From feature films to documentaries, to shorts, cartoons, and TV series, Centennial Libraries has hundreds of films and videos the celebrate and explore the 2SLGBTQIA+ experience in Canada and around the world. Check out some suggested films before or explore additional titles through the playlists and collections on the left.
I Am Gay (2020) 
Available via National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
After working abroad for five years, filmmaker Ajahnis Charley returns home to Oshawa, Ontario, in the age of quarantine. In addition to reuniting with his family, he returns with a mission to share some deep personal truths.
Woman Dress (2019)
Available via National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Pre-contact, a Two Spirit person named Woman Dress travels the Plains, gathering and sharing stories. Featuring archival images and dramatized re-enactments, this film shares a Cuthand family oral story, honouring and respecting Woman Dress without imposing colonial binaries on them.
Small Town Queer (TV series) (2019)
Available available via Can-Core
From enduring conversation therapy, to trans people coming out in small towns known for blue-collar workers, Small Town Queer is a documentary series that follows members of the LGBTQ2S+ community as they fight to find their place and support in Canadian small towns.
Amplify: Two-Spirit Identities (TV series) (2020)
Available via Can-Core
In this episode of Amplify, Mohawk songwriter Shawnee and Ojibwe-Cree Elder Ma-Nee Chacaby consider the history and role of two-spirit people.
Paris is Burning (1990) available via Kanopy
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene.
Last Chance (2012)
Available via National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
This feature documentary tells the stories of 5 asylum seekers who flee their native countries to escape homophobic violence. They face hurdles integrating into Canada, fear deportation and anxiously await a decision that will change their lives forever.
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) available via Kanopy
A true twentieth-century trailblazer, Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.
Stonewall Uprising (2010) available via Kanopy
In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. Such raids were not unusual in the late 1960s, that night, however, the street erupted into violent protests and demonstrations that lasted for the next six days. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.
Kokomo City (2023) available via Criterion On-Demand
A raw depiction of the lives of four black trans sex workers in New York and Georgia as they confront the dichotomy between the black community and themselves.
How to Survive a Plague (2012) available via Criterion On-Demand
David France's How to Survive a Plague tells an astounding story of activism and innovation about AIDS survival.
Wildhood (2021) Available via Criterion On-Demand
A rebellious two-spirit teenager runs away from home to find his birth mother and reclaim his Mi'kmaw heritage.
But I’m a Cheerleader (2000) available via ACF
Moonlight (2016) available via Criterion On-Demand
Neptune Frost (2021) available via Kanopy
My Own Private Idaho (1991) available via Criterion On-Demand
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) available via Kanopy
The Handmaiden (2016) available via Criterion On-Demand
Blue Is the Warmest Color (2014) available via Criterion On-Demand