The documentary series “Indie Sex,” premiering at midnight Aug. 1-4 on IFC and repeating throughout the month, showcases what’s queer — in all senses of the word — about depictions of sexuality in cinema. Lesbian filmmaker Lesli Klainberg, working with documentarian Lisa Ades, presents the various ways that sex, both straight and gay, has been portrayed in American and international cinema.

JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL, "SHORTBUS," "HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH"

The four-part television series features “Censored” films, “Taboos,” “Teens” and “Extremes.” The programs all herald the importance of independent films in particular — it is the Independent Film Channel, after all — but even so, the films miss the opportunity to explore some of the more important independent films and filmmakers who explore sexuality, such as Gregg Araki, Everett Lewis and Pedro Almodovar.

What will appeal to queer viewers is the fact that many of the talking heads are out actors, filmmakers and critics, and clips from classic gay and lesbian features unspool throughout the various programs. That said, while it is interesting to have folks like Lee Daniels and John Cameron Mitchell discussing how they approach sex in their work for the screen, it seems strange to have recording artists Billy Porter and Ari Gold as interviewees.

“Censored,” the opening entry in the series, is easily the weakest of the four documentaries. This film traces the way Hollywood rates movies starting from the days before the Production Code (aka Hays Code) — which restricted screen content from 1934-67— to the envelope-pushing NC-17 films that are released today. Yet while landmark films such as “Midnight Cowboy,” “Henry and June” and “Showgirls” are mentioned, what is said is not particularly new or insightful. Most viewers already are familiar with these queer-themed, explicitly sexual and controversial films. “Midnight Cowboy” won the Oscar for Best Picture. “Henry and June” was the first film to be rated NC-17 and “Showgirls” was a box-office flop. What is important is why these films were made, and how they are received by critics and audiences.

HEATHER MATARAZZO, "PRINCESS DIARIES," "WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE"

The “Taboos” documentary showcases provocative films that address issues of sexual power, such as Steven Soderbergh’s “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” and David Cronenberg’s “Crash,” as well as queer films such as “The Opposite of Sex” and “Chuck and Buck” to show how sex can be presented on screen as uncomfortable and/or unerotic. As John Waters admits, the sex scenes in all his films are deliberately “hideous and ridiculous.” Waters says the most outrageous thing he could ever film would be a man and a woman in the missionary position.

The “Teens” program looks at the history of how kids grappled with sexuality as depicted in cinema from the 1950s to the present. The show chronicles the waves of “boundary pushing” — particularly in the early 1980s with films such as “Little Darlings,” “The Blue Lagoon” and “Porky’s.” Significantly, there was, the filmmakers indicate, a swing away from those horny teenager/losing-virginity movies once AIDS hit public consciousness. The impact of how sex was portrayed shifted dramatically at this time and John Hughes’ teen films along with “safe” period romances like “Dirty Dancing” became the norm. Out actresses Heather Matarazzo and Guinevere Turner gush about the excitement of seeing teen sex on screen in films as diverse as “Dirty Dancing” and the raunchier “Porky’s.”

Significantly, it would be almost a decade before films such as Larry Clark’s controversial “Kids” appeared, featuring an HIV-positive young man (Leo Fitzpatrick) who deflowers virgins.

There is also considerable talk in the “Teens” program about the representation of gay and lesbian youth, with special focus on out filmmakers. Writer Todd Stephens is interviewed about his coming-out/coming-of-age film “Edge of Seventeen” (directed by David Moreton) and Jamie Babbit’s lesbian-identity crisis/coming-out comedy “But I’m a Cheerleader” is featured in this segment. Stephens adamantly talks about wanting to show gay teenage sex as “hot and awkward” and not “glossed over.” Likewise, Babbit wishes there had been films like “Cheerleader” when she was a teenager.

The last entry in the series, “Extremes,” addresses how kinks and fetishes are portrayed in films such as Waters’ “A Dirty Shame” and the S&M drama “Secretary” among others. While this episode retreads ground covered in the “Censored” program — there is another look at the groundbreaking films “Last Tango in Paris” and “Shortbus” — it also looks at edgier, foreign films such as Catherine Brelliant’s “Anatomy of Hell,” which features a gay man watching a woman’s nude body; Gaspar Noe’s shocking rape scene in “Irreversible” and Michael Winterbottom’s “9 Songs,” which features un-simulated sex acts. This entry also does a good job handling the risqué/sensitive subjects of pedophilia, represented by “Lolita,” and necrophilia as depicted in “Kissed” as well as showing how BDSM is played for laughs in “Exit to Eden” or as bad drama in “9 1⁄2 Weeks.” But again, the filmmakers miss the opportunity to discuss important independent films like “L.I.E.,” which depicted queer pedophilia, or “Beyond Vanilla,” a documentary about fetishes.

Curiously, many of the films and issues presented in these documentaries were handled much more effectively in Kirby Dick’s documentary, “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” and yet the “Indie Sex” film series is worthwhile for reminding viewers about the edgy films that they should seek out and see in their entirety.