9. The complete works of Bruce LaBruce (1991 to 2004)

What? — No list of groundbreaking queer films would be complete without mentioning Canada's underground, queercore bad boy Bruce LaBruce. It's the sum of his cinematic efforts, rather than one work in particular, that warrants him a slot in the top 10.

His films, albeit sexually explicit and intentionally provocative, never simply include gratuitous shots for the sake of arousing viewers. His twisted use of camp, his sprinkling of a digestible dose of sexual politics over his X-rated storylines (his entries are the closest thing you'll find to hardcore porn on this list) and absurd narratives about seedy characters give him the needed edge to receive the nod for Most Uncompromisingly Queer Director Since Warhol.

For the past 15 years, this loose cannon has been shaking up the uniformly stale and often artistically impaired queer film genre at LGBT festivals around the globe with his films' intentionally laughable acting, sexually exploitative scenarios and LaBruce's penchant for grainy, low-budget, tacky aesthetics.

His latest facetious effort in politico-porn, The Raspberry Reich (2004), was widely hailed as his most accomplished work yet. The title refers to the name of a left-wing brigade of German terrorists intent on following in the footsteps of the Baader-Meinhof Gang (Red Army Faction) by kidnapping the son of a rich industrialist and setting off a sexual revolution. For Gudrun, propagandistic female leader to the group of neophyte men, sex has the potential to be a revolutionary act if carried out properly — and so she compels the troops to "join the homosexual intifada!"

Apart from the satirical, overtly political slogans like "The revolution is my boyfriend!" that scroll over visuals of graphic sex, you'll find gun fellatio, BJs in a public park and an erotically charged kidnapping. This is a fine send-up of "terrorist chic" — wannabe terrorists who are completely clueless as to the moral implications of their actions.

Here are a few other LaBruce career highlights thus far:

No Skin off My Ass (1991): Being a fag is a definite plus, according to the film's tagline. A flamboyant hairdresser (played to outrageous excess by LaBruce) vies for a seemingly unattainable, shy skinhead who lounges in the neighbourhood park. LaBruce's debut feature was screened at many festivals and quickly achieved cult status. Kurt Cobain famously declared it his favourite film.

Hustler White (1996): A German writer (again, LaBruce) is drawn to a knockout hustler after seeing him prance around Santa Monica Boulevard. And so begins a sexually charged cat-and-mouse game, with the nerdish cat having a hard time enticing the dismissive mouse — none other than Tony Ward, Madonna's boy toy from the "Justify My Love" music video. With this film, LaBruce adds kinky necrophilia, sadism and an explicit amputee sex scene to his lengthy list of controversies.

Skin Gang (1999): LaBruce's (fictional) fetishistic insertion in the bedrooms of a group of Nazi skinheads exposes their hypocritical nature, precisely the incompatibility of their gay-bashings with their own "rituals" of male bonding. Namely, they regularly screw the bejesus out of each other, but deny any latent same-sex attraction or romantic interest.

Skin Gang also prompts the audience to question whether they can be turned on by watching violent homophobic skinheads copulate, rape and get sodomized, and if so, what that says about the complexity of our sexual instincts. It sounds almost too preachy articulated in such a way, but trust me, Skin contains the necessary elements to ignite controversy among audiences unable to interpret raw images: brutality, rape, hardcore porn, Neo Nazis and racial objectification.

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