A friend asked me to suggest some of the best films from queer cinema for Pride Month. This list is not exhaustive, but it includes classic films that deal with LGBT themes, gender-bending, non-hetero sexualities, generally queer-related topics, or that have significant LGBT characters. The majority of these stem from the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s. I left out movies that are influential “camp” but not explicitly queer just because that would be too long a list. The ones in bold are personal favorites. Currently, this list has about 80 films, with about 20 of them I would consider a fave. What prime examples from queer cinema am I missing? Let me know so I can add them to the list.
1932 – Blood of a Poet by Jean Cocteau
1950 – A Song of Love by Jean Genet
1953 – Glen or Glenda by Ed Wood
1959 – Some Like It Hot by Billy Wilder
1961 – Victim by Basil Dearden
1963 – Scorpio Rising by Kennth Anger
1965 – My Hustler by Andy Warhol
1966 – Persona by Ingmar Bergman
1970 – Myra Breckinridge by Michael Sarne
1972 – Pink Flamingos by John Waters
1972 – Elevator Girls in Bondage by Michael Kalman
1972 – The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1971 – Women in Revolt by Paul Morrissey
1972 – Cabaret by Jay Allen
1974 – Je, Tu, Il, Elle by Chantal Akerman
1975 – Dog Day Afternoon by Sidney Lumet
1975 – Thundercrack by Curt McDowell
1975 – Rocky Horror Picture Show by Jim Sharman
1978 – Jubilee by Derek Jarman
1978 – In a Year of Thirteen Moons by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1978 – La Cage aux Folles by Édouard Molinaro
1981 – Polyester by John Waters
1982 – The World According to Garp by George Roy Hill
1982 – Tootsie by Sydney Pollack
1983 – City of Lost Souls by Rosa Von Praunheim
1985 – Desert Hearts by Donna Deitch
1985 – Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters by Paul Schrader
1985 – My Beautiful Laundrette by Stephen Frears
1990 – Paris Is Burning by Jennie Livingston
1991 – My Own Private Idaho by Gus Van Sant
1991 – Poison by Todd Haynes
1992 – Orlando by Sally Potter
1992 – The Crying Game by Neil Jordan
1992 – The Living End by Gregg Araki
1994 – Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by Clint Eastwood
1994 – The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert by Stephan Elliott
1995 – Ghost in the Shell by Mamoru Oshii
1995 – The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love by Maria Maggenti
1995 – To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar by Beeban Kidron
1996 – Bound by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
1996 – Chocolate Babies by Stephen Winter
1996 – I Shot Andy Warhol by Mary Harron
1996 – The Birdcage by Mike Nichols
1996 – The Watermelon Woman by Cheryl Dunye
1997 – Chasing Amy by Kevin Smith
1997 – Ma Vie en Rose by Alain Berliner
1997 – Happy Together by Wong Kar-Wai
1998 – Edge of Seventeen by David Moreton
1998 – Fucking Åmål by Lukas Moodysson
1998 – High Art by Lisa Cholodenko
1998 – Velvet Goldmine by Todd Haynes
1998 – Pecker by John Waters
1999 – All About My Mother by Pedro Almodóvar
1999 – Beau Travail by Claire Denis
1999 – The Matrix by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
1999 – Being John Malkovich by Spike Jonze
1999 – Boys Don’t Cry by Kimberly Peirce
1999 – But I’m a Cheerleader by Jamie Babbit
2001 – Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John Cameron
2001 – Kissing Jessica Stein by Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen
2001 – Mulholland Drive by David Lynch
2001 – By Hook or By Crook by Harry Dodge
2001 – Y Tu Mamá También by Alfonso Cuarón
2002 – Far from Heaven by Todd Haynes
2003 – Soldier’s Girl by Frank Pierson
2004 – Saving Face by Alice Wu
2004 – Tropical Malady by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2004 – The Raspberry Reich by Bruce LaBruce
2004 – Wild Side by Sébastien Lifshitz
2005 – Brokeback Mountain by Ang Lee
2005 – Rent by Chris Columbus
2005 – Transamerica by Duncan Tucker
2007 – Water Lilies by Céline Sciamma
2008 – Milk by Gus Van Sant
2010 – Beginners by Mike Mills
2011 – Tomboy by Céline Sciamma
2011 – Weekend by Andrew Haigh
2013 – Blue Is the Warmest Colour by Abdellatif Kechiche
2014 – Pride by Matthew Warchus
2014 – Boy Meets Girl by Eric Schaeffer
2014 – Drunktown’s Finest by Sydney Freeland
2015 – Carol by Todd Haynes
2015 – The Danish Girl by Todd Hopper
2015 – Tangerine by Sean Baker
2016 – Moonlight by Barry Jenkins
2016 – In Between by Maysaloun Hamoud
2016 – Reluctantly Queer by Akosua Adoma Owusu
2017 – The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson by David France
2017 – A Fantastic Woman by Sebastián Lelio
2019 – Booksmart by Olivia Wilde
2019 – Pain and Glory by Pedro Almodóvar
2019 – Portrait of a Lady on Fire by Céline Sciamma
2020 – Shiva Baby by Emma Seligman
2020 – Cowboys by Anna Kerrigan
2020 – Rūrangi by Max Currie
2022 – Bros by Nicholas Stoller
2023 – Bottoms by Emma Seligman
2023 – Mutt by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz
2024 – Challengers by Luca Guadagnino
2024 – I Saw the TV Glow by Jane Schoenbrun
This list was compiled by Shalon van Tine.