The Sodomite Invasion: Kanopy Film List
The Sodomite Invasion exhibition is open on Saturdays until August 29th. Kanopy—available through VPL—has a wide range of films and documentary films that help contextualize the exhibition, both historically and contemporarily.
This list was compiled thanks to Kanopy, USC Libraries, Documentary.org, NewNowNext, and Healthline. All descriptions and images are from Kanopy’s website.To watch these films, log in to Kanopy through VPL: https://vpl.kanopy.com/catalog
This is Not an AIDS Advertisement
Directed by Isaac Julien
From the maker of Looking for Langston and Young Soul Rebels comes an impressionistic antidote to the passionless, guilty AIDS awareness campaign conducted in Britain in 1987.
Wilhemina’s War
Directed by June Cross
Wilhemina’s War is an intimate, personal narrative that tells the story of one family's struggle with HIV over the course of five years.
https://vpl.kanopy.com/product/wilheminas-war-0
United in Anger: A History of ACT UP
Directed by Jim Hubbard
An inspiring documentary about the birth and life of the AIDS activist movement from the perspective of the people in the trenches fighting the epidemic.
https://vpl.kanopy.com/product/united-anger-history-act-0
Fight Back, Fight AIDS: 15 Years of Act Up
Directed by James Wentzy
James Wentzy's in-your-face Fight Back, Fight AIDS is a compilation of footage documenting the first ACT UP meeting in 1987 on New York City's Wall Street and continues to 2002.
https://vpl.kanopy.com/product/fight-back-fight-aids-15-years-act
Before Stonewall
Directed by Greta Schiller and
Robert Rosenberg
BEFORE STONEWALL pries open the closet door--setting free the dramatic story of the sometimes horrifying public and private existences experienced by gay and lesbian Americans since the 1920s.
The Revival: Women and the Word
Directed by Sekiya Dorsett
This documentary chronicles the US tour of a group of Black lesbian poets and musicians, who become present-day stewards of a historical movement to build community among queer women of color.
The Same Difference
Directed by Nneka Onuorah
A compelling documentary about lesbians who discriminate against other lesbians based on gender roles. Director Nneka Onuorah takes an in-depth look at the internalized hetero-normative gender roles that have become all too familiar within the African American lesbian and bisexual community.
White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in Comic Books
Directed by Jonathan Gayles
A valuable and colorful examination of 40 years of changing representations of Black masculinity in a significant area of popular culture -- comic books.
https://vpl.kanopy.com/product/white-scripts-and-black-supermen
Afraid of Dark
Directed by Mya Baker
"Why is everyone so afraid of Black men?" In her new documentary, Afraid of Dark, filmmaker Mya B. attempts to answer this question.
The New Black
Directed by Yoruba Richen
The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the Black community's institutional pillar -- the Black church and reveals the Christian right wing's strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.
https://vpl.kanopy.com/product/new-black-lgbt-rights-and-african-american
O Happy Day
Directed by Charles Lofton
The seminal short film O Happy Day imagines the early days of gay liberation for Black gay men.
https://vpl.kanopy.com/product/o-happy-day-early-days-black-gay-liberatio
It’s STILL Elementary
Directed by Debra Chasnoff
It's STILL Elementary examines the incredible impact of the groundbreaking original documentary, It's Elementary - Talking About Gay Issues in School.
https://vpl.kanopy.com/product/its-still-elementary-reexamining-lgbt-issu
Nothing Without Us: Women in the Global Fight Against AIDS
Directed by Harriet Hirshorn
This is the inspiring story of the vital role that women have played - and continue to play - in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
Voices From the Front – AIDS Activism
Directed by David Meieran,
Robyn Hutt, Sandra Elgear
Voices From the Front, the first feature-length documentary on AIDS activism in America, makes clear the emotional and political effects of community activism using the voices of those directly engaged.
