Neither sensational nor sentimental, the remarkable Southern Comfort is a documentary about 52-year-old female-to-male transsexual Robert Eads who, dying of cervical and ovarian cancer, is neglected by doctors uncomfortable with treating him. “A hillbilly and proud of it,” Robert cuts a striking figure in his home in the Georgia black hills, where he falls deeply in love with male-to-female transsexual Lola Cola. Director Kate Davis functioned as a one-person crew in order to intimately capture this rare blend of humor, romance, and tragedy. Even though Southern Comfort (the title refers to a support group peopled by Eads and his transgender friends) is as much about generosity, courage, and tolerance as it is about a potentially discomfitting subject, the film sent shock waves through the Sundance Film Festival where it won the award for Best Documentary Film. As Eads tries to find help for his condition, his resolute kindness, dignity and compassion in the face of adversity help him build a community of friends and gives Southern Comfort its punch.

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A former teacher at the School of the MFA, Barbara Hammer is peerless in her career that spans over three decades as an experimental filmmaker focusing on the lesbian world. In a compelling, humorous, and empowering contribution to lesbian history, her most recent effort recontextualizes images that portray lesbian behavior as illicit, mannish, and perverse. By defying the intended meanings of these popular lesbian images taken from narrative, medical, education and adult entertainment films dating back to the nineteenth century, History Lessons reclaims and rewrites lesbian history without shame. Wonderfully playful, History Lessons is an irreverent reconstruction, a filmic lesbian history that dates back to the very dawn of cinema itself.

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Life is an endless cycle of cooking, laundry, and dishwashing for New Jersey housewife Julie Johnson (Lili Taylor). But Julie’s been nurturing a secret passion: a flair for scientific theory. Taking a huge step, Julie enrolls in a night class at a local high school—a decision that her best friend Claire (Courtney Love) supports. When Julie’s domineering husband strongly disapproves, Julie finally gets up the nerve to throw him out. Claire moves in while Julie and, together with Julie’s children, they form an unconventional but loving family—but lingering issues threaten to tear them apart. A story about self-discovery and shaky potential, Julie Johnson explores one woman’s desire to break free of other people’s expectations and the bravery required to pursue her dreams.

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