Queer cinema.

Queer cinema has produced some of the most powerful and evocative films in the last decades. Often politicized, these works play an important role in the changing of perceptions, and portraying communities in eras met with adversity. From real love stories to historically set fiction, add these to your queue.

Paris Is Burning, 1990

Directed by: Jennie Livingston
Starring: Brooke Xtravaganza, André Christian, Dorian Corey

This iconic documentary follows the "ballroom" scene in New York City and the underground culture that defined it. The film highlights the realities of what it meant to be an LGBTQ+ person of color in the mid-to-late 1980s; painting a heartbreaking yet glamorous image of the time. Note: keep the tissues handy.

Where to watch: Netflix

Philadelphia, 1993

Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Roberta Maxwell

Quite possibly Tom Hanks' most powerful performance, his character, Andrew Beckett, hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. The film sheds light on the realities surrounding the AIDS epidemic and how the American government turned its back onto the community.

Where to watch: Netflix

A Single Man, 2009

Directed by: Tom Ford
Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode

Set in 1960s Los Angeles, English Professor George Falconer (Firth), finds himself unable to cope with the sudden loss of his boyfriend, Jim. Falconer’s journey is a unique depiction of how fraught homosexuality was in this era.

Where to watch: Netflix

God's Own Country, 2017

Directed by: Francis Lee
Starring: Josh O'Connor, Alec Secareanu, Gemma Jones

Johnny, a young, troubled sheep farmer, finds himself presented with a new dilemma: falling in love with the new Romanian migrant worker, Gheorghe. In this 2017 film set in the English countryside, their palpable tension can only last for so long.

Where to watch: Netflix

A Fantastic Woman, 2017

Directed by: Sebastián Lelio
Starring: Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco

Sexuality and gender identity are the core of this film, but universal themes become the message—love, loss, and dignity. After receiving the news that her lover has died, Marina (Vega) finds herself crumbling as she is met with nothing but bigotry from his family.

Where to watch: Amazon, Vudu

Elisa & Marcela, 2019

Directed by: Isabel Coixet
Starring: Natalia de Molina, Greta Fernández, Sara Casasnovas

Based on a harrowing true story, this film follows the life of Elisa Sanchez Loriga, who took the (male) identity of Mario Sánchez in order to marry her partner, Marcela Gracia Ibeas. Historically marked as the first same-sex marriage in Spain, their nuptials took place on June 8, 1901.

Where to watch: Netflix