LGBTQ+ Archives - Provincetown Film

Mad About The Boy: The Noël Coward Story

Noël Coward grew up in poverty and left school when he was only nine years old. He was queer in a very straight world; nonetheless, by the age of 30, he was the highest paid writer in the world and a star on the Broadway stage, well on his way to becoming a world-renowned songwriter and performer. And if that wasn’t enough, he was also a spy during the Second World War! Coward defined an era and led an extraordinary life, and this is his fascinating story told in his own words (read by Rupert Everett), along with captivating archival interviews, and a trove of home movies.

Young Hearts

Drama, International, LGBTQ+

After a mid-year move, 14-year-old Elias meets his new neighbor Alexander and the two quickly hit it off. Alexander reveals without hesitation that he’s into boys, and while the new friends spend time together, Elias keeps his own burgeoning feelings to himself. Afraid of the reactions of those around him, Elias becomes entangled in a web of lies and begins to push Alexander away before realizing that love is too precious to let slip away. YOUNG HEARTS is a delicate and freshly told debut about early romance and taking chances.

The World According to Allee Willis

Biographical, LGBTQ+, Music, Women

A Grammy-winning songwriter whose work includes everything from hits by groups Earth, Wind & Fire and the Pointer Sisters to the Friends theme song to the Tony award-winning Broadway musical adaptation of The Color Purple, Allee Willis was a gifted artistic talent and a deeply unique and inventive human being. As an early social network creator, artist rights activist, and legendary party thrower, Willis’ one-of-a-kind life earned her an extended creative community of friends, who come together in this energetic, colorful tribute to honor and celebrate her singular work and life.

Merchant Ivory

Biography, LGBTQ+

Over their long and storied partnership, Ismail Merchant and James Ivory brought decades of high-quality dramas to filmgoers—from A Room With a View to Howards End to the groundbreaking Maurice. Now, join Ivory and a host of the company’s greatest collaborators as they look back on the indelible mark the pair made on queer and arthouse cinema. MERCHANT IVORY provides a vital and compelling perspective upon a unique partnership that produced 43 groundbreaking films over four decades. Featuring interviews with Vanessa Redgrave, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Helena Bonham Carter, and many others.

Luther: Never Too Much

Biographical, LGBTQ+, Music

LUTHER: NEVER TOO MUCH chronicles the story of an American vocal virtuoso, exploring the formative years of Luther Vandross’ stunning musical career. With a wealth of rarely seen archives, Luther shares his own story with assistance from his closest friends and musical collaborators, including Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, Valerie Simpson and Roberta Flack. Dawn Porter’s elegant film relives the many stunning moments of Luther’s musical career, while exploring his unrequited love life, health struggles, and a lifelong battle to earn the respect his music deserved.

The Little Pageant That Could

Drag, HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ+

THE LITTLE PAGEANT THAT COULD chronicles the journey of L.A.’s “Best in Drag Show” to support the Alliance for Housing and Healing. The event, which started as a spur-of-the-moment spoof of Miss America thrown by a few twenty-something friends in a tiny West Hollywood apartment in 1990, grew to become L.A.’s longest-running drag benefit, including appearances by A-list actors, playing before thousands of people and grossing over $6 million to help those living with HIV/AIDS. With humor and heart, director John Carlos Frey takes us through an emotional journey of queer life and activism from the 90s to today.

Desire Lines

Historical, LGBTQ+

DESIRE LINES is a bold, sexy and formally inventive exploration of gender expression and sexuality in which past and present collide when an Iranian-American trans man time-travels through an LGBTQ+ archive on a dizzying erotic quest to unravel his own sexual desires. Scholar and filmmaker Jules Rosskam deploys a fluidly hybrid structure to interrogate the archive, freeing the film from traditional documentary constraints and imbuing its telling of the history of transmasculine sexuality with an unmistakably personal touch.

1-800-ON-HER-OWN

Biography, LGBTQ+, Music

Ani DiFranco’s impact on the independent music scene is undeniable. She is also an outspoken champion for political and social causes, earning her the devotion of legions of committed fans. In Dana Flor’s intimate documentary, archival footage and verité filmmaking come together to allow us to see and know Ani past and present, navigating the heights of stardom and at her current moment of personal and professional re-invention. 1-800-ON-HER-OWN is a cinematic, musical road trip that beautifully captures the rollercoaster existence of this funny, feminist rock-icon.

John Waters Presents: A Prince

Drama, LGBTQ+

Pierre-Joseph goes to an apprenticeship college to train as a gardener. There he meets a series of characters—Françoise Brown, the principal; Alberto, his botany teacher; and Adrien, his employer—who will prove decisive in his apprenticeship story and in unleashing his sexuality. Forty years later Kutta appears—Françoise Brown’s adoptive child, about whom he has heard so much but never met. But Kutta, who is now the owner of a strange château, seems to be looking for more than just a gardener.

All Shall Be Well

Drama, Family, LGBTQ+, Women

Angie and Pat are a well-off lesbian couple who have lived comfortably in Pat’s Hong Kong apartment for 30 years. After Pat dies unexpectedly, Angie slowly finds her previously loving in-laws slipping away from her. Little by little, arguments about the burial and inheritance lead to an estrangement and, most upsettingly, Angie soon finds she has no legal right to remain in the home she created and shared with Pat. As in his film Suk Suk, Ray Yeung once again takes a precise look at the often precarious everyday life of the older queer community—and, in Angie, creates a quietly resilient heroine.