American Masters, Janis Ian: Breaking Silence

PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):

Friday, June 12, at 9 PM
Saturday, June 13, at 2 AM

Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):

Saturday, June 20, at 9 PM

Discover the life of singer-songwriter Janis Ian and how she rose as a folk icon and gay rights advocate. She broke ground with “Society’s Child” (1966), a bold take on interracial love, and “At Seventeen” (1975), a searing anthem about bullying.

Stream AMERICAN MASTERS, JANIS IAN: BREAKING SILENCE.

American Experience, Stonewall Uprising

Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):

Monday, June 8, at 8 PM

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. That night the street erupted into violent protests and street demonstrations that lasted for the next three days. The Stonewall riots marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.

Stream AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, STONEWALL UPRISING.

American Masters, Keith Haring: Street Art Boy

Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):

Saturday, June 13, at 10 PM

Explore the definitive story of international art sensation Keith Haring who blazed a trail through the art scene of ‘80s New York and revolutionized the worlds of pop culture and fine art. The film features previously unheard interviews with Haring.

Stream AMERICAN MASTERS, KEITH HARING: STREET ART BOY.

Independent Lens, Assembly

PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):

Sunday, June 28, at 11 PM

Fusion (WNEO 45.2/ WEAO 49.2):

Monday, June 22, at 10 PM

Artist Rashaad Newsome prepares to showcase ‘Assembly,’ a groundbreaking exhibit at New York’s Park Avenue Armory. By blending visual art, performance, and artificial intelligence, the project centers the global evolution of vogue while honoring Black and queer resistance and calling for a more liberated future.

Stream INDEPENDENT LENS.

American Masters, Little Richard: The King and Queen of Rock and Roll

Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):

Friday, June 26, at 8 PM

Little Richard is a legend from the golden era of rock. Richard is the cultural lightning rod who influenced some of rock music’s most distinguished icons. Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Prince and Bruce Springsteen discuss Richard's unquestionable role in rock history. As Richard boastfully claims, “I am the king and queen of rock ‘n’ roll!”

Stream AMERICAN MASTERS, LITTLE RICHARD: THE KING AND QUEEN OF ROCK AND ROLL.

Independent Lens, Breaking the News

Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):

Monday, June 29, at 10 PM

Who decides which stories get told? A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo, banding together to launch The 19th*, a digital news startup aiming to combat misinformation. A story of an America in flux, and the voices often left out of the narrative, the documentary Breaking the News shows change doesn’t come easy.

Stream INDEPENDENT LENS, BREAKING THE NEWS.

Stream the following LGBTQ+ Pride Programming online.

Aging Matters, Aging with Pride

LGBTQIA+ older adults face unique social, economic and health challenges. Organizations and individuals are working to address loneliness and access to competent, affirming healthcare and assisted living communities. We shine a light on what many in the Stonewall Generation have had to endure and fight for in the hopes of effecting positive community change in the ongoing pursuit of equality.

Stream AGING MATTERS, AGING WITH PRIDE.

American Experience, Casa Susanna

In the 1950s and ’60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at a house in the Catskills region of New York. Known as Casa Susanna, the house provided a safe place to express their true selves.

Stream AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, CASA SUSANNA.

American Experience, The War on Disco

The War on Disco explores the culture war that erupted over the rise of Disco music. The hostility came to a head on July 12, 1979, when a riot led by rock fans broke out at “Disco Demolition Night” during a baseball game in Chicago.

Stream AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, THE WAR ON DISCO.

American Masters, James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket

The life, works and beliefs of the late writer and civil rights activist are recounted: what it is to be born black, impoverished, gifted, and gay in a world that has yet to understand that “all men are brothers.” James Baldwin tells his own story in this emotional portrait.

Stream AMERICAN MASTERS, JAMES BALDWIN: THE PRICE OF THE TICKET.

American Masters, Love, Jamie

Jamie Diaz is a 66-year-old Mexican-American trans woman and self-taught artist who has spent nearly 30 years in a men’s prison in Texas. See how her enduring friendship with Gabriel Joffe, a volunteer who happened upon one of her works, has helped Jamie’s art reach far beyond the prison walls.

Stream AMERICAN MASTERS, LOVE, JAMIE.

Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol

In the animated documentary DEAR IKE: LOST LETTERS TO A TEEN IDOL, filmmaker Dion Labriola recounts his childhood quest to contact his teen idol, Ike Eisenmann. The goal: ask Ike to star in an animated science-fiction epic he was developing. After an exhaustive string of failed attempts, a magical turn of events points Dion directly toward his goal in the most unexpected of ways — 40 years later.

Stream DEAR IKE: LOST LETTERS TO A TEEN IDOL.

Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution 

This landmark three-part series examines the rise — and fall — of disco and celebrates its continuing musical and cultural legacy. Told by the original musicians, promoters and innovators — and modern-day musical icons — this is the definitive story of the people who forged a new form of music and dance and pioneered a social movement.

Stream DISCO: SOUNDTRACK OF A REVOLUTION.

