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Tomboy
rating:4.1

Tomboy

2011Runtime:0 minutes
Uncomfortable living as a girl, 10-year-old Laure decides to spend her childhood as Michael. When Michael's family moves to rural France, the child wins friends and comes to understand the complexities of gender.

Directed by:

  • rating:4.1 4.1 Average Rating

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    Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me
    rating:3.9

    Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me

    2009Runtime:0 minutes
    In her Emmy-nominated comedy special for HBO (filmed at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C.), Wanda Sykes brings her take-no-prisoners comedy style to bear on Barack Obama's presidency, Republican tea parties and the inhuman torture that is bikini waxing. Whether she's sharing true stories about her interracial lesbian marriage or doing hard time as a performer on a gay cruise, Sykes is frequently abrasive -- and fearlessly funny.

    Directed by:

  • Beth McCarthy-Miller
  • rating:3.9 3.9 Average Rating

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    Paris Is Burning
    rating:3.8

    Paris Is Burning

    1990Runtime:0 minutes
    Penetrating the tight-knit community of minority drag queens living in New York City, Jennie Livingston's acclaimed documentary offers an early glimpse at the art of "voguing," the underground dance style later popularized by Madonna in her hit song. The film also explores issues such as racism, homophobia and AIDS, while offering a detailed examination of the intricate Ball culture, in which queens are judged for their style and expression.

    Directed by:

  • Jennie Livingston
  • rating:3.8 3.8 Average Rating

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    Patrik, Age 1.5
    rating:3.8

    Patrik, Age 1.5

    2008Runtime:0 minutes
    After moving from the city to a small town, gay couple Sven (Torkel Petersson) and Goran (Gustaf Skarsgård) adopt a child. But when Patrik (Thomas Ljungman) arrives in their lives, it turns out he's not 1.5 years old as they were told by the adoption agency -- he's a rebellious, homophobic 15-year-old. While the couple houses the angry boy until the mix-up is resolved, his presence causes them to reassess their lives.

    Directed by:

  • Ella Lemhagen
  • rating:3.8 3.8 Average Rating

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    Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
    rating:3.8

    Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

    2003Runtime:0 minutes
    This Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee chronicles the life of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who, among many contributions to the cause, is best known for organizing the 1963 March on Washington, D.C., involving hundreds of thousands of people. But Rustin's skin color wasn't the only thing that reinforced the feeling that he was an outsider in America. He was also openly gay at a time when most gay men -- particularly black men -- remained in the closet.

    Directed by:

  • Bennett Singer
  • Nancy D. Kates
  • rating:3.8 3.8 Average Rating

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    Beautiful Thing
    rating:3.7

    Beautiful Thing

    1996Runtime:0 minutes
    The iconoclastic, underachieving denizens of a southeast London apartment building get an emotional wake-up call when two teenage boys -- next-door neighbors Jamie (Glen Berry) and Ste (Scott Neal) -- unexpectedly fall in love. This moving slice of affecting kitchen-sink realism from Britain's esteemed Channel Four Films is adapted from the hit West End play penned by Jonathan Harvey, who also directs.

    Directed by:

  • Hettie MacDonald
  • rating:3.7 3.7 Average Rating

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    Entre Nous
    rating:3.7

    Entre Nous

    1983Runtime:0 minutes
    Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, this film beautifully captures the rare friendship that blossoms between two married women, Lena Weber (Isabelle Huppert) and Madeleine (Miou-Miou), living in WWII France, 1942. They attempt to defy the social rules of their time in order to escape their unfulfilling lives. Written and directed by Diane Kurys, who was inspired by her parents' relationship and the woman who came between them.

    Directed by:

  • Diane Kurys
  • rating:3.7 3.7 Average Rating

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    Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement
    rating:3.7

    Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement

    2009Runtime:0 minutes
    Forty-two years of romance, struggle and shared adventures finally culminate in marriage for lifelong lesbian couple Edie and Thea, who met in the 1960s and stayed together through the turbulent decades of activism and social change that followed. Looking at pictures from their past, the women marvel at simple triumphs -- buying their first house together -- and reminisce about the constant fear of exposure they once felt.

    Directed by:

  • Susan Muska
  • rating:3.7 3.7 Average Rating

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    If These Walls Could Talk 2
    rating:3.7

    If These Walls Could Talk 2

    2000Runtime:0 minutes
    Following the same premise as the first movie -- focusing on three different women from three generations who've occupied the same house -- this Emmy-winning follow-up trains its lens on three lesbian couples. In 1961, Edith (Vanessa Redgrave) loses her longtime companion. In the 1970s, collegiate Linda (Michelle Williams) falls for townie Amy (Chloë Sevigny). And in 2000, the house's inhabitants (Ellen DeGeneres, Sharon Stone) want to become parents.

