gay or fit in somewhere along the queer spectrum you will never ever really be able to appreciate the traumas of coming out of the closet about your sexuality in this heteronormative world. There is simply no one way of doing this, and when young filmmaker Alden Peters decided it was time he took this step starting with his family and friends, he looked for a film that could help guide him through the process, but all he could find were fictional accounts.
He found that each of the stories were told in hindsight, and none of them ever mentioned what happened immediately after ‘the announcement’ which was an issue that particularly concerned him. He decided then to completely film the entire process as he breaks the news to everyone who is important in his life, and he even goes back and discusses their feelings and reactions again a few days later when the news has really sunk in.
‘Coming Out’ is a definite must-see for not just those who still have to deal with leaving ‘the closet’, but those of us who wanted to be heartened by what a wonderful life affirming moment this can be when people love us for who we really are.
10) The Queen of Ireland :It was always a sure bet that sooner or later the whole world would be aware of an extraordinary Irish drag queen called Panti Bliss, but it was her appearance on the stage of Dublin’s Abbey Theater delivering a ‘Noble Call’ on February 1st 2014 that instantly propelled her into the role of accidental activist and national LGBT hero. The very Irish tradition of a ‘Noble Call’ dictates that it usually takes place late at night on a stage after the main festivities are winding down and one performer will get up sing or say their piece to an audience who respectfully listen and never interrupt. In Panti’s case she was giving an impassioned and brilliant heartfelt speech about homophobia, and the audience were in total raptures so the only noise was the standing ovation that she so well-deserved at its conclusion.
This documentary from Conor Horgan was filmed over several years, and the interviews captured with O’Neill out of drag show amore modest introspective person who is unscrupulously open and honest, especially when he touches on highly personal issues such as being diagnosed with HIV and the devastating effect that it has had on his ability to have an intimate relationship. His humor is infectious, but what draws us most to this disarmingly charming man is his unshakeable sense of humanity and his tireless commitment to helping the LGBT community.
Labels: 2017, culture, documentary, Top Ten List
