Nancy Kates is an independent filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She directed Regarding Susan Sontag, a feature documentary about the late essayist, novelist, director and activist. Through archival footage, interviews, still photographs and images from popular culture, the film reflects the boldness of Sontag’s work and the cultural importance of her thought, and received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Sundance Documentary Film Program.
Sridhar Rangayan is an Indian filmmaker who has made films with special focus on queer subjects. His queer films, The Pink Mirror, Yours Emotionally, 68 Pages, Purple Skies, Breaking Free & Evening Shadows have been considered groundbreaking because of their realistic and sympathetic portrayal of the largely closeted Indian gay community. His film The Pink Mirror remains banned in India by the Indian Censor Board because of its homosexual content.
Arthur Dong is an American filmmaker and author whose work centers on Asia America and anti-gay prejudice. He was raised in San Francisco, California, graduating from Galileo High School in June 1971. He received his BA in film from San Francisco State University and also holds a Directing Fellow Certificate from the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film Studies. In 2007, SFSU named Dong its Alumnus of the year “for his continued success in the challenging arena of independent documentary filmmaking and his longstanding commitment to social justice."
Inlaws & Outlaws is a documentary by filmmaker and oral historian Drew Emery that weaves together the true stories of couples and singles—both gay and straight—to create a collective narrative of stories of love, loss and belonging. The film was produced by Larry Schlessinger, Lisa Halpern, and Emery for the True Stories Project, Emery's production company.
Freeheld is a 2007 documentary film directed by Cynthia Wade. It chronicles the story of Laurel Hester in her fight against the Ocean County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders to give her earned pension benefits to her partner, Stacie. On February 24, 2008, it won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. The documentary also won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.
Debra Chasnoff was an American documentary filmmaker and activist whose films address progressive social justice issues. Her production company GroundSpark produces and distributes films, educational resources and campaigns on issues ranging from environmental concerns to affordable housing to preventing prejudice.
Dzi Croquettes is a 2009 Brazilian documentary film directed by Tatiana Issa and Raphael Alvarez about the dance and theater group of the same name.
Training Rules is a 2009 American documentary co-produced and co-directed by Dee Mosbacher and Fawn Yacker. It is narrated by Diana Nyad.
Tami Kashia Gold is a documentary filmmaker, visual artist and educator. She is also a professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York in the Department of Film and Media Studies.
Sebastiane Award is a prize delivered in September, since 2000, to a film or documentary screened during the San Sebastián International Film Festival that best reflects the values and reality of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people.
Pageant is a 2008 documentary film directed and produced together by Ron Davis and Stewart Halpern. The film explored the behind-the-scenes dramas and realities of the 34th Miss Gay America Contest held in 2004. The film's central theme was the universal desire to be beautiful, noticed and chosen. The film garnered 10 film festival awards before airing on the Sundance Channel in 2010.
Wish Me Away is a 2011 documentary film directed by Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf. Winner of 12 film festival awards, it is about the coming out of the country music singer and gay rights activist Chely Wright. In May 2010, she had become the first major country music performer to publicly come out as gay.
God Loves Uganda is a 2013 American documentary film produced and directed by Roger Ross Williams, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It explores connections between evangelicalism in North America and in Uganda, suggesting that the North American influence is the reason behind the controversial Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, which at one point raised the possibility of the death penalty for gays and lesbians. The filmmakers follow a group of young missionaries from the International House of Prayer in their first missionary effort in another nation, as well as interviewing several evangelical leaders from the US and Uganda.
Jen Chaiken is an American indie film producer. Chaiken won an Emmy award for Best Documentary for the film My Flesh and Blood.
Minsk Pride is a gay pride parade in Minsk, Belarus. This is a festival in support of tolerance for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in Belarus.
A Sinner in Mecca is a 2015 documentary film from director Parvez Sharma. The film chronicles Sharma's Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia as an openly gay Muslim. The film premiered at the 2015 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival to critical acclaim as well as negative controversies. The film opened in theaters in the US on September 4, 2015, and is a New York Times Critics' Pick.
Getting Go: The Go Doc Project is a 2013 pseudo-documentary film written and directed by Cory James Krueckeberg.
Johnny Symons is a documentary filmmaker focusing on LGBT cultural and political issues. He is a professor in the Cinema Department at San Francisco State University, where he runs the documentary program and is the director and co-founder of the Queer Cinema Project. He received his BA from Brown University and his MA in documentary production from Stanford University. He has served as a Fellow in the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program.
GagaOOLala is a Taiwan-based worldwide subscription video on demand service, specializing in uncensored LGBT-related films, LGBT made-for television films and contemporary LGBT television drama series. It has partnered with Japanese-based Line TV, initially in Thailand, and then across Asia, to provide the service with GagaOOLala-made TV series. GagaOOLala is owned by Portico Media, whose also carried pay TV channels for Taiwan cable TV provider along with Chunghwa Telecom's MOD platform.
Joseph Hall Wilson is an American film director and producer, best known for documentaries and impact campaigns that explore oppression and empowerment among gender and sexual minority communities. He has received an Emmy, GLAAD Media and several film festival awards, and his work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Ford Foundation, ITVS and Pacific Islanders in Communications.
