WQ:Docs returns
Nov 15-22, 2024
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A chapter format of the singer's life that shares personal insights and interviews with those who knew him.

A lost R&B star who eclipsed Etta James and Little Richard, trans soul singer Jackie Shane blazed an extraordinary trail with an unbreakable commitment to her truth. Forty years after vanishing from public view, this 20th century icon finally gets her second act.

A surprisingly intimate and humorous doc that peers with empathy and curiosity into one of the world's only "homo-normative" communities, the island "paradise" of Fire Island Pines. Told through home video, archival footage, and eccentric character portraits of the vibrant present, A HOUSE IS NOT A DISCO finds a Fire Island in transition; confronting diversity, inclusivity, gentrification and the frightening and growing peril of coastal communities worldwide...climate change and rising seas.

Seamlessly weaving together exclusive archival gems with dynamic tour footage, this documentary captures the transformative journey of Canadian Merrill Nisker into the internationally acclaimed cultural powerhouse that is Peaches.

Long before Love Lies Bleeding, there was Pumping Iron II: The Women. This little-seen sequel to the film that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a superstar follows a group of four women as they prepare and compete in the 1983 Caesars World Cup in Las Vegas: butch Australian powerlifter (and now out lesbian) Bev Francis, the more traditionally feminine Rachel McLish, former synchronized swimmer Carla Dunlap, and Texan Lori Bowen, who hopes to win so her bodybuilder boyfriend can quit his job as a male stripper. Beyond simply being a wildly entertaining documentary, Pumping Iron II: The Women raises fascinating questions about gender, femininity, and society's expectations of womanhood that feels more relevant now than ever as trans athletes continue to lose their right to compete. Can a woman be TOO muscular? Is the best female bodybuilder the one with the most muscles, or the one that can match brawn with femininity? Come find out in Pumping Iron II: The Women, the rare sequel that greatly surpasses the original.

"A multidisciplinary artist and scene queen in a variety of different circles from the beautiful elite to the queer punks of LA in the 90s, Sean DeLear broke the mold when it came to being Black and gay in the art world and in the music scene. A rebel in the face of gender, race, and sexuality, DeLear fronted the post-punk band Glue, whose music video was deemed too hot for MTV, and counted The B-52s and Yoko Ono among his fans. In The Life of Sean DeLear, friends and peers pieced together DeLear's video archives and writing samples into a fun and enlightening tribute, honoring the counterculture spirit of this American artist — who died of cancer in 2017. Did SeanD really go to highschool with Courtney Love? Did he really befriend Kate Moss after crashing her birthday party? The film dispels none of the myths about this artist of allure and mystery. Alongside the posthumously published teenage diaries of DeLear, I Could Not Believe It, Marcus Zizenbacher's film — which features the likes of Rick Owens, Ann Magnuson, and Susan Tyrrell — ensures that Sean DeLear (sounds like ""chandelier"") and his vibrant light will never go out."

Join us for five stories of how our community lifts itself up for survival, for success, and for our future. From preserving the political history of elder lesbians to learning how to know yourself and others through role play, these five stories from across the planet put a spotlight on those who bolster themselves up to thrive in this world.

Yoseli has a tattoo of the Eiffel Tower on her back and has always wanted to travel, but she was arrested at the airport for drug trafficking. Nacho is a trans man who was arrested for swindling and started a rock band in jail. Gentle or rough, blonde or shaved, cis or trans, long-term inmates or newly admitted: in this hybrid musical, they all re-enact their lives in a Buenos Aires prison.

Janis Ian and the Art of Song (working title) will chronicle the singer’s epic life journey beginning with her Jewish childhood on a chicken farm in New Jersey; her youthful struggle with notoriety following her hit “Society’s Child"" (about an interracial love); her ascent to fame with the single “At Seventeen" (about body shaming); and her release of the disruptive album Breaking Silence which she leveraged to come out publicly about her loving relationship with her wife Pat Snyder.