In Passing

2006

With New York City as a backdrop, actress Vanessa Kelly (Veronica Mittenzwei) and playwright Julia Garrison (Lisa Rothe) fall in love in this tender lesbian romance that faces a singular set of challenges. Being a couple proves complicated as Vanessa and Julia open their hearts, becoming more involved and more vulnerable -- and when one of the women violates the other's hard-earned trust, their relationship lands on the rocks.

2.3 Average Rating

Homo Promo

1993

Hollywood's relationship with the gay community and the way it portrays them on film has run the gamut from incendiary to awkward to heartbreakingly poignant. This documentary explores the industry's attempts to include gay themes by way of trailers of vintage films (those made between 1956 and 1977), including "Tea and Sympathy," "Outrageous," "Midnight Cowboy" and more, and looks at how the films were marketed to moviegoers.

2.3 Average Rating

Robin's Hood

2003

After being fired for her caring approach with clients, disenchanted social worker Robin (Khahtee V. Turner) is at a loss as to how to help her impoverished neighborhood, but everything changes when she meets butch lesbian Brooklyn (Clody Cates), a mechanic who moonlights as a thief. In this hip-hop update on the classic Robin Hood fable, sparks fly between the two women, and soon, they hatch a plan to bring relief to their inner-city community.

2.3 Average Rating

Fun in Girls' Shorts 2

2009

Frameline -- which produces the annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival -- presents its second compilation of notable selections from the world of lesbian film, featuring a diverse array of narrative, documentary and animated shorts. Highlights include a same-sex send-up of soap operas, a tale of two antique dolls who partake in a nighttime tryst, and the true story of a lesbian who makes a remarkable discovery about her ancestors.

2.3 Average Rating

Some Prefer Cake

1998

This brisk comedy follows two friends -- lesbian Kira (Kathleen Fontaine) and straight Sydney (Tara Howley) -- who cope differently with their unrealized personal and professional dreams. Suffering from stage fright that prevents her career from thriving, aspiring comic Kira engages in empty sexual encounters to drown her sorrows. Meanwhile, Sydney, a would-be restaurant critic with a decided lack of interest in sex, turns to food for comfort.

2.3 Average Rating

La Cucina

2007

Food preparation on a summer evening reveals the intricacies of relationships in four related stories. Lily (Christina Hendricks) prepares a gourmet meal for her older lover (Joaquim de Almeida), while pregnant Shelly (Leisha Hailey) runs tearfully to friend Jude (Rachel Hunter) when her lasagna-making attempt fails. Meanwhile, Jude makes Italian food for her absent lover, Celia (Clare Carey), who's busy filming a kitchen scene in her movie.

2.3 Average Rating

Gasoline

2002

After accidentally causing the death of her mother (Mariella Valentini), a young lesbian, Lenni (Regina Orioli), runs away with her auto mechanic girlfriend (Maya Sansa). To add a degree of difficulty, Lenni's mom's body is stashed in the trunk of their car and a gang of crazies is on their tail. But crazy is a relative term in this case...!

2.3 Average Rating

Make a Wish

2002

In celebration of their friend Susan's birthday, a group of women with scandalous, intertwining pasts take off for a weekend retreat in the hills, unaware of the chaos and danger ahead. The friends' sweet celebration quickly sours with the arrival of a jealous boyfriend, a deranged hunter and a mysterious detective, and things take an even darker turn when the partygoers start disappearing one by one. Moynan King and Hollace Starr co-star.

2.2 Average Rating

Surrender

2003

When naïve new girl in Los Angeles Georgia (Julie Clay) takes up residence with Salene (Kate Hill), a beautiful lesbian writer with a checkered past, a mutual attraction begins to blossom between the two women. But are they doomed? As Salene researches her novel -- featuring a dominatrix as its central character -- Georgia finds herself drawn into the shadowy S&M scene. But when a dead body turns up in a local club, Salene becomes suspect No. 1.

2.2 Average Rating

The Early Works of Cheryl Dunye

1990

The endearing, provocative wit of filmmaker Cheryl Dunye is on full display in this collection of early works that preceded her breakout first feature, Watermelon Woman. The short films featured here -- the lesbian dating odyssey "Greetings from America," "The Potluck and the Passion," "An Untitled Portrait," "Vanilla Sex," "She Don't Fade" and "Janine" -- uniquely blend narrative and documentary techniques with entertaining results.

2.2 Average Rating

The Ultimate Lesbian Short Film Festival

2005

This eclectic sampling of 10 short films from American, Australian and Canadian directors tackles lesbian life from a variety of angles. Included are "Blow" by Marie Craven; "Half Laughing" by Michelle Ehlen; "Tina Paulina: Living on Hope Street" by Barbara Green and Michelle Boyaner; "The Black Plum" by Meredyth Wilson; and "A Woman Reported," helmed by Chris J. Russo and featuring Moira Kelly.

2.2 Average Rating

A Siren in the Dark

2008

After interviewing a gay teen about the whereabouts of his sadistic lover, psychic cop Cameron is sucked into an investigation that leads him down a seedy road of sex, drugs and obsession. Along the way, Cameron encounters a mysterious male siren who feeds off the addictions of wayward travelers. Did the missing lover succumb to the siren's charms? Will Cameron be able to resist? The erotic mystery stars David Beutler and James Townsend.

2.2 Average Rating

History Lessons

2000

In a trilogy of experimental documentaries, director Barbara Hammer rewrites history by inserting lesbians and lesbian imagery throughout educational films, newsreels, medical footage and more from the past century.

2.2 Average Rating

Girls Kissing

2003

Barbara Lee's fast-paced documentary explores lesbianism from a variety of angles, including how pop culture is changing society's outlook on the subject. Radio show host Sue Johanson ("Sunday Night Sex Show") comments on social and political issues, and Lee's film captures a range of personal experience and opinion on the subject through candid interviews with real-life couples, porn stars, gay activists, Christian crusaders and many others.

2.2 Average Rating

Stray Dogs

2001

Darla Carter (Guinevere Turner) lives in the rural south with her handsome, roguish husband, Myers (Bill Sage). Myers can't hold a job, drinks too much and has a violent streak, so Darla decides to confront Myers with his misdeeds and asks her sister-in-law, Jolene (Dot-Marie Jones), to join her for moral support. But Darla is ignorant of the fact that Jolene is a lesbian and shares her brother's attraction to Darla.

2.2 Average Rating

Erotique

1993

A quartet of international filmmakers pools their talents for this steamy anthology of short films. Selections include Lizzie Borden's "Let's Talk About Sex," which follows a phone-sex operator fixated on a regular caller; and Monika Treut's "Taboo Parlor," which chronicles the exploits of a lesbian couple who entertain a man. And in "Final Call" from Ana Maria Magalhães, a woman has an affair with the man who saved her from being raped.

2.2 Average Rating