Gay & Lesbian

Framed by the beautiful poetry of the oppressed Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, this revealing documentary features memorable portraits of five gay men and one transsexual woman living in and around Havana. Their disparate stories and candid interviews dispel myths while demonstrating a range of experience, opinion and social status.

Among the Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, boy babies who are born in a certain position, or little boys who prefer to play with girls, are raised as women, and are known as Muxes (pronounced "Mooshays"). In the town of Juchitán, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Muxes have an important role to play in the life of the community. Because they are raised as women, the Muxes prefer to enter into relations with "straight" men. Since female virginity is important for marriage in Juchitán, unmarried boys have their first experiences with Muxes, but usually move on to a heterosexual marriage.

One of the first documentaries of its kind, Not Because Fidel Castro Says So is candid look at the situation for Cuban sexual minorities. It examines the relationship of gays to the Cuban revolution and the Spanish Catholic Church as the root of current homophobic attitudes.

This is a Framline release.

A group of Nicaraguan feminists have fused human rights with popular culture to create Nicaragua's most popular telenovela (soap opera), Sexto Sentido. Novela, Novela examines how this ground-breaking series made it to broadcast, and how the creators, writers, actors and viewers grappled with controversial themes like domestic violence and homophobia in this impoverished country heavily influenced by the Catholic church.

This is a Framline release.

To be poor in Mexico is hard. To be poor in a small town in Mexico is harder. If you're a gay man living in those circumstances, things can get downright tricky. This collectively-produced documentary introduces us to four gay men in Mazatepec, Morelos, who recount their life passions and their everyday complaints. They describe their occasional relationships with men in town who consider themselves “straight,” and give free reign to their creative impulses at the town’s yearly festival, the Mojiganga, where sexual identities are publicly, playfully transgressed.