Dean Johnson, drag queen, rock star, LGBTQI activist, junkie, genius, escort then John Doe. How does someone so famous in New York die as an unknown in DC? This documentary explores the incredible highs and the crushing lows of Dean Johnson’s life and untimely death. Was it murder? Was it an accident? We may never know, but what is certain is that Dean and “the Big Johnson” changed New York City and all who knew him forever.
A mini documentary about the untold contributions lesbians made during the A.I.D.S epidemic.
Educational film about the funeral process. Narrated by pastor Dr. S.A. Owen of Memphis, Tennessee.
Avant-Drag! paints portraits of ten drag artists of varying gender expressions and sexualities who take to the streets of Athens to query, problematise and (yes, please!) undermine social strictures. Employing wildly imagined personas – like riot housewives and Albanian turbo-folk girls – who perform acts as revolutionary as praising abortion and as charming as drawing childish pictures, these artists call for social justice by taking aim at conservatism, patriarchy, patriotism, racism and sexism.
Star of stage and screen Alaska Thunderfuck proudly presents "Alaska's Extra Special Comedy Special." Featuring some of Alaska's greatest musical hits, exciting special guests, and a series of comedic jokes.
Describing herself as a 'street queen,' Johnson was a legendary fixture in New York City’s gay ghetto and a tireless voice for LGBT pride since the days of Stonewall, who along with fellow trans icon Sylvia Rivera, founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a trans activist group based in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. Her death in 1992 was declared a suicide by the NYPD, but friends never accepted that version of events. Structured as a whodunit, with activist Victoria Cruz cast as detective and audience surrogate, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson celebrates the lasting political legacy of Johnson, while seeking to finally solve the mystery of her unexplained death.
Letter Beyond the Walls reconstructs the trajectory of HIV and AIDS with a focus on Brazil, through interviews with doctors, activists, patients and other actors, in addition to extensive archival material. From the initial panic to awareness campaigns, passing through the stigma imposed on people living with HIV, the documentary shows how society faced this epidemic in its deadliest phase over more than two decades. With this historical approach as its base, the film looks at the way HIV is viewed in today's society, revealing a picture of persistent misinformation and prejudice, which especially affects Brazil’s most historically vulnerable populations.
A spirited cancer survivor goes on a spontaneous search for 'The Berlin Patient' - the first man in the world actually cured of HIV.
Controversial documentary about gay men purposely contracting the AIDS virus.
A small exploration in the cemetery from the township of Sainte-Colombe throught a focus into the light, graveyards, flaggings and funerary plaques.
Documentary about behind the scenes of Pabllo Vittar's highly anticipated show at the first edition of The Town, in São Paulo.
When Pak Tin Estate is going to be demolished, the residents will move to a new place, but how about the dead residents? Where could they go? Ho Ying-kuen who majors in Myth and Poetry, and Playwriting, leads us to a time and space of a demolishing public estate. We will come across the residents of the estate, a mother with her two sons selling incenses, and two monkeys having conversation about their mother. A mixture of fiction, experimental and documentary images, Lost Cemeteries studies about filial piety and death with a strange and interesting approach.
Aprender a vivir
In Córdoba, far from the Argentine capital, the end of a military regime promises a spring that is all too brief. “La Delpi” is the only survivor of a group of friends who are transgender women and drag-queens, who began to die of aids in the late 80s. In a Catholic and conservative city, the Grupo Kalas made their weapons and trenches out of improvised dresses and lip-syncing. Today the images of unique and unknown footage are not only a farewell letter, but a manifesto to friendship.
Under Dorchester Square in Montreal lies the cemetery where 55,000 people were buried in the 19th century. The square is still at the heart of social conflicts in Quebec, 150 years later.
A close look at what really means to be part of Haus of Fraimpark, an alternative drag family in Panama City. Daughters and Nieces of Miss Veneno Fraimpark share their experience in belonging to one of Panama's most acclaimed drag houses.
Bruno, a 26 year old man starts to enter the Drag culture in Oporto in 2015. Initially he's rejected multiple times in various show rooms for being "way too gay". After two years the name Camel Toe is now famous because of his excentric personality wich gives him a voice when it comes to the defence of all kinds of artistic expression and in the fight against prejudice. Camel Toe comes to chock, through his irreverence, the city of Oporto and to tell us the story of his life as a metaphore for the revenge of an whole comunity in the contemporary days.
In May 2016, Christopher Caldwell - better known as Bob The Drag Queen, won the incredibly popular TV show "RuPaul's Drag Race". This documentary covers both his life and career before, during and after the show as well as a comedy special he did in June 2016.
As a result of the Holocaust and later, AIDS, the male homosexual community has sustained bitter losses and, according to Praunheim, lesbian women have now placed themselves at the head of the so-called queer movement. The female protagonists in the film represent two different generations; they also incorporate the past and present status of homosexuals in society.
After a quarter-century of political denial and social stigma, of stunning scientific breakthroughs, bitter policy battles and inadequate prevention campaigns, HIV/AIDS continues to spread rapidly throughout much of the world. Through interviews with AIDS researchers, world leaders, activists, and patients, FRONTLINE investigates the science, politics, and human cost of this fateful disease and asks: What are the lessons of the past, and what can be done to stop AIDS?