Best movies like Beyond Conversion

A reflective look at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco and how individuals rose to the occasion during the first years of the crisis.

Trailblazing artists, activists, and everyday people from across the spectrum of gender and sexuality defy social norms and dare to live unconventional lives in this kaleidoscopic view of LGBTQ+ culture in contemporary Japan.

Megan is an all-American girl. A cheerleader. She has a boyfriend. But Megan doesn't like kissing her boyfriend very much. And she's pretty touchy with her cheerleader friends. Her conservative parents worry that she must be a lesbian and send her off to "sexual redirection" school, where she must, with other lesbians and gays learn how to be straight.

In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife's life is upended by a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in society.

Pennsylvania, 1993. After getting caught with another girl, teenager Cameron Post is sent to a conversion therapy center run by the strict Dr. Lydia Marsh and her brother, Reverend Rick, whose treatment consists in repenting for feeling “same sex attraction.” Cameron befriends fellow sinners Jane and Adam, thus creating a new family to deal with the surrounding intolerance.

After his lover rejects him, a young man in early 20th century England, trapped by the oppressiveness of Edwardian society, tries to come to terms with and accept his sexuality.

Christian, a hunky, 20-something, West Hollywood party boy gets more than he bargains for when he tries to seduce 19-year-old Elder Aaron Davis, a sexually confused Mormon missionary who moves into his apartment complex.

What makes a voice “gay”? A breakup with his boyfriend sets journalist David Thorpe on a quest to unravel a linguistic mystery.

When Emma’s abusive stepfather finds out that she’s pregnant and her brother Jackson is gay, he sends them to Abraham House, a religious retreat for young adults to correct their sinning ways. Soon, they start to suspect that Abraham House has a more sinister way of cleansing their souls than they could have ever imagined.

When hordes of gays and lesbians come out "of the closet" in the fictional town of Azalea Springs, Texas, intolerant residents go into a panic about the water supply.

Mary is a good Christian girl who goes to a good Christian high school where she has good Christian friends and a perfect Christian boyfriend. Her life seems perfect, until the day that she finds out that her boyfriend may be gay — and that she’s pregnant.

Upon hitting puberty, a high school boy realizes that he is homosexual and faces prejudice from his homophobic parents and friends.

Fed up with the materialism of Christmas, Santa runs away to New Zealand for a summer holiday. When two Kiwi kids figure out who he is, they have to find a way to get him back to the North Pole in time for Christmas.

An exploration of the intersection between religion and homosexuality in the U.S. and how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community.

After a long stint in gay conversion therapy, James, a young piano prodigy, returns home to his family farm and his emotionally-distant father, Richard. After Richard pressures James to give up his music career and take over the farm, James agrees as a way to make up for his past. Soon, however, James finds himself face-to-face with a former lover, Charlie, who wants to help him turn away from his new beliefs and family expectations and follow his dreams of studying music.

New Zealand independent drama following a young Māori man who moves to the country to rebuild his life after facing prejudices around his sexual orientation. He takes on a job on a farm where he grows attached to the farmer’s son. But when their relationship grows, the situation steers into darker territories…

A sex and drug addicted young man who is forced into a Christian-run ministry in an attempt to cure him of his "gay affliction", where instead he is faced with the truth in his heart and spirit.

A portrait of various gay Orthodox Jews who struggle to reconcile their faith and their sexual orientation.

After the mysterious demise of a client, private detective Donald Strachey infiltrates a therapy group for gay people who want to become straight. He takes on the group's founder to prove that his client's death was not a suicide.

Jared, the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, is outed to his parents at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith.

Riko lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere (Waikato, New Zealand). After aliens crash land near his house, an unlikely relationship develops. They are pursued by a fame-hungry blogger and alientologist who has tracked their movements and plans to reveal all to the world.

A comedy about a conservative Southern mom who discovers that her only son is gay. Determined that he won’t go through life alone and miserable, she sets out to find him the perfect husband!

Campers at an LGBTQ+ conversion camp endure unsettling psychological techniques while the campsite is stalked by a mysterious killer.

After winning over the staff and students of Milford High School, chemistry teacher Richard Martinez aka Bianca Del Rio sent her nemesis Vice Principal Deborah “Debbie” Ward to jail in a flawlessly executed plan. When Debbie is released from jail, she conjures up a scheme to do away with Bianca Del Rio once and for all, by luring her on a dangerous journey to Russia to accept a teaching award and cash prize.

