Komrades (2003)

5 лет заняло у канадского режиссера Стива Коккера исследование темы гомосексуализма в российской армии. Фильм основан на интервью, которые он брал у солдат и моряков в Санкт-Петербурге. Первого парня он встретил около крупнейшего военно-морского училища, и он согласился встретиться с режиссером вечером. И так солдат за солдатом, матрос за матросом - выстраивается картина жизни в российской армии. Некоторые курсанты лежат обнаженные на постели Коккера и общаются с ним в таком виде. Многие из них напоминают моделей студии BelAmi... Некоторые откровенны изначально, а некоторые раскрываются только под воздействием алкоголя.... В общем, фильм просто бесценен для любителей парней в форме.

It took 5 years for Canadian director Steve Cokker to make a research about homosexuality in Russian army. The film is based on his interviews with soldiers and sailors in St. Petersburg. The first guy he met was from largest Naval Academy, and he agreed to meet with him one evening. He shared what it is like and how soldiers get intimate with another soldier, a sailor with another sailor. In his hotel he met some other boys who are at ease being naked in his bed whilst telling their stories. Some of them have to be under the influence of alcohol for them to share their true experiences. Shooting the film is almost having the same experience as if you are in a Belami studio. In general, the film is simply priceless for fans of guys in uniform.




A documentary worth seeing... sometimes you'll laugh... at times you'll feel so bad.

Trembling Before G-d (2001)

Built around intimately-told personal stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are either gay or lesbian, this unprecedented feature documentary shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality and religious fundamentalism. It portrays a group of people who face a profound dilemma on how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism and the Divine with the drastic Biblical prohibitions that forbid homosexuality. As the film unfolds, we meet a range of complex individuals -- some hidden, some out -- from the world's first openly gay Orthodox rabbi to closeted, married Hasidic gays and lesbians to those abandoned by religious families to Orthodox lesbian high-school sweethearts. Many have been tragically rejected and their pain is raw, yet with irony, humor, and resilience, they love, care, struggle, and debate with a thousand-year old tradition.

TREMBLING BEFORE G-D is an international project with global implications that strikes at the meaning of religious identity and tradition in a modern world. For the first time, this issue has become a live, public debate in Orthodox circles, and the film is both witness and catalyst to this historic moment. What emerges is a loving and fearless testament to faith and survival and the universal struggle to belong. Certainly this film is a MUST-SEE!

(In ENGLISH, YIDDISH & HEBREW with ENGLISH & SPANISH subtitles)

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Tarik El Hob (2001)

Karim, qui se dit hetero et etudiant en sociologie, cherche, parmi les jeunes d'origine maghrebine, des gays prets a temoigner devant sa petite camera. Il rencontre Farid, steward decomplexe, qui est pret a repondre a ses questions et plus si affinites. Au fur et a mesure de l'enquete, le comportement de Karim se revele paradoxal: il vit avec sa copine, tout en s'initiant aupres de son nouvel ami.

Karim, a sociology student who claims to be heterosexual, seeks amongst young Magrebinis, those who can speak openly about their homosexuality before his video camera. He meets Farid, a young and confident flight steward who is willing to answer all and volunteers to assist him in his project. During their research, Karim's behaviour becomes paradoxical: he lives with his girlfriend whilst practically falling for Farid.

TARIK EL HOB (THE ROAD TO LOVE, internationally) is a sensitive and tender docudrama about homosexuality in the Islam world. The film is exotically raw and realistically written that watching the two leads fall for each other seems to affect the viewers. Simply a must see!

(In FRENCH & ARABIC with ENGLISH & SPANISH subtitles)

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Clapham Junction (2007)

This is a provocative and powerful single drama about the mixed experiences of several gay men during 36 hours in South London, and the devastating consequences that unfold when their lives collide. From a civil partnership ceremony to a heated dinner party, five separate stories are woven into the fabric of modern day London from school and work, to bars and clubs, during one hot summer’s night in the capital.

CLAPHAM JUNCTION is a revelation that is so true that it hurts those that didn't accept it. The roles played by Paul Nicholls, David Leon, Luke Treadaway and Joseph Mawle are exceptionally moving. A MUST-SEE for everyone!

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Wassup Rockers (2005)

A story based on real life experiences of a group of Latino teenagers who, instead of conforming to the hip hop culture of their gang infested neighbourhood, wear their clothes tight, ride their skateboards, and listen to punk rock. Constantly harassed for being different, they have to fight to be themselves. One morning, they take two city buses from South Central to skate the famous "Nine Stairs" at Beverly Hills High that they always see in the popular skateboard videos. Whilst they are there they catch the attention of some rich Beverly Hills girls, which leads to trouble with the girls' boyfriends as well as the police. The police bust them simply because they're there and they escape into Beverly Hills where they meet up with the girls and a variety of characters, getting into really big trouble as they are chased by the police and the residents. The boys have to get away and try to make their way to the relative safety of their own neighbourhood.

Considering WASSUP ROCKERS' description from the producers, I'd say that it's quite an entertaining piece of documentary about Latino youngsters. Most importantly, this film succeeded in showing what true Latino brotherhood really means... and it's really somethin'...

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