Happy Pride Month. In honor of those near and dear to my life that are members of the LGBTQ+ community, I’m spending the whole month dedicating the lists to queer themes and topics. This week, we’re exploring films about Black queer lives and bodies. The LGBTQ+ community is at great risk in our nation, add Blackness to that, and the dangers increase. It is important that we acknowledge the vast experience of Black queerness in America and its intersections with history.
Moonlight (2016)
Available on Tubi for free, Amazon Prime and Apple TV for a fee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NJj12tJzqc&ab_channel=A24
The film follows Chiron in three moments of his life and in his journey to discovery of who he is and who he loves.
Paris Is Burning (1990)
Available on Max
This documentary follows the New York City Ball scene and how the family units formed in ball culture serve to nurture and protect young LGBTQ+ youth. It also is an honest look at the hard truth of being young and queer in 1980s New York City.
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
Available on Philo and Hulu
This documentary recounts writer James Baldwin’s last project, a look at the lives and assassinations of his friends and peers, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The film isn’t about Baldwin being a gay man but it is part of the story as it is part of Baldwin’s story.
Tangerine (2015)
Available on Max
https://youtu.be/ALSwWTb88ZU?si=phdr5qgNwQ88Lc7X
A transgender sex worker discovers her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her while she was in jail. She decides to handle it.
The Watermelon Woman (1996)
Available on Amazon Prime for a fee
A Black lesbian filmmaker discovers a 1930s actress who worked as The Watermelon Woman. This fictional autobiography was an important work of New Queer Cinema.
Portrait of Jason (1967)
Available on The Criterion Channel
Filmed in Hotel Chelsea, this film is an intimate look at Jason Holliday, who talks about his life as an aspiring cabaret singer and gay sex worker.
Saturday Church (2017)
Available on Hulu and the Roku channel
Young Ulysses becomes the man of the house after his father dies. At the same time, he is trying to understand his blooming sexuality while living with his hardworking mother, his younger brother, and his conservative religious aunt.
The Life and Death of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)
Available on Netflix
The film examines the life of activist and transgender icon Marsha P. Johnson. She was a catalyst in the Stonewall riots. Later, Johnson was found floating in the Hudson River, and though her death was ruled a suicide, some speculate that she was murdered.
