Middle Eastern and North African cinema
In the 2000s, MENA cinema grew a lot as some directors started discussing certain taboo topics such as homosexuality and transsexuality. A film released in the year 2000, Room to rent (Khaled al-Haggar), is about an Egyptian man called Ali who is studying in London. He becomes friends with Mark, a gay photographer. This creates a fresh perspective on sexuality and socially prescribed sexual roles. The 2002 film Une minute de Soleil en moins, directed by Nabil Ayouch. It depicts a police inspector who starts a friendship with a transvestite. These are quite well-known examples, but other films that critique sexual repression of queer people more obviously did not reach such a wide audience. Examples are the Lebanese How much I love you by Akram Zaatari and Palestinian Tawfik Abu Wad's Diary of a Male Whore.