1. The Handmaiden
"If you had told me a story about a pickpocket and an heiress falling in love while trying to scam each other in Japanese-occupied Korea could be transformed into one about queerness as decolonization, I wouldn't have believed it. So instead, believe me. The Handmaiden is an education in the art of seduction, film-making, and protest art, all at once."
--Alexander Chee, Author
Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures/Everett Collection
2. Tongues Untied
"When a piece of art speaks your language--from how you talk to friends to the things that haunt you before you sleep--you don't just watch it. You are submerged. Marlon Riggs' Tongues Untied was the first film that spoke my language--a language I didn't even know I knew. This was a film for Black gay men about Black gay men, and it was the beginning of my finding how to articulate my own experiences."
--Myles Johnson, Writer
Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival
3. The Wedding Banquet
"I remember watching The Wedding Banquet on VHS when I was eight years old. I love how the film explores sexuality, cultural ritual, and family, not as disparate parts of our identity, but as intersecting elements of who we are. The story's tragedy and comedy are rendered with so much humanity, something that is so often stripped away from queer people of color narratives."
--Andrew Ahn, Director
Courtesy of California Newsreel
4. Mulholland Drive
"In the hypnotic ode to the forgotten--or perhaps never fully realized--women of Hollywood, David Lynch tenderly depicts the complexity of love between two women, and the tragic loneliness often suffered by those in the spotlight. This film grapples tactfully with the inevitable link between personal humiliation--queer or otherwise--and professional success."
--Ms. White, Musician
Courtesy of Everett Collection
5. The Way He Looks
"Queer coming-of-age tales are characteristically meditative or melancholy. The Way He Looks captures that exhilarating moment when friendship develops into love in a way that is ebullient and inspiring. It's an unexpected treat for the hopeless romantic."
--Steven Canals, Writer and Producer
Courtesy of Everett Collection
6. Beats Per Minute
"Beats Per Minute is a film that should be placed in the 'Epic' genre. Similar to cishet Epics such as Ben-Hur or Schindler's List, Beats is set during a time of crisis. It's central characters are warriors fighting a battle that will change the course of our history. All ancient peoples have legends and every culture has their heroes. Beats serves ours beautifully."
--Adam Eli, Activist
Courtesy of Signifyin' Works/Frameline Distribution
7. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
"I was mesmerized by The Lady Chablis' alluring, mysterious presence on screen in a role tailor-made for the Goddess. We must never forget one of the most iconic, quotable lines ever delivered on film: 'It's like my mother always said:
'Two tears in a bucket, motherfuck it!'"
--Jazzmun Nichcala Crayton, Actress and Activist
Courtesy of Everett Collection
8. Pariah
"Pariah is a beautiful, lyrical, raw, and fierce film that absolutely belongs in the canon of queer cinema. Dee Rees' singular vision captures the authenticity, pathos, and joy of the African-American queer experience with heart and grace."
--Angela Robinson, Director
Courtesy of 20Th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
9. The Boys In The Band
"The Boys in the Band is often catalogued as a dated film--campy, even--but playwright Mart Crowley captured the very universal feeling of wanting to be seen and accepted for all that we are."
--Andrew Rannells, Author and Actor
Courtesy of Strand Releasing/Everett Collection
10. To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
"Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo are fine as drag queens who never untuck. But the real magic is Blythe Danner, Stockard Channing, and Melinda Dillon as housewives empowered to subvert American misogyny and become queens themselves."
--Guy Branum, Comedian
Courtesy of Gramercy Pictures/Everett Collection
11. Let The Right One In
"Vampire stories have, of course, always been fertile ground for exploring queer power and sexuality, but what struck me about this film on first viewing was the rare way it takes on both queer tenderness and, in its way, gender transgression. In the end, the film makes clear that the real monsters are the bullies and culture of the straight, cis world."
--Thomas Page McBee, Author
Courtesy of Everett Collection
12. 9 to 5
"9 to 5 introduced us to the holiest of trinities--Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, and Dolly Parton--all queer and feminist icons in their own right for wildly different reasons, but brought together in this masterpiece on workplace harassment that, for better or worse, still resonates today."
--Karen Tongson, Professor and Podcast host
Courtesy of Focus Features/Everett Collection
13. Bound
"This is a butch/femme love story disguised as a crime heist. The Wachowskis not only perfectly cast queer, counter-cultural icons Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly, but they brought in sexpert Susie Bright to make the lesbian sex scenes as accurate as they are fun to watch."
--Trish Bendix, Writer and Editor
Courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn/Everett Collection
14. Black is… Black Ain’t
"Through Black Is... Black Ain't, Marlon Riggs' love for Black people and our struggle is so poignantly evident. He troubles what it means to be Black in America using gumbo as a backdrop to argue that there is unity in diversity among us. What's clear, to me, is that he was ahead of his time. He was Black Twitter before Black Twitter."
--Fatima Jamal, Artist
Courtesy of Everett Collection
15. The Watermelon Woman
"What makes Cheryl Dunye's The Watermelon Woman such a brilliant film is that it cleverly demonstrates the absence of an archive. Since queer history has been intentionally sanitized from larger narratives, our archive has huge gaps where queer stories certainly have gone untold."
--Koa Beck, Writer and Editor
Courtesy of California Newsreel
