Experimental & Queer: 10 avant-garde documentaries
From breaking new ground to rewriting history, from fighting for public representation to weaving complex tales of self-discovery and from sequin-clad satire to tragedy laid bare : queer cinema has it all.
Long repressed, censored and banned (and still fighting today), LGBTQIA+ voices have been pioneering radical non-fiction since the 1980s. At a time when true queer representation hardly existed on screen, filmmakers such as Barbara Hamer cast a groundbreaking new cinematic language in which lesbian and queer people could be, speak and shimmer.
A language that refused, as she did, to conform.
“My work makes these invisible bodies and histories visible. As a lesbian artist, I found little existing representation, so I put lesbian life on this blank screen, leaving a cultural record for future generations.” - Barbara Hammer
A rare retrospective of Hammer's iconic work, Radical Visibility, is currently showing on the global platform DAFilms, who we're collaborating with to bring you this article. They're an independent documentary platform, with faultless film curation, affordable and available everywhere. We highly recommend subscribing, some of our favourite films are in their catalogue.
Since Hammer, queer cinema hasn't stopped pushing boundaries, creating new space for the marginalised and producing great cinema.
Here are 10 experimental and queer documentaries we love and recommend:
1. Dyketactics (1974) by Barbara Hammer
We kick off the selection with a film as iconic as it was revolutionary, from the legendary lesbian and experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer.
A four-minute missive from a blissful, sun-kissed hippy planet floating somewhere in 1970s California, Dyketactics shows a group of frolicking naked women in the countryside before coolly flowing into more sensual lesbian couple scenes. Including one in which Hammer herself appears making love to Poe Asher.
The short broke new ground for its exploration of lesbian identity, desire and aesthetic and is considered one of Hammer's best-loved for its radical depiction of lesbian sexuality on screen.
Dyketactics (1974) by Barbara Hammer
2. The Wages of John Pernia (2023) by Ben Young
Before photography and film were invented and constructed the "Wild West", the famous explorer Meriwether Lewis, whose travels made the westwards expansion of the still young USA possible, died under mysterious circumstances.
The present-day narrator of this film, a distant descendant, portrays him as the tragic hero of a speculative gay love story. The potential lover, Meriwether's "Louisiana Creole" servant John Pernia, is historically documented. But the archive material, which favoured the white folklore of the so-called age of pioneers, lays no trail to this romance. Ben Young wilds the early Western imagery and queers the nationalist historiography from the perspective of people who are missing in the tales of glory and whose originally free space was occupied by the settler movement and its subsequent legend formation. He uses associative montage and gossip to rehabilitate John and Meriwether, the undocumented romantic couple, as the real pioneers.
And they have a score to settle with the U.S.
3. Playback (2019) by Agustina Comedi
In Córdoba, far away from Argentina’s capital city, the end of a military regime promises a spring that doesn’t last long. “La Delpi” is the only survivor from a group of transgender women and drag queens, who began to die of AIDS in the late 80’s. In a catholic and conservative city, the Kalas Group made their weapons and trenches out of improvised dresses and playbacks. Today the images of a unique and unknown archive are not only a farewell letter, but also a friendship manifesto.
Playback won the Teddy Award for Best Short film at Berlinale 2020.
4. Flores del otro Patio (2022) by Jorge Cadena
In the north of Colombia, a group of queer activists use extravagant performative actions to denounce the disastrous consequences on the environment and local people from a major company’s exploitation the country’s largest coal mine.
A film that blurs the line between fiction and documentary to shed light on very real power dynamics.
5. Allers-Venues (1984) by Vivian Ostrovsky
A month in the country. In summer, a group of friends rent a house in southern France. People come and go, making their way through chickens, dogs and cats. Playful sounds and a whacky collage of music make up the soundtrack.
Vivian Ostrovsky was born in New York, raised in Brazil and studied film in Paris under Eric Rohmer. She is a feminist filmmaker and curator, reputed for upholding female artists and for her distinctive collage style both visually and sonically.
Allers-Venues (1984) by Vivian Ostrovsky
6. Call me Marianna (2015) by Karolina Bielawska
Marianna is an attractive 40-year-old woman who has just sued her parents in order to obtain a sex change. Confronted with the idea of losing what she holds dearest, her family, she must face the chilling reminder of the sacrifices one takes to be themselves. Karolina Bielawska's film about freedom as the supreme value is made with a great sensitivity and vast emotional depth.
7. Loving in Between (2023) by Jyoti Mistry
Between birth and death, is the power to love and live. Political rules, religious orders, social norms and cultural taboos control who we love and how we love. The right to love, is controlled and regulated by how we live. But the erotic has the power to emancipate. With spoken word and archive sources, love is unboxed from categories in queer expression and a celebration of eros as the power to change our attitudes to life and to allow others to live their lives without judgment or prejudice.
Loving in Between (2023) by Jyoti Mistry
8. Kenya (2022) by Gisela Delgadillo
After witnessing the murder of her friend, Kenya, a trans woman sex worker, embarks on a path of struggle and search for justice that leads her to face the fear and pain of seeing herself reflected in that tragic ending.
9. Nitrate Kisses (1992) by Barbara Hammer
Visually structured around four couples making love, this documentary essay explores striking images of four gay and lesbian couples with footage of an unearthed forbidden and invisible history, using archival footage from the first gay film made in the U.S., Lot In Sodom (1933).
Nitrate Kisses (1992) by Barbara Hammer
10. I Just Wanted to Be Somebody (2006) by Jay Rosenblatt
What do the religious right and the gay liberation movement have in common? Both were fortified by the efforts of one woman – Anita Bryant. Part document and part poem, I Just Wanted to Be Somebody brings us back to the late 1970’s and reflects on Bryant’s life and the impact she had. The film is comprised of news footage, commercials and Bryant’s own home movies. (Clips from I Just Wanted to Be Somebody appear in Gus Van Sant's film MILK.)
I Just Wanted to Be Somebody (2006) by Jay Rosenblatt
Follow us on Instagram for updates and get in touch if you’d like to meet up or collaborate !
