Setting off on the road to a drag pageant, non-binary teacher-by-day/comedian-by-night Jaya seeks to reclaim their quest for fame that was derailed by a typhoon a decade prior. With a young student in tow, Jaya’s journey through the Philippines becomes one of restoration in this visionary blend of fable and nonfiction.

“Fear to the side, power to the front” is Valencia’s motto when it comes to queer ecology activists fighting the climate crisis in Florida, a state shaped by water, wind, and political storms. Estimates say 60% of Miami will be underwater by 2060 in this “don’t say gay” state. Follow queer and trans activists and learn about the passionate work being done to combat these crises.

Winner of the Encounters Award for Best Director at the Berlinale, this transfixing diptych explores the divides between urban and rural, past and present, and tangible and metaphysical. In the first part, a displaced woman adjusts to life in the city, while in the second, a lesbian couple makes a fresh start in the countryside.

Talking with experts ranging from an LGBTQ+ rights activist to an astronomer, Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian ⎯ a London-based artist and educator of Armenian and Algerian descent  ⎯ embarks on an underground space mission. With her doppelgängers in tow, she works to uncover the key to a queer, eco-feminist future devoid of generational trauma, colonization, and imperialism. 

With touches of Kelly Reichardt within a unique, fully realized vision, director India Donaldson offers a funny and wry anti-coming-of-age film about a young queer woman (Lily Collias in a revelatory central performance) pressured into weekend camping getaway with her dad (James Le Gros) and his best pal (Danny McCarthy).

This gorgeous and emotionally charged film goes behind the scenes of the infamous Fire Island Pines, a gay fantasyland on the East Coast, to uncover real life pleasures and simmering conflict. This doc combines breathtaking visions of natural beauty with the day-to-day drama of the island regulars.

From homosexual penguins to sex-transitioning fish, contemporary scientists have been zealously studying animal behavior and anatomy and exposing the myth of the gender binary. Turns out the natural world is way more diverse and complex than Darwin led us to believe! Director Drew Denny takes the nature documentary to a whole new level in this eye-opening and entertaining expedition.