Pansy Division: Life In A Gay Rock Band – (USA, 2008)

Pansy Division: Viaţa într’o trupă de rock gay

(documentar în lb. engleză)

„Tired of feeling alienated by the dance and disco music that dominated the gay scene in the early 1990s, aspiring musician Jon Ginoli placed an advert recruiting ‘queer musicians into the Buzzcocks, Ramones and early Beatles’, in a bid to form his own band. After getting a response from bassist Chris Freeman, the two instantly hit it off and formed Pansy Division, who have since proved one of the defining bands in the queercore movement and confirmed their place in the queer rock and roll hall of fame. Chronicling the birth of the band, the highs, lows and countless changes in the line-up, this rousing documentary offers a great insight into a hugely influential band with some of the greatest song names in history.”

Michael Blyth, 22nd London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

Undeniably one of the most important and influential gay music acts in the last twenty years, Pansy Division pioneered the „queercore” genre long before other gay musicians had the confidence to come out of the closet, and without major record label support or mainstream radio airplay. Using original and archive footage and covering over fifteen years as a group, Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band is a fast-paced, intimate and humorous account of one of rock’s most fearless acts. From their first days in San Francisco’s underground music scene to a full-fledged stadium tour with Green Day and beyond, founding members Jon Ginoli and Chris Freeman overcome increasingly difficult line-up changes, prejudice and near-poverty to keep the band together and create music that has truly made a difference. The film also examines issues that faced the gay community in the 90’s, as well as the adversity one encounters simply by being oneself. Featuring interviews and appearances by Lookout Records founder Larry Livermore, Jessie „Luscious” Townley (The Criminals, Alternative Tentacles), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys, Alternative Tentacles), Rob Halford (Judas Priest) and Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band provides an essential history of a genre of alternative music that is only now beginning to be appreciated. (text by Michael Carmona)

T’Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s – (USA, 2011)

Un film documentar narat de Jewelle Gomez despre viaţa şi activitatea cântăreţelor gay/bisexuale de blues din anii ’20, din Statele Unite. (în limba engleză, fără subtitrare în română)

T’Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness exposes the triply oppressed (black, female, queer) pioneers of blues through interviews with cultural historians, vintage photos, footage, and recordings, all narrated by Jewelle Gomez. With lavish costumes and sexually suggestive lyrics, bisexual and lesbian singers such as Ma Rainey (got arrested for indecency at an all-girl party—while married to a man) and Gladys Bentley (a „bulldagger” in full tuxedo) were regularly shunned by the church and society for their rough and tumble ways.