This summer, a host of queer-themed documentaries are coming to streaming services and theaters, exploring everything from the lives of celebrities (Rock Hudson, George Michael) to a look at people born intersex.
THE STROLL
June 21
Directed by Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker, the HBO film The Stroll tells the history of New York’s Meatpacking District from the point of view of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there.
THE REAL GEORGE MICHAEL: PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST
June 25
The late pop star, who came out as gay in 1998, is the subject of a doc (available on multiple VOD services including Tubi) that explores his career and personal ups and downs. The film includes interviews with his music manager Simon Napier-Bell, his longtime lover and partner Kenny Goss, and fellow luminaries Stevie Wonder, Rufus Wainwright and Stephen Fry.
ELDORADO: EVERYTHING THE NAZIS HATE
June 28
Directed by Benjamin Cantu, the Netflix doc Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate, looks at a 1920s nightclub, Berlin’s Eldorado, that flourished during the Weimar Republic before Nazism stamped it and its freedoms out. “A Hundred years ago, many LGBT people in Germany experienced their sexual and emotional freedom for the first time, shortly followed by the most extreme form of their oppression. This film attempts to bring these major movements back to our memories,” says executive producer Felix Kriegsheim.
An archival photo from the new Netflix doc Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate.
Netflix
ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED
June 28
HBO’s film delves into the double life of the iconic star and symbol of heterosexual masculinity who died of AIDS in 1985 at age 59. “The doc makes an eloquent case for reconsidering Hudson’s passing as a hero’s death that singlehandedly changed a lot of attitudes,” writes THR‘s David Rooney in his review of the film.
EVERY BODY
June 30
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Julie Cohen (RBG), the Focus Features film Every Body explores the lives of people born intersex and spotlights voices calling for an end to unnecessary surgeries. According to the filmmakers, “The film tells the stories of three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and instead came out as their authentic selves.”
KOKOMO CITY
July 28
D. Smith’s doc, released by Magnolia Pictures, chronicles the lives of four Black trans sex workers in New York and Atlanta, one of whom — Koko Da Doll — was shot and killed in April after filming was completed. In its review of Kokomo City last February, THR called the film a gutsy documentary featuring “punchy delivery styles, shimmering personalities and kaleidoscopic perspectives.”
A version of this story first appeared in the June 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
