Directed by Elegance Bratton • 2019 • United States
Starring Krystal Dixon, DeSean Irby, Jusheem Thorne
Elegance Bratton’s powerfully empathetic documentary is an immersion into the lives of the homeless queer and transgender youth who have forged a community of their own on downtown Manhattan’s Christopher Street Pier. Under relentless attack from police, prejudice, and the forces of gentrification, these resilient young people rely on one another in order to survive—but their everyday existence remains fraught with precarity. Following several years in the lives of its characters, PIER KIDS captures moments of intimacy, danger, joy, struggle, and solidarity among those who have been left behind in the fight for LGBTQ equality.
Up Next in Documentaries
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The Heartland
Directed by Marquise Mays • 2021 • United States
Starring Stephanie Woodson, Breanna Taylor, Bria SmithHighlighting both the joys and trials of growing up Black in the Midwest, three young Milwaukee residents confront and reconcile the unrequited love between them and their city. Through outspo...
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The Exiles
Directed by Kent MacKenzie • 1961 • United States
Starring Yvonne Williams, Homer Nish, Tom ReynoldsA major work of American independent cinema, Kent Mackenzie’s revelatory fiction-documentary hybrid chronicles a night in the life of a group of twentysomething Native Americans who were relocate...
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Porto of My Childhood
Directed by Manoel de Oliveira • 2001 • France, Portugal
Starring Jorge Trêpa, Ricardo Trêpa, Maria de MedeirosWith the freedom and rigor that were his trademarks, Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira returned to Porto, the city where he had been born ninety-three years before, for this sublime...
