A chronological look at films by, for, or about gays and lesbians in the United States, from 1947 to 2005, Kenneth Anger's "Fireworks" to "Brokeback Mountain". Talking heads, anchored by critic and scholar B. Ruby Rich, are interspersed with an advancing timeline and with clips from two dozen films. The narrative groups the pictures around various firsts, movements, and triumphs: experimental films, indie films, sex on screen, outlaw culture and bad guys, lesbian lovers, films about AIDS and dying, emergence of romantic comedy, transgender films, films about diversity and various cultures, documentaries and then mainstream Hollywood drama. What might come next?
B. Ruby Rich
John Waters
Jane Lynch
Alan Cumming
Heather Matarazzo
Todd Haynes
Christine Vachon
John Cameron Mitchell
Rose Troche
Ang Lee
Marga Gómez
Gus Van Sant
Guinevere Turner
Dan Bucatinsky
Angela Robinson
Jonathan Caouette
Jennie Livingston
Ash Christian
Nina Landey
Peter Paige
Jenni Olson
Billy Porter
Alice Wu
Wilson Cruz
Donna Deitch
Don Roos
Patrik-Ian Polk
James Schamus
Alonso Duralde
Tommy O'Haver
Randy Barbato
Arthur Dong
Marcus Hu
Michael Musto
Stephen Winter