Fanny: The Right to Rock

Co-founded by Filipina American and queer teenagers, Fanny is the first all women band to release an album with a major record label (Warner/Reprise, 1970). Revered by David Bowie, meet the most groundbreaking rock group you've never heard of... yet.

Stream FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK.

For the Love of Friends

In 1986, to awaken America to the AIDS crisis and to honor the friends he lost, actor/playwright Brent Nicholson Earle runs the perimeter of the United States. In The American Run for the End of AIDS, he runs a marathon a day for 20 months, with his mother and a Winnebago driving behind him. In 2020, he stars in a play about his life. Though the run finishes, Earle’s fight never stops.

Stream FOR THE LOVE OF FRIENDS.

Frontline, Growing Up Trans

Just a generation ago, it was adults, not kids, who changed genders. But today, many children are transitioning, too — with new medical options, and at younger and younger ages. FRONTLINE takes viewers on an intimate and eye-opening journey inside the struggles and choices facing transgender kids and their families.

Stream FRONTLINE, GROWING UP TRANS.

Independent Lens, Mama Bears

They call one another “mama bears” because of the ferocity with which they fight for their children’s rights. Although they grew up as fundamentalist, evangelical Christians praying for the souls of LGBTQ+ people, these mothers are now willing to risk losing friends, family, and faith communities to champion their kids — even if it challenges their belief systems and rips apart their worlds.

Stream INDEPENDENT LENS, MAMA BEARS.

Independent Lens, Our League

Following an extended hiatus, Michelle Guzowski takes a risk by returning to her favorite local bowling alley in the Ohio Rust Belt, after coming out to fellow bowlers as a trans woman. While the alley's new owners made it seem a welcoming space, the changes are hard for old-school bowlers.

Stream INDEPENDENT LENS, OUR LEAGUE.

Independent Lens, When I’m Her

WHEN I’M HER follows the double life of a dancer who inhabits an alter ego. A luminary figure at American Ballet Theatre in New York, Michael Cusumano had a stellar career ahead of him, but after past trauma prevented him from realizing his artistic and professional potential, he finds refuge and liberation by becoming Russian ballet instructor Madame Olga, the mentor he never had for himself.

Stream INDEPENDENT LENS, WHEN I’M HER.

POV, Between Goodbyes

Okgyun never fit the stereotype of international adoption; she was married when her fourth child, Mieke, was adopted to the Netherlands. Now years into a tumultuous reunion, Mieke visits her family in Seoul. Uncovering backstories from both a birth family and their daughter, Between Goodbyes challenges conventional narratives about adoption, reunion, and queer kinship.

Stream POV, BETWEEN GOODBYES.

POV, Break the Game

After coming out as a trans woman, world-record-holding gamer, Narcissa Wright loses her massive fanbase. To win them back, she attempts to set a new record in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, live-streaming every minute of her quest. Break the Game is a moving exploration of gamer culture, the realities of online harassment, and the mental health implications of living a digital life.

Stream POV, BREAK THE GAME.

POV, A Mother Apart

In a poignant story of healing and forgiveness, Jamaican-American poet and LGBTQ+ activist Staceyann Chin explores how to raise a child after being abandoned by her own mother. Known for her work in Def Poetry Slam and shows like MotherStruck!, Chin embarks on a journey across Brooklyn, Montreal, Cologne, and Jamaica to find her mother, ultimately creating a new sense of home with her daughter.

Stream POV, A MOTHER APART.

POV, Uýra – The Rising Forest

While traveling through the Amazon, Uýra Sodoma shares ancestral knowledge with Indigenous youth to promote the significance of identity and place, threatened by Brazil's oppressive political regime. Through dance, poetry, and stunning characterization, UÝRA boldly confronts historical racism, transphobia, and environmental destruction, while emphasizing the interdependence of humans and the environment.

Stream POV, UÝRA – THE RISING FOREST.

POV, Who I Am Not

Sharon-Rose Khumalo, a South African beauty queen, faces an identity crisis after discovering she's intersex. Her path crosses with Dimakatso Sebidi, a masculine-presenting intersex activist, as they both navigate a journey marked by society’s stigma and inner struggles. Intertwining raw reality with poetic beauty, WHO I AM NOT captures the heart-wrenching fight for acceptance in a binary world.

Stream POV, WHO I AM NOT.

POV Shorts, Jardines

JARDINES is an intimate portrait of the experiences and trajectories unique to displaced queer folks as they flee violence and persecution in their home countries. The film introduces us to people from all over the world as they contemplate the uncertainty of a future in the United States at a time when asylum legislation and LGBTQ+ rights are under legal duress.

Stream POV SHORTS, JARDINES.

Prideland

Follow queer actor Dyllón Burnside on a journey across the South to meet diverse members of the LGBTQ+ community. From a lesbian rodeo champ in Texas to an African American mayor ally in Alabama, Burnside discovers how LGBTQ+ Americans are finding ways to live authentically and with pride in the modern South.

Stream PRIDELAND.