Jean Genet's only film (later disowned by Genet), Un chant d'amour (1950) was banned from public exhibition in France upon its initial release, and has won only sporadic screenings since, often in censored form. It is semi-pornographic, featuring full-frontal male nudes playing with their hard-ons, and fetishistic close-ups of sweaty feet, armpits and thighs. Tough watching it is but its influence can be found in most of the more stylised examples of gay culture everywhere, from perfume adverts find out more...

The police are after Jack Barrett, he has stolen £2,300 from the building construction firm that employs him as a wages clerk in an attempt to pay off his blackmailers. While on the run Jack tries desperately to get in touch with Melville Farr (Dirk Bogarde), a prosperous young barrister, but he is caught before they can meet. In his panic and despair Jack commits suicide while in custody, but Farr is now hopelessly involved and realizing the exposure of his earlier life is inevitable he decid find out more...

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko, played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine, who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern post-war Ginza district. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. A profoundly moving masterpiece. find out more...