Gay Documentary Movies & Short Films

SHORT FILM

The Leaf

2021 Documentary

Director Will Zang chronicles his experience as both a filmmaker and a gay, Chinese immigrant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SHORT FILM

Small Town Secrets

2005 Documentary

Katherine Leggett's home movies and webcam conversations with her gay parents, who live in a small Midwestern town.

Campaign of Hate: Russia and Gay Propaganda

2014 Documentary

As most of the world moves forward toward gay equality, Russia is seemingly heading backward. Antigay sentiment and legislation are spreading rapidly throughout the country. In 2013, the Russian parliament passed a ban on so-called 'gay propaganda' that effectively makes nearly any public discussion of gay equality a crime. It is my hope that this documentary will educate viewers to their reality.

SHORT FILM

XY Anatomy of a Boy

2009 Documentary

Can you be a virgin, gay and into girls? An intimate study of six homosexual boys. In the changing room some of the uncertainties and embarrassment’s of youth emerge, such as the tale of hunky Peter, romance and the naff value of losing your virginity during a Disney movie.

Corpus Christi

2012 Documentary

Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi is a play retelling the Jesus story, with Jesus as a gay man living in the 1950s in Corpus Christi, Texas. This documentary follows the troupe, playwright, and audience around the world on a five-year journey of Terrence McNally’s passion play, where voices of protest and support collide on one of the central issues facing the LGBT community: religion.

Lord Montagu

2013 Documentary

The inside story of Lord Edward Montagu, one of England's most controversial and iconic aristocrats of the Twentieth Century.

SHORT FILM

Paradise

2020 Documentary

The day of the "Event" has arrived and Dalila, Jano, Daph D, Megan, Putricia, Ciara, Barbara and Zodoma, are here to climb on heels higher than the walls of the genre and the identity. Together they will expand the limits of imagination; the makeup will be their war paint and their dresses the armor.

SHORT FILM

Pink Suede Shoes

2016 Documentary

Jasun Watkins brings his pink, brash and very camp Elvis impersonation act to Porthcawl in the biggest Elvis tribute festival in Europe.

Queerama

2017 Documentary, Musical

Compilation of archive footage from 1919 to the present, from both documentary and fictional sources, illustrating the huge changes in LGBTQ life in Britain over the 20th century.

Are You Proud?

2019 Documentary

Rare archive footage and interviews across a spectrum of historical campaigns and current activists in the United Kingdom celebrate the LGBTQ+ Pride movement's landmark achievements.

Miwa: A Japanese Icon

2010 Documentary

Looks back at the 50-year career of Akihiro Miwa, a celebrated Japanese entertainer who captured attention playing the glamorous female lead of the 1968 cult classic 'Black Lizard.' Performing as a female while living off-stage as a man, Miwa has used glitter, wit, evening gowns and enchanting storytelling as a vessel for gay activism and more.

SHORT FILM

Family Matters

2022 Documentary

It is an inside peek into the lives and relationships between sex workers and their family members.

SHORT FILM

Chokehole: Drag Wrestlers do Deutschland

2023 Documentary

Follows the drag wrestling collective Chokehole as they take the show to Germany, sharing the stories of cast members as they grapple with racism, gender conformism, queer identity and America's suppression of the arts

SHORT FILM

The Night Belongs to Children

2017 Documentary

A filmmaker reflects on his lifelong struggle with anorexia nervosa, from childhood through adolescence, and explores his complex relationship with food as an adult.

Fursonas

2016 Documentary

Follows a few groups of Furries, as a social commentary of this fandom, its stigmas and how it is perceived through sensational media coverage.

SHORT FILM

Young Man at the Bar Masturbating with Rage and Nerve

2015 Comedy, Documentary

Dance and night work intersect in Jonathan's body, exploring themes of physical expression and societal taboos through a provocative lens.

SHORT FILM

Brazil Carnival

2016 Documentary

This explicit film captures the hedonistic spirit of Rio's carnival, celebrating freedom of expression and sexuality through samba and uninhibited revelry.

SHORT FILM

Half a Life

2017 Animation, Documentary

Follows a young, gay Egyptian activist navigating Egypt's increasingly dangerous climate for LGBT individuals, facing a critical choice between safety and staying true to himself.

SHORT FILM

Penis Poetry

2017 Documentary

This poetic film explores the societal fascination with the penis, revealing it as both taboo and art in today's culture.

SHORT FILM

Inclinate

2018 Documentary

A performance that explores the tensions of contact, conflict, and violence, using a transparent tarp, blood, nudity, a military uniform, a fence, and movement to reimagine ideas of visibility, mortality, and entrapment.

SHORT FILM

Into the Streets

2013 Documentary, Drama

In a time when the gay community was discriminated and in fear of public persecution, partygoers took to the streets to show they would no longer hide. It was Sydney 1978, when Craig, a naïve teenager was swept up in the birth of a movement. Through a fragmented recollection, we revisit the chaotic events of the first Sydney Gay Mardi Gras.

SHORT FILM

Bomgay

1996 Documentary

Based on the gay poetry of R. Raj Rao, these six vignettes depict the underground and twisted nature of the gay identity in urban India. Part Genet, part Bollywood this film combines acidic verse and insightful imagery to reveal the emerging gay community in post-liberalized India of the 1990's.

SHORT FILM

Confessions

1972 Documentary

Curt McDowell, a graduate student at San Francisco Art Institute, opens his film with a confession to his parents, listing his sins of the flesh.

The Material Boy

2015 Documentary

An Italian American teenager from a strict Catholic family becomes pregnant and secretly gives birth in a convent run hospital. To avoid scandal, the nuns arrange for her son to be raised in Argentina under a false identity. Eighteen years later, he discovers that his biological mother is Madonna, who went on to become one of the world's biggest pop stars.

Undressing Israel: Gay Men in the Promised Land

2012 Documentary

Adult film entrepreneur and political columnist Michael Lucas examines Israel's thriving gay community.

SHORT FILM

Machos

2017 Documentary

Explores the aggression within Mexican masculinity, blending interviews, dance, and intimate scenes to delve into this unique cultural dynamic.

SHORT FILM

The Battle of Amfar

2013 Documentary

When AIDS struck in the early 1980s, a scientist and a movie star did not have to respond - but they did. Dr. Mathilde Krim and Elizabeth Taylor joined forces to create amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research. The fight against HIV has never been the same.

Gay Documentary Movies & Short Films

All Gay Documentary Films

The Leaf

Small Town Secrets

Campaign of Hate: Russia and Gay Propaganda

XY Anatomy of a Boy

Corpus Christi

Lord Montagu

Paradise

Pink Suede Shoes

Queerama

Are You Proud?

Miwa: A Japanese Icon

Family Matters

Chokehole: Drag Wrestlers do Deutschland

The Night Belongs to Children

Fursonas

Young Man at the Bar Masturbating with Rage and Nerve

Brazil Carnival

Half a Life

Penis Poetry

Inclinate

Into the Streets

Bomgay

Confessions

The Material Boy

Undressing Israel: Gay Men in the Promised Land

Machos

The Battle of Amfar

Gay Documentary Collections

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