We Chose Skegness

When 30 women aged 67 - 84 from across America and around the world descend on Fall River, Massachusetts to compete in the 30th anniversary Ms. Senior Sweetheart Pageant, hilarity and heartbreak ensue.

From oratory classes to operating room, Beauty Factory follows five girls for four months as they compete for the coveted Miss Venezuela crown; revealing the process that has won Venezuela more international beauty pageants than any other country.

Five women veterans who have endured unimaginable trauma in service create a shared sisterhood to help the rising number of stranded homeless women veterans by entering a competition that unexpectedly catalyzes moving events in their own lives.

In 1967, New York City is host to the Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant. This documentary takes a look behind the scenes, transporting the viewer into rehearsals and dressing rooms as the drag queen subculture prepares for this big national beauty contest. Jack/Sabrina is the mistress of ceremonies, and their protégé, Miss Harlow, is in the competition. But, as the pageant approaches, the glamorous contestants veer from camaraderie to tension.

A chronicle of gay culture in New York during the post-Stonewall, pre-AIDs era. Thirteen men and one woman look back at gay life and sex in Manhattan and Fire Island - from Stonewall (June, 1969) to the first reporting on AIDS (June, 1981). They describe the rapid move from repression to celebration, from the removal of shame to joy, the on-going search for "someone," the freedom before AIDS, the friendships, and brotherhood.

The boys are back in this wet and wild sequel

Behind the glitz of Miss Italia, director Patrizia Mirigliani fights to save the iconic pageant, now wavering amid scandals and changing beauty standards.

Documentary about British artist Andrew Logan as he attempts to put on the 2009 edition of his Alternative Miss World. The film also presents a history of the contest (which has run eccentrically since 1972) which was set up firstly as an excuse to have a good party, but has grown into a celebration of alternative lifestyles and sexualities. The documentary mixes archive footage, animated inserts, with talking head interviews and a fly-on-the-wall look at the organisation of the 2009 event

Mike and I spent 2 months in Tramore, County Waterford, Ireland in the fall/winter of '92. We had been on the road since the summer, and planned to be gone for another year or so. We made a video to send home to our friends and family in the States as a Christmas card. This is the part of the video where we took our friends on a tour of Tramore.

A journalistic investigation, built not on rumors and assumptions, but on direct evidence, revealing the true mechanisms of podium coronations. Hidden camera footage of negotiations with the owners of the largest national beauty contests and an attempt to answer the question of why these people are not yet in prison. Famous people on the jury are not a guarantee of fair judging. Irrefutable evidence of the corruption of the so-called “stars” who elect the next Miss and Mrs. The collection and subsequent theft of funds for charity is a side business of the owners of fraudulent shows. What actually awaits the titled Misses after purchasing the prize? And what do children's beauty pageants turn out to be like for young participants?

A feature-length documentary about the famous Quebec Winter Carnival beauty pageant of 1975. Each year, seven beauties are carefully selected: a queen and six duchesses. A dream that many a young girl has cherished and lived... or experienced firsthand. They will have entered a competition marked by several stages. A tailor-made demeanor will have been demanded of them, one that has taken many hours to shape. The overall impression the viewer gets is captivating: the backstage of the Carnival is opened to an honest, yet wonderfully biased, camera.

A short Documentary following a beloved local pub faced by threats of demolition.

The ruin pub phenomenon in Budapest jolted the city to life like an explosion in the early 2000s. The capital, which had flourished and buzzed with culture at the turn of the century, was levelled in an instant by the Second World War. The people living here had to start from scratch, and through perseverance and determination, the city once again began to thrive—only to slide toward decline once more. Budapest exists within this cycle, and the ruin pub is part of it, encapsulating a sense of permanence built from the ruins of Eastern Europe.

Jeanette Lee was like nothing else billiards had ever seen - and when she took the game by storm, she became, improbably, one of the most recognizable figures in all of sports.

Bournemouth offers a variety of sports, pastimes, steamer trips, and fine dining for holidaymakers, competing with cheaper foreign holidays and offering a variety of transportation options.

A short documentary about a group of open-water swimmers on Long Island who gather every summer morning in Hampton Bays. Born out of the post-pandemic era, their daily swims provide a sense of calm and a newfound community, proving that it’s never too late to find friendship, purpose, and joy in life’s simple pleasures.

Take a revealing tour along a coast of contrasts, from the folksy freshness of Whitby to the coaly Tyne, queen of all rivers.

A crumbling pier, its walls covered with graffiti and erotic frescoes reminiscent of pagan Pompeii, the locus of the seduction rituals of men longing for men, is the focus of this meditation on gay cruising at the height of sexual freedom before AIDS. Shot in 1982, this is the first segment of a film capturing the life, death, and rebirth of the legendary “sex piers” over the last three decades.

THE BIKINI OPEN is a special-event, retro series featuring the best swimsuit, fitness, bikini, and modeling competitions from the early 90s.

Documentary about the subculture of child beauty pageants (usually restricted to girls no older than 5), showing the lengths to which some parents will go to ensure that their children win these pageants...