    Directed by:

  • Jane Anderson
  • rating:3.7 3.7 Average Rating

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    American Experience: Stonewall Uprising
    rating:3.7

    American Experience: Stonewall Uprising

    2010Runtime:0 minutes
    Through eyewitness interviews and archival footage, documentary filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner recapture a pivotal moment in time that mobilized a generation of gay activists and marked the dawn of the modern Gay Rights Movement. Much like Rosa Parks's symbolic refusal to move to the back of the bus, gay bar patrons' refusal to comply with a police raid at Greenwich Village's Stonewall Inn in 1969 would change the course of history.

    Directed by:

  • Kate Davis
  • rating:3.7 3.7 Average Rating

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    Before Stonewall
    rating:3.7

    Before Stonewall

    1984Runtime:0 minutes
    Life was very different before the 1969 Stonewall riots put the issue of gay rights front and center in America. Using archival films and interviews with gays and lesbians who were forced to hide their sexuality for fear of reprisals, this documentary by Robert Rosenberg, Greta Schiller and John Scagliotti sheds light on American gay life from the 1920s to the 1960s and the sociopolitical climate that finally led to profound change.

    Directed by:

  • Greta Schiller
  • rating:3.7 3.7 Average Rating

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    Trevor
    rating:3.6

    Trevor

    1994Runtime:0 minutes
    Knowing for certain that he's gay doesn't make it any easier for Trevor (Brett Barsky) to accept it. So when his classmates find out that he has a crush on another boy, it pushes Trevor to the end of his rope in this Academy Award-winning live-action short. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres introduces this pensive film from director Peggy Rajski and writer James Lecesne, which examines the harsh realties of teen sexuality.

    Directed by:

  • Peggy Rajski
  • rating:3.6 3.6 Average Rating

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    Boys Don't Cry
    rating:3.6

    Boys Don't Cry

    1999Runtime:0 minutes
    Based on actual events, director Kimberly Peirce's powerful, often harrowing drama stars Hilary Swank (in an Oscar-winning performance) as Brandon Teena, a transgender young man searching for love and acceptance in a small Midwestern town. But even as he forges a deep connection with local beauty Lana (Chloë Sevigny), the prejudices of the community threaten to doom the fledgling romance.

    Directed by:

  • Kimberly Peirce
  • rating:3.6 3.6 Average Rating

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    Fire
    rating:3.6

    Fire

    1996Runtime:0 minutes
    Two Hindu women struggle with loveless, arranged marriages: Sita (Nandita Das), who discovers that her husband (Javed Jaffrey) has a mistress, and her sister-in-law, Radha (Shabana Azmi), who cannot give birth. As the lukewarm coals of their long-term relationships fade, the women ignite passion in their lives by finding comfort in each other. Director Deepa Mehta's drama is supposedly the first Indian film about lesbians.

    Directed by:

  • Deepa Mehta
  • rating:3.6 3.6 Average Rating

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    Chris & Don: A Love Story
    rating:3.6

    Chris & Don: A Love Story

    2007Runtime:0 minutes
    The relationship between author Christopher Isherwood and artist Don Bachardy is chronicled in this documentary through home movies, interviews and readings from Isherwood's journal.

    Directed by:

  • Tina Mascara
  • rating:3.6 3.6 Average Rating

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    Fest Selects: Best Lesbian Shorts: Vol. 1
    rating:3.6

    Fest Selects: Best Lesbian Shorts: Vol. 1

    2008Runtime:0 minutes
    From the high price of dildos in Kate Brandt's "Tools 4 Fools" to an apocalyptic break-up rendered hysterically funny in Chris Russo's "25 Random Things I Did During My Big Fat Lesbian Depression," these shorts depict life from a lesbian perspective.

    Directed by:

  • Kate A. Brandt
  • Erik Gernand
  • Gina Hirsch
  • Jenifer Malmqvist
  • Meredith Scott Lynn
  • Gianna Sobol
  • P. David Ebersole
  • Christine J. Russo
  • rating:3.6 3.6 Average Rating

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    Now and Then
    rating:3.8

    Now and Then

    1995Runtime:0 minutes
    Waxing nostalgic about the bittersweet passage from childhood to puberty in this tender coming-of-age tale, four childhood girlfriends -- Teeny, Chrissy, Samantha and Roberta -- recall the magical summer of 1970. During their walk down memory lane, they reconcile experiences with boys, secrets, bullies and more. Lesli Linka Glatter directs; Gaby Hoffmann, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Cloris Leachman, Thora Birch and Christina Ricci co-star.

    Directed by:

  • Lesli Linka Glatter
  • rating:3.8 3.8 Average Rating

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    Now and Then (1995)
    A heartwarming movie about four childhood girlfriends who, in adulthood reunion, relive their experience of the life-changing summer of 1970, including a mystery death, divorce, standing up to the boys, first kiss, and the meaning of true friendship. Each explores her unique identity amidst family and friends. Beautifully directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.
    - Frances   
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    frances 'at' femaledirectors.com