AFRICAN-AMERICAN Stories

The films on this page focus heavily on the LGBTQ African-American experiences in America, including those of more recent African immigrant.

To find these resources through your local library, please use the invaluable Worldcat.org and search by Title or Director or use the search box below!

Affirmations.  Dir. Marlon Riggs, 1990. 10 minutes

In another under-seen, uplifting gem from extraordinary documentarian Marlon Riggs, this short seeks to celebrate the experience of being gay and Black in America. Despite the constant threats of racism and homophobia, HIV/AIDS, depression, and general persecution, gay, Black men have survived and find love, peace, and happiness in a hostile world. In this film, Riggs focuses on the positive aspects of being “in the life” and how those aspects help the community thrive. Like all of Marlon Riggs’s films, exponentially more ideas and content are explored than should even be possible in the runtime.

All God’s Children. Dir. Dee Mosbacher, Frances Reid, Sylvia Rhue, 1996. 26 minutes

This seminal documentary short explicitly and expertly explores the intersections of racism and homophobia and focuses on the struggle of organized religion and religious African-American queer people to find space for each other. It also makes a compelling argument that the homophobia many Black people have experienced from Black religious communities is a natural offshoot of the crippling racism those communities have endured. The film consists largely of interview vignettes of preachers, LGBT people, their families and some politicians (including, thrillingly, a young Rep. Maxine Waters offering full-fledged support to LGBT people) and the insights they offer make this an essential artifact in the representation of QPOC in film.

Anthem. Dir. Marlon Riggs, 1991. 9 minutes

This infectiously pulse-pounding long-form music video/experimental film audaciously combines music, poetry, provocative imagery, and myriad dance styles to ruminate on, critique, challenge, celebrate, and otherwise delve into contemporary Black, gay culture. Sly but insightful critiques are also directed at the derision of queer people in Black popular culture and the simultaneous disrespect of Black people in the gay community. Characteristically thought-provoking for documentarian Marlon Riggs, this short film is evocative, erotic, illuminating, upsetting and, ultimately, endlessly rewatchable. It highlights the enormity of the loss of Riggs as a filmmaker and the crushing void he left behind.

Bessie. Dir. Dee Rees, 2015. 111 minutes

Veteran lesbian filmmaker Dee Rees’s excellent direction and Queen Latifah’s electrifyingly charismatic performance elevate this overdue biopic of blues legend Bessie Smith. Smith overcame strict and destitute origins to become one of bestselling musical acts of the 1920s, despite her outspokenness, the crushing racism and sexism of the time, the unabashed expression of female sexuality in her music, and her not-particularly-discreet bisexual love affairs. Though Smith’s life was often difficult and tragic, this film’s hopefulness shines through while also providing visibility to bisexual people of color, often rendered completely invisible on screen.

Black is…Black Ain’t. Dir. Marlon Riggs, 1994. 87 minutes

In Marlon Riggs’s final film, he deeply and insightfully explores toxic masculinity, long before that phrase had entered the mainstream, and how it interacts with historical oppression, internalized racism, misogyny and homophobia in the Black community in tremendously destructive ways. Angela Davis, bell hooks, Cornel West and other impressively prominent Black thinkers and activists discuss a whole array of hot topics that have and continue to galvanize Black people, while challenging assumptions within the Black community that have problematic elements, such as organized religion, Afrocentrism and perceptions of the Black body. Marlon Riggs’s own body, ravaged by AIDS during the production of the film also becomes part of the focus and discourse in truly touching and profound ways. This is the kind of animating doc that has you talking back to the screen. A feat of all-time, top-notch documentary filmmaking, this film punctuates what a tremendous loss Marlon Riggs was to the LGBT, QPOC and “mainstream” artistic communities.

Black/Womyn: Conversations with Lesbians of African Descent. Dir. Tiona McLodden, 2008. 90 minutes

In this engrossing and deeply human documentary, dozens of Black-identified lesbian women share observations on myriad facets of life, including love, labels, religion, personal fulfillment, and all manner of adversities. Some anecdotes are hilarious, others are tearjerkers, but all are full of refreshing and beautiful insight. What makes this film so indispensable is the unbelievably wide range of lived experience discussed. Women of different faiths, shades, classes, education levels, and ages all illuminate the unbounded of diversity of those living at these intersections. This is an endlessly enlightening film – one you almost wish was longer.

