The Stroll is on Showmax
26 June 2025

The Stroll (2023)

When director Kristen Lovell moved to New York City in the 1990s and began to transition, she was fired from her job. With so few options to earn money to survive, Kristen, like many transgender women of colour during this era, began sex work in an area known as “The Stroll” in the Meatpacking District of lower Manhattan.

In The Stroll, Kristen and co-director Zackary Drucker trace the history of transgender sex workers there, from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Sharing her own firsthand experiences, Kristen reunites with her sisters to illustrate how trans women protected each other from the violence, harassment, policing, and gentrification that lead to a movement for transgender rights.

The Stroll won the 2024 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary and Best TV Documentary or Mini-Series from the International Documentary Association, as well as prizes at Sundance and Cinema Eye.

The HBO documentary has a 95% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety calls the “personal, archive-driven doc” “a wonder”,  “poignant” and “thrillingly revisionist” – “a powerful piece of trans history-making, a document that feels wounded, lived in, and yet joyfully alive.”


Share:

More like this

Catch all five episodes of the first season of Giants on Showmax now!

Giants S1

A compelling docuseries that takes you deep inside the lives of players from one of South Africa's most iconic football clubs, Orlando Pirates.

Made in South Africa
Catch all five episodes of Giants on Showmax now!

Uncover the soul of South African football with the boxset of Giants

You can now binge-watch all five episodes of Giants, which takes an unprecedented look behind the scenes of a legendary football club: Orlando Pirates

Made in South Africa
Flight 149: Hostage of War is on Showmax

Flight 149: Hostage of War (2025)

When Flight 149 landed in Kuwait, its passengers became pawns in Saddam's invasion, held as human shields. Decades later, survivors seek justice and the truth.

First
Tracking Thabo Bester on Showmax

Tracking Thabo Bester

A documentary about the convicted murderer and rapist who faked his own death. All episodes are on Showmax.

OriginalMade in South Africa
Telemarketers S1 on Showmax

5 reasons to pick up HBO’s Telemarketers

Scam caller alert! Five reasons to find out who’s really cashing in on a job that everyone hates, in the HBO documentary series The Telemarketers.

Telemarketers S1 on Showmax

Telemarketers

Two former telemarketers team up to investigate the dark side of American capitalism, uncovering widespread abuse of customer trust.

The Zulu brothers on The Wife now on Showmax

10 game-changing shows to celebrate Showmax turning 10

Stream these original titles to celebrate Showmax turning 10. A decade later, streaming service has since expanded to 44 African countries.

OriginalMade in South Africa
The ABC Killer on Showmax

Eye-opening homegrown documentaries to stream

These unmissable South African shows and movies deliver surprising insights on the country we're living in today.

OriginalMade in South Africa

Laugh Africa Comedy Festival S2 on Showmax

Youngins S3, coming soon to Showmax