QDoc 2018

QDoc: Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival 2018

QDoc is the only festival in the U.S. devoted exclusively to LGBTQ documentaries, and it's coming to the Hollywood Theatre this year May 17-20!

Documentaries offer a unique vehicle to creatively engage core issues of queer identity – politics, history, culture, diversity, sexuality, family, aging, and coming-out issues. Documentary as a form of expression is as vital and energetic as it has ever been, and QDoc brings the highest caliber of films – and their makers – to share with Portland audiences.

Buy a festival pass here.

50 Years of Fabulous

Thursday, May 17, 10:30 PM

50 YEARS OF FABULOUS recounts the rich history of the Imperial Council, the oldest LGBT charity organization in the world. Founded in San Francisco by renown activist, drag queen and performer Jose Sarria, the Council has helped shaped LGBT life and social history in San Francisco and beyond throughout the last five decades. The film captures the full scope of the organization’s historical evolut…

Breaking the Silence

Friday, May 18, 7:30 PM

Before September 2011, no person who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender could serve openly in the United States military. Those who did serve were forced to do so secretly, at great risk to themselves and their families. In 2011, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed, making it legal for LBG Americans to serve openly without fear of official reprise or discharge. In June 2016, the ba…

Bixa Travesty (Tranny Fag)

Saturday, May 19, 12:00 AM

Linn da Quebrada is a black trans woman from the impoverished outskirts of São Paulo; she is also a pop performer who raises her voice for queers of color from the slums. Accompanied by her childhood friend and partner in crime, black trans woman and singer Jup do Bairro, her concerts are nothing short of dazzling. Aided by exorbitant costumes and plenty of twerking, her performances are onslaugh…

Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco

Saturday, May 19, 4:00 PM

SEX FASHION & DISCO is a feature documentary-based time capsule of Paris and New York between 1969 - 1973 viewed through the eyes of Antonio Lopez, the dominant fashion illustrator of the time, and told through the lives of his colorful and sometimes outrageous milieu. Antonio was a seductive arbiter of style and glamor who brought elements of the urban street and ethnicity to bear on a postw…

Leitis in Waiting

Saturday, May 19, 6:15 PM

LEITIS IN WAITING is the story of Joey Mataele and the Tonga leitis, an intrepid group of native transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific Kingdom. The film follows Joey, a devout Catholic of noble descent, as she organizes an exuberant beauty pageant presided over by a princess, provides shelter and training for a young contestant…

Man Made

Saturday, May 19, 9:00 PM

In MAN MADE, director T Cooper, himself born and raised female, takes us into the heart of transgender male (FTM) culture, revealing unexpected truths about gender, masculinity, humanity and love. Four trans men take a variety of life paths toward stepping on stage at Trans FitCon, the only all-transgender bodybuilding competition in the world. MAN MADE is a character-driven, intimate, and riveti…

Shakedown

Saturday, May 19, 11:30 PM

Created from over 400 hours of footage Director Leilah Weinraub has been collecting for the past 15 years, SHAKEDOWN explores the history and culture of the Los Angeles underground black-lesbian strip club scene from which the film gets its name.

Chronicling the explicit performances and personal relationships of the party’s dancers and organizers, SHAKEDOWN provides an intimate look into the w…

Every Act of Life

Sunday, May 20, 3:00 PM

EVERY ACT OF LIFE profiles the life and career of Terrence McNally, one of the world’s most honored and risk-taking playwrights (Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class, Ragtime, Kiss of the Spider Woman).

Documenting his personal journey, the film offers a portrait of the evolution of the American theatre; the struggle for LGBTQ rights; personal battles; the cycle of passion, loss, and love; a…

Mr. Gay Syria

Sunday, May 20, 5:30 PM

Winner of the Human Rights Award at the Sarajevo International Film Festival and the Silver Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival. In focusing his attention on the competitors of Mr. Gay Syria, director Ayse Toprak shatters the one-dimensional meaning of “refugee.” Using a pageant as a means of escape from political persecution, the organizer Mahmoud — already given asylum in Berlin — h…

Quiet Heroes

Sunday, May 20, 7:30 PM

QUIET HEROES tells the story of infectious disease specialist Dr. Kristen Ries and her partner (in both medicine and life) Maggie Snyder, who ran the only practice to care for HIV/AIDS patients in Utah.

In Salt Lake City, Utah, the religious monoculture severely complicated the AIDS crisis, where patients received no support from—or were cast into exile by—the political, religious, and medical c…