This week, there are a few notable new movies on streaming services to celebrate the end of Pride Month and to gear up for some of the new releases still to come this summer.
On Max, a trio of HBO documentary releases offer a variety of ways to learn the history of the LGBTQIA+ experience in America. First up, “The Stroll,” which premiered on June 21 on Max, takes a look at the lives of the transgender sex workers in New York City’s Meatpacking District pre-gentrification. The documentary is co-directed by Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker, who are both trans women. Lovell is a previous subject of a documentary on the same topic, while Drucker is a filmmaker who directed the docuseries “The Lady and the Dale” and the recent Hulu documentary “Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl.” This insider perspective brings a sensitivity and intimacy to the interviews that make for an entirely unique point of view on the depiction of these lives. Stream “The Stroll” now on Max.
On Wednesday tune into Max for the raucous concert film “Taylor Mac’s 24 Decade History of Popular Music,” directed by filmmaking duo Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (“The Celluloid Closet,” “The Times of Harvey Milk,” “Linda Rondstadt: The Sound of My Voice”). The film follows the 24-hour concert performed by theater artist and musician Taylor Mac that travels through American history through song from 1776 to 2016. Mac performed the concert only once in 2016, singing 246 songs and only stopping for short breaks and costume changes. Epstein and Friedman’s film captures the concert along with interviews with Mac and collaborators on the show.
