While not a single one of the more than 400 films selected for this year's Berlin International Film Festival deals specifically with HIV and AIDS, around 60 films tell of LGBT icons, sex work and trans* people. Here is a small but fine selection:
Michael is almost like a model gay man: smart, handsome, happily married and a passionate LGBT activist who is particularly committed to lesbian and gay youth. But none of this can fill the emptiness he feels after a heart attack.
Atheist Michael searches for the meaning of life - and finds it in the Christian faith. What's more, he begins to condemn homosexuality as unchristian, declares himself heterosexual without further ado and becomes a preacher.
This transformation may sound implausible in short form, but it is the true story of Michael Glatze. His 180-degree turn from campaigner for LGBT rights to ultra-conservative priest caused quite a stir in the USA in 2007. His friends and fellow campaigners, not least his long-time partner, felt betrayed.
Church representatives, on the other hand, who regard homosexuality as a self-imposed aberration, felt vindicated in their stance. Justin Kelly has now made this story into a film.
Even though the case of Michael Glatze is little known in this country "I Am Michael" will also provoke discussion among us. Not least because Kelly doesn't take a clear stance, neither ridiculing Michael's spiritual quest nor leaving out the consequences that his transformation has for the people around him.
The drama is already considered one of the queer highlights in the programme of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival, which begins on 5 February. Among other things, this is due to the fairly straightforward production and the well-known cast: James Franco ("Milk", "Howl", "The Interview") in the title role has long been regarded as a new queer icon and is also extremely prolific.
The documentary feature film deserves at least as much attention "Stories of Our Lives". Jim Chuchu shows everyday episodes from Kenya in poetically clear and aesthetically convincing black and white images. The special thing about it: the five very different stories are about the lives of young lesbians and gays and were collected by the artist collective NEST during an interview trip through the country lasting several months.
They tell in many facets of the difficulties of building a homosexual identity in a deeply homophobic society. "Stories of Our Lives" also vividly conveys the fear of these young gays and lesbians of being exposed as homosexuals. Even their closest friends and family do not shy away from violence. In one of the episodes, this fear robs a young lesbian of sleep at night. Instead, she considers what essentials she and her partner should take with them when the mob gathers on their doorstep to rape and beat them to death.
But there are also touching moments, such as the tender rapprochement between two young women or the bed scene between a British (white) callboy and a (black) Kenyan suitor, who confront each other with their racial prejudices in an entertaining way during sex.
How natural and unproblematic the gay lifestyles in some Asian productions seem. In the Taiwanese drama "Thanatos, Drunk" by Tso-Chi Chang, two very different brothers have to come to terms with the death of their alcoholic mother. One of them, gay and professionally successful, has returned to Taipei from the USA after a broken relationship - and falls for a straight callboy of all people. The other is getting by with a casual job as a greengrocer.
Also in Josh Kim's Indonesian-Taiwanese production "How to Win at Checkers (Every Time)" centres on a pair of brothers. The gay Ek works in a hustler and tranny bar and has lived in a seemingly unshakeable intimate relationship with Jai since his school days. Even the class difference doesn't seem to affect their love - until the annual draft day arrives. Jai's rich father is able to buy his son out of military service.
In the USA, on the other hand, gays have completely different problems. In "Nasty Baby" the Spanish-born artist Freddy (played by screenwriter and director Sebastián Silva) is determined to fulfil his dream of having a child. He has already convinced his partner and his best friend Polly wants to have the baby for him. What starts out as a light-hearted comedy about the sensitivities of New York bohemians ends rather surprisingly in a sobering, bloody disaster.
In Étienne Faures "Bizarre" just a few kilometres away as the crow flies - in the hip, gentrification-threatened artists' district of Brooklyn - homeless Maurice finds a new home in an underground club. In the evenings, the neighbourhood scene celebrates its sexual diversity in avant-garde burlesque shows. During the day, Maurice works as a domestic help for his new-found family of choice and as a cuddle victim for the two lesbian club owners. He himself doesn't really know where he's actually heading and therefore plays with the feelings of a boy who has fallen in love with him.
Some documentary filmmakers devote themselves to completely different aspects of sexuality. Rosa von Praunheim recapitulates the life story of former pimp and serious criminal Andreas Marquardt in his semi-documentary drama with interview sequences and acting scenes (including Hanno Koffler and Katy Karrenbauer).
Physically abused by his father and sexually abused by his mother, Marquardt finds an environment in West Berlin's red-light district where he finds an extreme form of validation. He even tortures his partner psychologically and physically and exploits her as a prostitute. It is only through therapy during a long prison sentence that he manages a kind of inner purification.
The Czech Veronika Lisková portrays in "Daniel's World" Daniel, who is in his mid-twenties. The literature student and budding writer shows the courage to allow very intimate insights into his emotional life for this documentary, without making his face or voice unrecognisable. This is courageous because Daniel speaks openly about the fact that he loves little boys.
He knows that he will never be allowed to fulfil his desires and will have to make do with sexual fantasies. But he wants society not to despise and ostracise him because of his sexual identity - and therefore dares to go public. Lisková films him at a meeting with other young paedophiles, talking to his brother and at the Gay Pride demonstration in Prague.
For the viewer, this emphatically relaxed documentary, which lets the statements and images alone do the talking, is a challenge in every respect. All the more surprising that this film was co-produced by Czech television.
Christian Braad Thomsen devotes himself to a film and gay icon. At the centre of "Fassbinder - Loving without demanding"The film's first film, a very personal portrait of the filmmaker and playwright who died in 1982, features a previously unpublished interview conducted by Danish film historian Thomsen at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978.
Using his own memories, documentary material and current interviews with people from Fassbinder's inner circle (including Irm Hermann and Harry Baer), Thomsen develops an illuminating psychogram, also focussing on Fassbinder's relationships with men.
Will Thomsen receive the Teddy Award for the best documentary film at the festival? The nine-member expert jury of the world's most important queer film award will only announce the winners at the award ceremony on 13 February.