The Body of a Poet. Dir Sonali Fernando, 1995. 29 minutes

A haunting, lush and moving examination of the complex and powerful work and life of the legendary poet Audre Lorde. This film explores its subject with gratitude and respect for her tremendous contributions, but instead of pure adulation, it instead opts to examine the often difficult and subjective nature of Lorde’s tremendous contributions with maturity, intelligence, and propulsive vitality. Interweaving dramatic reenactments, passionate discussion, and performance art, this vivacious film breathes life into Lorde’s life and work and accentuates their importance with the magnificent imagery and the thoughtfulness they deserve.

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin. Dir. Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer, 2002. 83 minutes

A respectful, often reverent retrospective on the life of Bayard Rustin, one of the most important civil rights activists in American history. This film was influential in re-shining the spotlight on Rustin who was a pivotal force in organizing many of the most impactful demonstrations of the Civil Rights Movement, including the 1963 March on Washington. Despite his contributions, his career and his legacy have both been severely compromised by the homophobia inherent in all corners of American society, as well as his adamant espousal of nonviolent principles as well as his embrace of aspects of neo-conservatism, both of which were not in sync with his contemporary activists. Rustin’s influence and impact on the successes of the Civil Rights Movement are undeniable, however, and this film goes a long way toward correcting the historical record. Its efforts occasionally veer towards heroification of its subject, but this film remains a fantastic examination of the complex life of a crucial, outspoken activist, who was ahead of his time.

Brother to Brother. Dir. Rodney Evans, 2004. 94 minutes

This moody and ambitious drama breathlessly explores a number of intersectional issues facing Black gay men historically and in the modern day. In his breakthrough performance, Anthony Mackie plays a college student struggling with homophobia from the Black community and racism from other gay men. He befriends a transient man who turns out to be Bruce Nugent, a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance. They discover the same kinds of prejudice and inequity in the early twentieth century are mirrored in the modern Black gay experience. This film’s effortless employment of interweaving flashbacks make for a uniquely insightful meditation on how some intersectional concerns are more readily renewed than resolved.

Check It. Dir. Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer, 2016. 91 minutes

This wildly provocative documentary focuses on members of the Check It gang, a group of mostly Black LGBT youths in the Washington D.C. area who got together for protection and eventually grew into a violent, feared, and dominant force in the region. LGBT hate crimes are disproportionately high in the D.C. area and, instead of being picked off as targets, Check It seeks to turn the tables on homophobic criminals. The aspirations, hopes, and dreams of these gang members are explored, as well as the innumerable barriers to escaping the tumultuous perils of gang life in D.C. A subplot of the film, for example, involves many of gang members gaining to opportunity to channel their unique perspectives and fashion sense into a chance at putting on a polished fashion show, with an opportunity to progress to an internship and perhaps a new lease on life. Alternately scary, sad, and hilarious, this film documents the lives of QPOC who have been forced to fight for their place and for their space in a society that has abandoned and targeted them for extinction. One may disagree with their methods but their stories are of perseverance, self-respect, and gritty determination.

Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Film Project. Dir. Charles B. Brack, 2008. 54 minutes

This infuriating and powerful documentary examines the aftermath of the brutal murder of a 15-year-old African-American girl in Newark in 2003. Sakia Gunn and her friends were propositioned by two men at a bus stop. Gunn turned them down, boldly identifying herself as a lesbian, which prompted the men to attack and subsequently kill her. This film explores the brutal impact of this killing on Gunn’s family, friends and community while also ambitiously zooming out to examine a number of related issues including pockets of homophobia in the Black community, stud culture in lesbian communities, and the wide disparity in the coverage of this crime compared to Matthew Shepard’s murder and the racism and classism inherent in that disparity. This film’s ability to juggle all of its topics in its short run time while always managing to center Sakia Gunn and her family, both blood and chosen, is truly impressive.

Free Cece. Dir. Jac Gares, 2016. 87 minutes

The case of Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald became an international cause célèbre after she was attacked in a racist, transphobic, and homophobic incident and killed a man in her self-defense. Instead of authorities accepting her self-defense plea, they planned to send her to prison for 40 years on a murder charge. CeCe was pressured into accepting a plea deal after aggressive interrogation, transphobic media coverage, and enduring unsafe jail conditions. This documentary explores not just the story of that incident and the movement that emerged to agitate for her release, but also her life story before and after prison, the impact of the ordeal on CeCe and her family and friends, and her own activist awakening after her incarceration and it does so with almost radical fairness, including in interviews with people who decided to prosecute her aggressively. What sets this documentary apart, is how it really drives home the fact that, though CeCe is most known for a hate-crime incident and ensuing injustice, the totality of her is so much more. The inherent injustices of the prison system and rampant dangers of being a Trans woman of color are explored from a number of angles. If the film has a weakness, it is perhaps that it tries to interrogate too many issues and so it can’t examine any of them in any great depth, but this is a film that’s more of a call to action than a dissertation. It’s a film that inspires you to challenge yourself to stop being complacent about injustice.

