The Celluloid Closet
Mar 15, 1996 | IMDB 7.2
102 min Watch NowDocumentary, History
Exuberant, eye-opening movie that serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Film contains fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Rylan: Homophobia, Football and Me
Mariela Castro's March: Cuba's LGBT Revolution
And the Oscar Goes To...
Score: A Film Music Documentary
Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End
Two Spirits
Sid & Judy
The Canterbury Tales
Caligari: When Horror Came to Cinema
Drawn This Way
Late to the Party: Coming Out Later in Life
Edges
The Circle
Fabulous
Esther Williams: Hollywood's Mermaid
Are You Proud?
Pagan Invasion, Vol. 13: Doorways To Satan
Out of the Closet, Off the Screen: The Life of William Haines
Milk
Race d'Ep!
SIMILAR MOVIES
Rylan: Homophobia, Football and Me
IMDB 5 | Feb , 2024
Rylan Clark shares his experiences of homophobia and his complicated relationship with football. He also meets people involved in the sport to ask why it's not a wholly welcoming place for gay men and how homophobia has an impact on those exposed to it.Mariela Castro's March: Cuba's LGBT Revolution
IMDB 4.3 | Nov , 2016
A rare look inside Cuba’s LGBT community, this compelling film follows the efforts of Mariela Castro, daughter of President Raúl Castro, as she champions LGBT social reforms and acceptance of diversity.And the Oscar Goes To...
IMDB 6.9 | Feb , 2014
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.Score: A Film Music Documentary
IMDB 7.1 | Mar , 2017
Music is an integral part of most films, adding emotion and nuance while often remaining invisible to audiences. Matt Schrader shines a spotlight on the overlooked craft of film composing, gathering many of the art form’s most influential practitioners, from Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman to Quincy Jones and Randy Newman, to uncover their creative process. Tracing key developments in the evolution of music in film, and exploring some of cinema’s most iconic soundtracks, 'Score' is an aural valentine for film lovers.Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End
IMDB 1 | Jan , 1997
Narrated by Linda Hunt, this documentary examines the life of the late author and gay rights activist Paul Monette. Born in 1945 to a well-off Massachusetts family, Monette grows up unable to accept his homosexuality, for years hiding it from his loved ones while struggling to develop as a writer. In 1978, Monette publishes his first novel, which allows him to come out to his parents. After losing one lover to AIDS in 1986, he becomes a ferocious advocate for awareness of the disease.Two Spirits
IMDB 4.3 | Jun , 2009
Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he 'bug-smashed a fag'. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the 'nadleeh', or 'two-spirit', who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits.Sid & Judy
IMDB 7.4 | Jun , 2019
Explore the dramatic career and personal struggles of the talented and tragically short-lived entertainer Judy Garland through rare concert footage, never-heard-before voice recordings and personal photos.The Canterbury Tales
IMDB 6.1 | Sep , 1972
Glimpses of Chaucer penning his famous work are sprinkled through this re-enactment of several of his stories.Caligari: When Horror Came to Cinema
IMDB 6.7 | Feb , 2014
On February 26, 1920, Robert Wiene's world-famous film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin. To this day, it is considered a manifesto of German expressionism; a legend of cinema and a key work to understand the nature of the Weimar Republic and the constant political turmoil in which a divided society lived after the end of the First World War.Drawn This Way
IMDB 2.6 | May , 2019
From Tom of Finland to Bugs Bunny in a dress – animation has been a place where artists can unleash and explore their sexuality. When did all this g(art) start? Is it a sexual turn-on? How did the artists get their start? Why the obsession with these fantastical stories and characters? Are they taken seriously in the mainstream comic world? Hosts Andy Cheng and Cara Connors dive into the pages of comic books, animated series, films and video games to discover the LGBTQ characters in the documentary Drawn this Way.Late to the Party: Coming Out Later in Life
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2025
A group of individuals who came out as LGBTQ+ later in life reflect on the emotional and often complicated paths that led them to finally embrace their true identities. After years of living in secrecy—some as long as decades—they share personal stories of internal conflict, family tension, and the courage it took to step into the light. From a nonagenarian to a former priest and a military veteran, each narrative reveals the unique challenges of coming out in midlife, while celebrating the profound freedom and self-acceptance that can emerge at any age.Edges
IMDB 8 | Dec , 2020
Paolo is a 22-year-old boy and experiences a constant sense of inadequacy and ineptitude, due to his complex relationship with his mother, unaware of his homosexuality, and to the conflict he has with his hometown, Lanciano. Driven by a great desire for emancipation, he decides not to give up and to interview those who have remained in the province and continue to fight just like him.The Circle
IMDB 6.5 | Sep , 2014
A young teacher in Zurich in the 1950s falls in love with a transvestite star but is torn between his bourgeois existence and his commitment to homosexuality. He joins a gay organization that is eventually seen as the pioneer of gay emancipation in Europe.Fabulous
IMDB 6.5 | Jun , 2019
Ninja is famous around the world for her fierce ballroom performances, but she is not as well-known in her native country of French Guyana. But a trip home to teach a workshop might change that.Esther Williams: Hollywood's Mermaid
IMDB 0 | Aug , 2024
The story of Esther Williams is that of an improbable encounter. That of the glamorous Hollywood of the 1940s with a swimming champion. A meeting that gave birth to the most kitsch and flamboyant genre films in Technicolor: the Aqua-musicals! A dive into the troubled waters of post-war Hollywood, where only her qualities as an athlete allow an extraordinary actress to fight to emancipate herself and avoid the traps of the predators who lurk around herAre You Proud?
IMDB 2.1 | Jul , 2019
Are You Proud? is a vivid and engaged docu-celebration of the LGBT rights movement from the partial victory of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act to Stonewall, the Gay Liberation Front , the AIDS crisis, Legal Marriage and finally the 2016 Pulse night club shooting. The film gives an extensive history of the course of LGBT rights campaigning, but it also shows how much more work there is to be done.Pagan Invasion, Vol. 13: Doorways To Satan
IMDB 10 | Jan , 1991
The dawn of the 21st Century has found much of modern society obsessed with occult mysteries, sadistic violence, and evil. Everything from cartoons and video games to recorded music and major theatrical films are being designed and promote to "satisfy" the public's insatiable lust for the macabre. Most disturbing is the rise in the practice of Satanism. Law enforcement agencies are unable to keep up with the increasing numbers of heinous, Satanically inspired crimes. Basically a remake of Devil Worship: The Rise of Satanism (1989) using the same footage.Out of the Closet, Off the Screen: The Life of William Haines
IMDB 5.3 | Jun , 2001
Chronicles the life of William Haines, Hollywood's first openly gay movie star, who sacrificed his career to live openly with his lover.Milk
IMDB 7.2 | Nov , 2008
The true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans.Race d'Ep!
IMDB 4.4 | Oct , 1979
"Race d’Ep!" (which literally translates to "Breed of Faggots") was made by the “father of queer theory,” Guy Hocquenghem, in collaboration with radical queer filmmaker and provocateur Lionel Soukaz. The film traces the history of modern homosexuality through the twentieth century, from early sexology and the nudes of Baron von Gloeden to gay liberation and cruising on the streets of Paris. Influenced by the groundbreaking work of Michel Foucault on the history of sexuality and reflecting the revolutionary queer activism of its day, "Race d’Ep!" is a shockingly frank, sex-filled experimental documentary about gay culture emerging from the shadows.