Florent: Queen of the Meat Market

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is bringing its 23rd set of free-thinking LGBT films to the always-impressive Oriental Theatre and UWM’s Union Theatre Oct. 21-24. Many of the festival’s historically relevant films have been released within the past couple of years, including Florent: Queen of the Meat Market (2010), a documentary that brings to life the flurry of civil rights activism and flamboyant antics surrounding Florent, New York’s famous diner/community center. If you’re in the mood for another true story, check out the UK’s The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (2010), a BBC-produced film that exposes the sexual self-expression of a 19th Century lesbian woman. Released in 1958 and currently out of circulation, the oldest one of the bunch is Mädchen in Uniform, a story of forbidden love in an all-girls school. Other notable titles include Eyes Wide Open (2009), Le Tigre: On Tour (2010), I Killed My Mother (2009), and New Zealand’s charming Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (2009).