I love documentaries. What’s more, I’ve always dug the hell out of foreign documentaries. Foreign documentaries with queer folks at their core? My Holy Grail. So in an effort to spread the love, I thought I would share some recent films that have stood out for me. Here are five fabulous foreign docs to watch!
When I raved about Summertime (La Belle Saison) in early September, I couldn’t help but express my curiosity about the French feminist movement. I wanted to learn more about the movement in general but more specifically, I wanted to hear about the queer women I knew played and continue to play an important role in it. Well directors and sisters Florence and Sylvie Tissot made my quest for knowledge a heck of a lot easier with their new film, I’m Not a Feminist, but… . The title is a quote from leading French feminist theorist and the film’s subject, Christine Delphy. She introduced the notion of the economic exploitation of women in France with her 1970 book The Main Enemy. A friend and colleague of Simone de Beauvoir‘s, Christine was a renowned name in her field by the early ’80s. She also just so happens to be a proud lesbian.
Christine discusses her sexuality at length in the documentary, giving viewers a good sense of what the environment was like for queer women in France from the late ’50s through the mid-80s. She never discussed the subject with her parents; all her early relationships ended in heartbreak; and rarely did she meet women who were actually out. It was only when she joined the feminist movement that she started meeting out lesbians. Yet even these women were reluctant to bring up issues important to queer women during meetings with other feminists. It’s all incredibly insightful, as is the peek we get into Christine’s new work, which largely focuses on denouncing the use of feminist activities for racist purposes.
Indeed, I’m Not a Feminist, but… is a great profile piece that shines some well-deserved light on a French feminist force.
Visit the movie’s website to find out when it’ll be playing near you, or order it online now through Amazon.
It seems fitting that after highlighting a French film we move on to a documentary about Cameroon, which still feels the effects of colonization under namely the French and British. Directed by Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullman, Born This Way is a look into the underground world of gays and lesbians in Cameroon, where same-sex sexual acts are illegal and punishable by up to five years in prison. If that wasn’t bad enough, the political and social climate around this issue is so tense that lawmakers are trying to up that prison term limit to 15 years. It’s this kind of environment the film’s subjects find themselves in.
Born This Way introduces us to Gertrude, a young lesbian who works for Alternatives Cameroon, a center for homosexual rights in the country. While she appears onscreen throughout the film, scenes with her girlfriend obscure the couple’s faces. The fear is legitimate—Gertrude suffered through corrective rape in an attack that left her visibly emotionally scarred and her two friends paralyzed and dead. The corrective rape of real and perceived lesbians is an all too common occurrence in Cameroon.
The movie also features Esther and Pascaline, who faced arrest and prosecution for homosexuality in the small town of Ambam. They lost their jobs as a consequence of this and had to leave town for their own safety. Fortunately they have the help of internationally respected lawyer Alice Nkom, who despite receiving repeated death threats is determined to use the country’s supreme court to bring about change. I’m rooting for her, and her country.
With its important subject matter, standout camerawork and smart editing choices, Born This Way is not one to miss.
Check out the film’s website to find out when it’ll be playing near you, and for news on its DVD and streaming release dates.
On the other side of the Atlantic, things are really moving in the right direction for Argentina. The country’s return to democracy in 1983 allowed its LGBT rights movement to thrive, and thrive it did during these last three decades. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2010 and in 2012 the government passed the “Gender Identity Law” granting people the right to change their legal gender without needing to get approval from a judge or doctor. Gonxalo Martín Collado documents all these victories and more in Community: LGBTIQ.
Of course, I wouldn’t even be mentioning this film if it didn’t highlight some kickass queer women. It does, including some from leading LGBT organizations in the country. And while they and other activists are proud of Argentina’s progress, they make it clear more progress is a must. Amongst other issues, public perception of the queer community still needs to change for the better. As does the education system, as right now certain provinces aren’t allowing updated sexual health materials into their schools.
The movie looks outward too, choosing to also shoot in Moscow and Berlin as a point of comparison with present-day Argentina. Community: LGBTIQ speaks to the situation in those countries, as well as that of other Latin American countries that still have a ways to go on the LGBT rights front.
The team behind Community: LGBTIQ is a small one and it’s pretty clear at times that so was their budget. While the film relies a bit too much on fast transitions, graphics and photo stills for my liking, it’s still a well-shot documentary that successfully celebrates the community’s wins whilst asking for more.
Visit Community: LGBTIQ‘s Facebook page for news on the film and to find out when it’ll be playing near you.
While the numbers are in constant flux, right now more than 70 countries across the world have laws criminalizing homosexuality. In a handful of them the death penalty for same-sex relations is in place. It comes as no surprise then that cries to get the United Nations to do something about decriminalizing homosexuality worldwide have been around for some time. What would it take to get some traction on this? The right people. Rémi Lainé and Frédéric Martel featured five of the fight’s key figures in their documentary Global Gay.
Once again pleading the Cameroon case is Alice Nkom. She’s truly an inspirational woman and I’ll take as much of her as I can get. She’s equally as impressed with Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a French minister and supporter of LGBT rights. Rounding out the duo is a Russian activist, a South African judge and a European Parliament member. Quick—get out the Flags of the World flashcards!
Besides the fabulous five, the film also highlights dynamic women like Mariela Castro, Cuban LGBT rights activist and director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, and Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. Global Gay also introduces us to some of the folks who matter most in this effort—the everyday people oppressed by these ridiculous laws. And that right there is why I think this movie is an important watch for us all.
Global Gay is available to buy or rent through Vimeo on Demand.
The last film on our list is, appropriately, Last Chance. Paul Émile d’Entremont‘s documentary looks at five asylum seekers who have fled their homelands fearing homophobic or transphobic violence. They’re seeking refuge in Canada, but their stay is not a given. As a Canadian, I can tell you that although the rest of the world often upholds Canada as a gold standard of sorts in this regard, we still have a lot to improve on. Last Chance makes this obvious.
The person to watch for in Last Chance is Trudi, a Jamaican lesbian looking for asylum in Canada. Trudi is afraid for her life after being beat up by a group of men and raped at gunpoint in yet another example of corrective rape. Her girlfriend Betty left for the U.S. five months ago because of the situation, but adorably she visits Trudi in Jamaica before her trip and then again when she’s in Canada. Yes, Trudi got a visa to go to Canada, but receiving official refugee status is going to be a whole other level of hard.
After what Trudi and others like her have faced, it seems almost inhumane to make them go through the struggle of integrating into a new country while fearing the very real possibility that they may be deported. Last Chance certainly fills you with those thoughts. The fact is the Canadian asylum system relies on speed and emphasizes a claimant’s credibility, so you better have the supporting documentation to prove you’re queer and you better come up with it fast. At best, you get that refugee status, but the whole process has left you retraumatized. At worst, they could send you back to your native country, where a rocky fate awaits you. That’s so not the Canada I want to be associated with.
Last Chance does an impeccable job profiling its five subjects, and an even better job at serving up a much-needed reality check. It’s a must watch for the collective conscious.
If you want to watch Last Chance, you can rent, purchase it for download, order it on DVD, or buy it through iTunes by visiting the movie’s website.
There you have it—five hot docs for your viewing pleasure. Happy watching!