New Zealand's first slasher movie! The Hash House Harriers ("a drinking club with a running problem") encounter a killer Bee Keeper in a crazy Kiwi horror-comedy that is part Animal House and part 80's slasher movie.

From the land of early Peter Jackson comes another Braindead movie in bad taste. It’s the third day of shooting the low budget horror ‘Tonight They Come’ on location in the wilds of New Zealand. Director SMP is already beside himself having to work with a self-obsessed leading man and a bimbo actress when into his line of fire comes a new runner, wannabe screenwriter Wesley Pennington. Clearly an accident-prone nerd, Wesley nevertheless tries his best to fit in with the crazed cast and demented crew while falling head over heels for Susan, the set caterer. But something nasty has entered the local water supply and suddenly the zombie extras start acting like genuine members of the living dead, gore stunts looks even more authentic and actual severed limbs fly. Reel life turns real as Wesley attempts to save the day while ensuring his latest script will get made.

This autobiographical story about a love affair between two men was filmed on location in inner-city Auckland. Richard an astronomy-obsessed worrier spends his time fantasising about outerspace and the cosmos, an activity which antagonises friends and family. Then one day he meets Johnny, a handsome Italian man, with an enormous appetite for life, whose idea of a holiday involves breaking into the nearest small holiday home. He offers him love and an escape from the monotony of work. This short New Zealand film is a joyous celebration of the love between two eccentrics. It is also a refreshingly matter-of-fact and comic treatment of a romance between two men who both have their sights aimed firmly amongst the stars. Released on the compiliations: Boys on Film Volume 3 (1994)

Behind the scenes look at the cult comedy series about Kiwi folk musicians Bret and Jemaine trying to make it big in their adopted home of New York. It follows the duo in the United States before and after the release of the first series, as they speak candidly about the road to fame, and we meet the other personalities, cast and crew that helped make their show a smash hit in America, NZ and the rest of the world. As Bret McKenzie's long-term partner, director Hannah Clarke was in a unique position to gain access to the Conchords at their most relaxed, as well as their most frantic and exhausted, and was able to get an up-close-and-personal glimpse into this experience. Through her insider's eye we are granted an intimate look into the lives of this great comedy act and discover how they won the hearts of America.

Dr Jessen, unsurprisingly, emerged from this investigation as gay as he went in Let me ask you this. Do you own a pair of light tan shoes? Colourful, well-pressed check shirts? Do you possess any classical CDs? Do you – there's no easy way to say this – enjoy listening to Adele? Then, my friend, you are a gay man and, as part of your $3,000 per month de-gaying, these indicators of your deviant lifestyle will be taken from you and – quite possibly – burned on a ceremonial pyre.

Dashing down to the local dairy has long been a Kiwi institution. This documentary examines the evolution of the dairy and the impact it has had on migrants looking to find their place in New Zealand.

After skipping town a decade ago, transgender activist Caz Davis returns to the remote, politically divided dairy community of Rurangi, hoping to reconnect with his estranged father, who hasn't heard from him since before Caz transitioned.

Eight Pan-Asian female filmmakers’ powerful anthology film illuminates the immigrant experience in Aotearoa New Zealand through the lives of eight Asian women connected by the house they call home.

A reunion of family and friends becomes an unforgettable vacation when two teenage boys discover their secret feelings toward one another. The relationship is eventually exposed to their families - leading to denial and a questioning of self-worth from each of the boys. The exposed relationship brings to light that one of the boys was previously institutionalized for his homosexuality by his older brother.

The story of two itinerant con men, the Wild Man and the Colonel, who operate on the West Coast gold mining towns of the New Zealand South Island during the latter part of the last century.

In the 1970s, five men struggling with being gay in their Evangelical church started a bible study to help each other leave the "homosexual lifestyle." They quickly received over 25,000 letters from people asking for help and formalized as Exodus International, the largest and most controversial conversion therapy organization in the world. But leaders struggled with a secret: their own “same-sex attractions” never went away. After years as Christian superstars in the religious right, many of these men and women have come out as LGBTQ, disavowing the very movement they helped start. Focusing on the dramatic journeys of former conversion therapy leaders, current members, and a survivor, PRAY AWAY chronicles the “ex gay" movement’s rise to power, persistent influence, and the profound harm it causes.