Greetings from Africa. Dir. Cheryl Dunye, 1994. 9 minutes

A gorgeous, wryly hilarious, quietly revolutionary slice of life. Cheryl Dunye’s penchant for storytelling, which made another of her short films, Janine, so excellent, is once again on display. She becomes romantically entangled with a woman known only as L, who is endlessly intriguing, but clearly nothing but trouble. Up to this point, this was Dunye’s most polished film by far, and seeing such an early example of a film this well produced exploring a type of relationship mostly unseen before that time is quite a revelation. Her effortless interweaving of black-and-white and color, and her narrative skill are an exciting predictor of her future success with The Watermelon Woman. Watch for the cameo by young future-legend Jacqueline Woodson.

Janine. Dir. Cheryl Dunye, 1991. 9 minutes

Quietly, concisely and powerfully, this early film of Cheryl Dunye’s spins a riveting story of her teenage friendship with an upper-class, very different, Caucasian classmate, the titular Janine.  There’s a bittersweet tinge to her riveting monologue as Dunye takes us through her idolization and tenuous attraction to Janine. This is only to discover her positive feelings toward Janine morphing, almost curdling as Dunye begins to become more true to herself and gains a more mature understanding of her identities as an African-American woman and a lesbian woman, as well as Janine’s hopeless lack of understanding of either. The staging and editing techniques, such as a motif involving two candles and the interjection of on-screen text at a couple of key moments could come across as amateurish by a lesser filmmaker but here they breathe even more life into a fascinating anecdote of coming-of-age. Dunye’s casual skill at storytelling and the chance to witness the early seeds of a great filmmaker make this a must-see. It’s a true gem.

Kiki. Dir. Sara Jordeño, 2016. 96 minutes

This deeply affecting spiritual sequel to the classic Paris is Burning closely examines Ball and Drag culture almost 30 years later, specifically focusing on a number of mostly Black and Latinx queer and trans performers trying to learn, survive and thrive in sometimes very harsh realities. Though Kiki is clearly channeling and building on its predecessor, its artistic ambition and intense interest in painting deeply human portraits of its subject are simply remarkable. Kiki also zooms out beyond just the ballroom scene and focuses on several issues including the continued devastation of homophobia, transphobia, and HIV/AIDS despite years of ostensible progress, as well as the complex reasons people choose to transition and, fascinatingly, what life after retiring from drag looks like. This is a must-see.

Major! Dir. Annalise Ophelian, 2015. 95 minutes

With a fresh visual style, this documentary discusses the crisis of mass incarceration disproportionately affecting Trans people of color in America through the lens of the long history of activism planned, led, and executed by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. Miss Major, thoroughly respected and beloved by her community, is one of the foremost and most respected Trans activists in American history. Bookended by inspirational messages of the resiliency of the Trans community, this beautiful documentary is a riveting tribute to a powerful activist and an important overview of the history of Trans activism.

Moonlight. Dir. Barry Jenkins, 2016. 111 minutes

At long last, QPOC coming-of-age stories went mainstream with this artistically-daring, barrier-smashing, Academy Award-winning drama following the sensitive and withdrawn Chiron through three difficult stages of his life. With uncommon compassion, Moonlight traces Chiron’s slow, tumultuous journey towards emotional and sexual maturity in an unforgiving and cruel world. The quality, importance, impact and aesthetic triumph of this film simply cannot be overstated. QPOC and African-American gay men especially have been invisible, peripheral, tragic, pathologized, feared, mocked and otherwise discounted for most of cinema history. This film’s beautifully sympathetic portrayal of Chiron is the largest blow yet struck against the shortchanging of QPOC lives on the big screen. This quintessential film is required viewing.

No Regret (Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien).  Dir. Marlon Riggs, 1993. 38 minutes

Perhaps Marlon Riggs’s most rare and underseen classic, this moving documentary short features interviews with five HIV-positive Black men facing mortality and ostracization. Despite the sadness of the topic, this film sings with hope instead of despair, disclosure and sex positivity instead of shame, and power and resilience instead of depression. The defiant courage and optimism of the film’s subjects inspire us to move past the toxicity of regret towards hope for the future, even against the toughest odds.

Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom. Dir. Patrik Ian-Polk, 2008. 101 minutes

Patrik Ian-Polk has long been an expert at incorporating serious and important issues into wildly farcical situational comedy. In this much-anticipated follow-up film to his groundbreaking QPOC-focused television show, Noah’s Arc, he crafts a hilarious soap opera that could easily be dismissed if one focuses too hard on the absurdist humor, risible plot twists, catty friendships, petty betrayals and umpteen examples of men having badly. What makes this film important is how Polk is able to use these situations to springboard into serious conversations about crucial issues facing Queer people of color. These conversations ran the gamut from the HIV crisis, to domestic violence in queer relationships, to commitment, to coming out, to the perils of promiscuity, to varying generational attitudes towards relationships to, importantly, how to give the kind of love that hasn’t necessarily been modeled for our communities. This film is easy to dismiss as little more than a piece of entertainment, but it’s truly impressive just how much this film has to say.

Pariah. Dir. Dee Rees, 2011. 86 minutes

Adepero Oduye commands the screen as 17-year-old Alike, a burgeoning young poet whose gender non-conformity alarms her devoutly religious mother (a career-best performance by Kim Wayans), causing family tension, as her father is far more permissive and supportive. Alike has increasingly begun embracing and living her identity as a more butch lesbian, but isn’t quite ready to come out. This film’s authenticity, lived-in characters and relationships, and powerfully poetic artistry (highly characteristic of veteran lesbian filmmaker Dee Rees) make it one of the most impactful QTPOC narrative films ever released. Consider it essential viewing.

Paris is Burning. Dir. Jennie Livingston, 1990. 78 minutes

There isn’t much more to write about this barnstorming, iconic, groundbreaking, barrier-destroying, seminal documentary about drag and ball culture in New York in the 1980s. Still routinely shown 30 years later, this documentary shed light on an innovative and endlessly creative group of performers and their culture that the world still cannot get enough of. More than perhaps any other film on this list, Paris is Burning is absolutely essential viewing for QTPOC and, one might argue, the world. With equal parts humor, suspense, and tragedy, this film still stands as a testament to the power of documentary filmmaking. It simply must be seen.

Saturday Church. Dir. Damon Cardasis, 2018. 83 minutes

This disarming coming-of-age story follows the tumultuous story of the aptly-named Ulysses, a queer Black teenager, bullied by his classmates and by his strict, religious aunt who comes to live with him after the death of his father. During this traumatic time, he finds refuge in a group of gay, trans, and drag queen friends, who initiate him into the world of the ballroom circuit. This film’s fusion of music and narrative storytelling results in some of the most heartwarming and exhilarating shots in recent queer cinema.

The Skinny. Dir. Patrik-Ian Polk, 2012. 99 minutes

Patrik Ian-Polk’s wild, raunchy, explicit dramedy shines a light on modern concerns facing queer Black people, mostly men, such as exploitation, the thrills and perils of promiscuity, the vital importance of friendship, and the continuing, insidious specter of HIV/AIDS in the community. Continuing the unflinching, camaraderie-focused legacy of Polk’s legendary TV show Noah’s ARC, this presentation quickly initiates us into a group of hilarious friends who reunite a year after college for NYC Pride Weekend. Revelations and grudges, however, cause their rapport to fray over the course of the trip. This film is a wild ride that successfully walks the tightrope: bawdy but not repellant, surprisingly educational but not didactic, fun but never frivolous. Recommended for mature audiences.

South Beach on Heels. Dir.  Dmitry Zhitov, 2014. 80 minutes

This warm and empathetic documentary focuses on the lives, trials and tribulations of professional drag queens, mostly of color, working in the South Beach area of Florida. Some of the featured queens, such as luminous and enchanting Latrice Royale, have achieved much exposure and mainstream success, and some still work tirelessly at their craft with a much lower profile and no guarantee of fame or even a steady paycheck. Deeply personal and heartfelt moments and insights into the lives of these drag performers set this documentary apart from the rest in this increasingly popular subgenre of drag documentaries.

Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen. Dir. Kortney Ryan Zeigler, 2008. 79 minutes

This sparsely produced, yet pioneering collection of interviews with 6 Black trans men features subjects at different points in their lives, from different classes and cities, and with different perspectives on identity and transitioning. Common underlying themes in this documentary involve self-discovery, find and losing community and the complexities of dating and relationships. This film successfully amplifies the voices of people from a demographic who have been historically rendered invisible in media.

