Documentaries about LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers
A list of feature films and short videos featuring the voices of LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers
Flee
Winner of the Cinema for Peace Award for The Most Valuable Documentary of the Year in 2022, Flee uses animation as the vehicle for Amin Nawabi (an alias) to tell the story of his long, arduous journey from Afghanistan to Denmark.
Out of Iraq: A Love Story
During the Iraq war in 2003, Nayyef Hrebid, a translator working for the US Marines, fell in love with Btoo Allami, a soldier in the Iraqi army. Targeted by militants for his work with the Americans, Hrebid moved to Seattle after being granted a Special Immigrant Visa. He hoped that Allami could join him, but many obstacles stood in the way. Allami fled to Lebanon after his family found out that he was gay. This documentary tells the story of Allami’s refugee application process and other challenges on the long road to the couple’s reunion.
The Right Girls
In this 2021 documentary, Valentyna, Joanne and Chantal - three transgender women from El Salvador and Honduras - travel through Mexico with the "Migrant Caravan" in the hopes of applying for asylum in the United States. Along the way, they encounter discrimination and danger and also joy and community.
Someone Like Me
This 2021 documentary follows the life of Drake, a young Ugandan gay refugee who resettled in Canada, and his relationship with his Canadian sponsors, a diverse group from Vancouver’s queer community who cannot agree on how to best support Drake’s resettlement.
Distributed by the National Film Board of Canada. Free streaming on the NFB website for viewers in Canada. https://www.nfb.ca/distribution/film/someone-like-me
Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America
This 2020 documentary shares the stories of 4 LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers who were resettled in San Francisco after fleeing homophobic violence:
Junior Mayema, a gender non-conforming gay law student from Democratic Republic of Congo who fled his homeland, received refugee status from the U.N and eventually resettled in the U.S.·
Cheyenne Adriano & Mari N’timansieme, a lesbian couple from Angola who fled to South Africa and then to the U.S., where they applied for asylum.
Subhi Nahas, a Syrian gay refugee who fled to Lebanon, then to Turkey. He became the first openly gay person to testify before the U.N. Security Council in 2015.
Welcome to Chechnya
Добро пожаловать в Чечню
This 2020 documentary follows the journeys of survivors of Chechnya’s anti-gay purges who flee to other parts of Russia with the help of Russian LGBTQ+ activists. Some were able to reach other European countries where they could apply for asylum. Others were captured and returned to Chechnya.
As brutal assaults and disappearances of LGBTQ people continue to sweep the region, Maxim Lupanov, a gay Russian who was detained illegally and tortured while working in Chechnya, came forward to tell his story despite threats to himself and his family.
Trigger warnings: torture, r*pe, murder
Short videos
4-minute BBC video containing interviews with 2 Ugandan asylum seekers in London.
In this 6-minute video released in 2013 by Immigration Equality, 3 of their clients – Alexander, a gay individual from Russia; Damaris, a lesbian from Nicaragua; and Victor, a transgender activist from Uganda - share their stories of fleeing danger in their homelands to seek political asylum in the United States.
An 18-minute TEDx talk by award-winning queer writer Danny Ramadan, who shares his refugee journey from Syria to Canada.
In this 3-minute video released in 2016 by CAP, Khayal, a gay asylum seeker from Azerbaijan, talks about enduring abusive detention conditions in the U.S., after presenting himself for asylum.