Category: Documentary

A new documentary examines the life and legacy of photographer George Platt Lynes

George Platt Lynes began his career photographing celebrities – and it’s those portraits, along with his extravagant fashion work, that he’s best remembered for today.

George’s heart, his passion and his greatest talent lay elsewhere, however – in his work with the nude male form. This work, sensuous and radically explicit for its time, has only recently been discovered for the revolution that it represents – a man capturing his fantasies as a gift, as well as a window into a future that Lynes’ camera saw coming before anyone else did.

From visionary art director Sam Shahid, the riveting and informative documentary Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes features a stunning collection of photography from the 1930s through the 1950s, uncovering the lesser known side of the artist’s life – including his gifted eye for the male form, his long-term friendships with Gertrude Stein and Alfred Kinsey and his lasting influence as one of the first openly gay American artists.

Watch the trailer for Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes below. The documentary is now available on Dekkoo.

‘Small Town Gay Bar’ director Malcolm Ingram heads back down South for ‘Southern Pride’

Director Malcolm Ingram first explored Mississippi gay bars on film with his award-winning 2006 documentary Small Town Gay Bar. In 2017, after the first election of Donald Trump emboldened anti-LGBTQ hatred in the region, he returned for the moving follow-up Southern Pride.

Following Lynn and Shawn, two different bar owners in Biloxi and Hattiesburg, the film shows what it takes to fight for equality while trying to keep the bills paid and the drinks flowing.

The film’s subjects decide to hold each of their respective cities’ first official Pride celebrations as a rebuke to the Trump administration. They’re soon faced with homophobia, racism, and fundraising fiascos. But the power of community should never be underestimated – and when everyone comes together to make things happen, they manage to show the rest of the state what Southern Pride truly means.

Watch the trailer for Southern Pride below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

The landmark documentary ‘Before Stonewall’ is now available on Dekkoo

In 1969 the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village, leading to three nights of rioting by the city’s LGBTQ+ community. With this outpouring of courage and unity, the gay liberation movement had begun.

Made in 1984 and released to great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in 1985, during the harrowing early years of the AIDS crisis, the landmark documentary Before Stonewall pried open the closet door – shining a spotlight on the experiences of queer Americans throughout the 20th century and setting free dramatic untold stories of survival, love, persecution and resistance.

Revealing and often humorous, this celebrated film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today’s gay rights movement, from the events that led to the fevered 1969 riots to many other milestones in the brave fight for acceptance.

Experience the fascinating and unforgettable, decade-by-decade history of gay life in America through eye-opening historical footage and amazing interviews with those who lived – and fought – through an often brutal closeted history.

Watch the trailer for Before Stonewall. The documentary is now available on Dekkoo.

‘Queendom’ follows a talented queer artist who literally risks her life on the streets of Moscow

Both inspiring and nail-biting, the new documentary Queendom shines a much-deserved spotlight on Gena Marvin, a young queer artist from a small town in Russia who dazzles in the otherworldly costumes she crafts from tape and found materials.

As Putin’s government increasingly encroaches on the rights of LGBTQ+ communities, Gena takes to the streets of Moscow, staging provocative performances that challenge the status quo.

All she wants to do change people’s perception of beauty and queerness and bring attention to the harassment of the LGBTQ+ community. But her artistic activism comes at a price as political tensions in Russia escalate, jeopardizing her own personal freedom.

An Oscar-shortlisted doc from director Agniia Galdanova, Queendom is not so much a portrait as it is a direct cinematic extension of Gena’s inner universe, delving into her extravagant subconscious creations and her search for free expression while illustrating how unleashing one’s inner world can create ripples of positive change.

Watch the trailer for Queendom below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘The Sons of Tennessee Williams’ charts the evolution of the Mardi Gras drag scene

Paying homage to monumental queer documentaries like The Queen and Paris is Burning, director Tim Wolff’s film The Sons of Tennessee Williams interweaves archival footage with contemporary interviews to chart the evolution of drag and politics in the gay Mardi Gras scene.

Having come of age in New Orleans in the 1940s and ’50s, gay krewe members reminisce fondly of being inspired by the opulence of the Mardi Gras festivities, a hotbed for decadence and dress-up.

Seven years before the first rock was thrown at Stonewall, the gay krewes began throwing lavish balls as a sendup of their straight society counterparts and have since become a powerful force in city politics.

Members, many of them now in their seventies and eighties, discuss the importance of creating safe spaces at a time of police crackdowns in gay clubs, gaining a seat at the political table, the toll of AIDS and Hurricane Katrina on the community, and the importance of passing on the torch to a younger generation.

With oversized wigs and lavish costumes, these unlikely political activists strut their stuff with style, grace, and an eye toward the future.

Watch the trailer for The Sons of Tennessee Williams below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A star-studded new documentary explores the life of legendary fashion icon Antonio Lopez

The riveting documentary Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco doubles as a time capsule of Paris and New York City between 1969 and 1973 – as viewed through the eyes of Antonio Lopez, the dominant fashion illustrator of the time.

A native of Puerto Rico who was raised in The Bronx, Antonio was a seductive arbiter of style and glamour. Beginning in the 1960s, he brought elements of the urban street to a postwar fashion world desperate for change and diversity.

Counted among Antonio’s discoveries – and muses of the period – were iconic beauties such as Grace Jones, Jessica Lange and Jerry Hall, as well as Warhol Superstars Donna Jordan, Jane Forth and Patti D’Arbanville.

Antonio’s inner circle was also comprised of his romantic and creative partner, Juan Ramos, makeup artist Corey Tippin, photographer Bill Cunningham, and rival designers Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint-Laurent.

All these characters and more come together in this acclaimed film from director James Crump, creating a vivid portrait of Lopez and the revolutionary fashion world he helped create.

Watch the trailer for Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.