Tangerine. Dir. Sean Baker, 2016. 88 minutes

Sean Baker’s essential, game-changing dark comedy follows the tumultuous but intensely close friendship of two Black transwomen surviving by operating in the often dangerous world of sex work in Los Angeles. Famously shot and edited with an iPhone, this original, frenetic, and stylishly intoxicating film centers transwomen of color in ways rarely before seen in narrative film. In addition to the quick-paced, bawdy humor and occasional heart-stopping tension, this film’s quiet moments of grace and true friendship sneak up on the viewer, creating a truly profound experience. This comes with the highest of recommendations.

Tongues Untied. Dir. Marlon Riggs, 1989. 55 minutes

Simultaneously perhaps the most controversial, infamous, and influential queer film of the 20th century, Marlon Riggs’s seminal and nonconformist documentary shattered the plague of silence around race and sexuality. With never-before-seen candor and boundless energy, Riggs savagely attacks the homophobia in the Black community and the racism of the gay community while simultaneously extolling the beauty of the Black body that has been so maligned and fetishized in culture. Despite being openly reviled and condemned by social conservatives upon its release, this documentary endured and changed the entire landscape of QTPOC representation on television and film forever. This is essential viewing.

Trappings of Transhood. Dir. Christopher Lee and Elise Hurwitz, 1997. 32 minutes

An audacious, energetic and groundbreaking examination of the unique experiences of 11 trans men from various walks of life in the 1990s. The wide-ranging topics discussed by the highly diverse group of interviewees include isolation, violence, the perils of navigating sex and dating, transphobia in the gay community, and intersectional issues like how coming out as trans can play out different in different ethnic communities. This film feels ahead of its time in many ways, but also sobering, as many of the issues the interviewees faced in the mid-90s have actually been amplified and worsened in the ensuing 20 years, rather than solved. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating glance at day-to-day concerns of trans people from a refreshingly diverse array of perspectives and experiences.

Treasure: From Tragedy to Trans Justice. Dir. dream hampton, 2015. 61 minutes

When Shelly “Treasure” Hilliard, a young, Black trans woman, was murdered under mysterious circumstances, her family, along with the Detroit trans community, decided to agitate for answers and for justice. In this rousing documentary, we learn about the reverberations of this tragedy on the lives of Treasure’s family and friends, as well as the infuriating police malfeasance that led to the murder. Always engaging, and occasionally gorgeous, this film discusses issues facing trans women of color in a unique setting. The dire economic conditions facing the city of Detroit provide a profound backdrop to this bleak and urgent story.

U People. Dir. Hanifah Walida, 2009. 75 minutes

This self-styled “rockumentary” is an amazing curiosity in the best sense of the word. A group of queer Black and Latinx women come together to film a short film and music video, but Walida keeps the camera going beyond this project and catches a series of profoundly engaging conversations amongst the cast about the intersectionalities of living life as a Black lesbian in America. These discussions range from topics of privilege, being ignored by white LGBT activism, gender expression and quality of life, heteronormativity, and difficulty defining oneself when different identities and labels (bisexual, trans, lesbian, butch, femme, etc.) only partially apply to one’s experience. As these women express engagingly diverse opinions, the filming of the short film within this film provides an excellent narrative structure that grounds and focuses the film. Though they differ and disagree, they’re all working hard toward a meaningful end goal and it’s beautiful to behold.

Voguing: The Message. Dir. Dorothy Low, 1989. 13 minutes

This fast-paced introduction to the origins and culture of voguing and ball culture has perhaps been overshadowed a bit by Paris is Burning, which was released around the same time, but is nonetheless and excellent companion piece. As a primer, it very quickly orients the viewer to the terminology and the basic infrastructure of the NYC ball scene. In addition to this whirlwind introduction to the culture and how it adds value and meaning to the lives of its participants, we also get to see virtuoso performers like the legendary Willi Ninja practice their craft. This is an excellent addition to the canon, especially for those in a hurry.

The Watermelon Woman. Dir. Cheryl Dunye, 1997. 90 minutes

Writer/director Cheryl Dunye changed the entire landscape of queer cinema with this monumentally influential and uproarious comedy about an aspiring Black documentarian (played by Dunye herself) who seeks to make a film about an elusive Black, lesbian actress from Hollywood’s Golden Age. The film uses that actress, dubbed “the watermelon woman” as a jumping off point to discuss Hollywood’s paradoxical obsessions with both fetishizing Black people and erasing them from view. Along the way, Dunye sharply skewers open-minded but feckless white “allies,” the idiosyncrasies of Black lesbian communities, the chaotic research process, and the craft of filmmaking itself. This film, the first feature directed by an out Black lesbian, is essential viewing – a prerequisite for any deep understanding of the history of queer filmmakers of color.