JuliaMaia is a writer and filmmaker originally from Brazil. She grew up watching every piece of television and film she encountered from all over the world, which inspired her to come to Los Angeles to study film. She always knew that in order to be happy and fulfilled she had to be surrounded by art. She is always in search of the next film, show or performance that will inspire her. Her background in filmmaking helps her appreciate the technical elements of a film, as well as relish the journey of each story being told. There is not a topic Maia enjoys talking about more than film and the film industry and how it impacts the world and vice versa. The Hollywood Insider is the perfect platform for Maia to participate in the discourse about anything film related with many that , much like herself, love to take part in real important conversations and deeply appreciate the art of telling stories.
Jul 25, 2024
Table of Contents
Pride month is over, but just because it is no longer June doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop celebrating love and telling queer stories. In fact, we should always celebrate love and tell queer stories. So, here is a list of 62 films with canon main LGBTQIA+ characters and couples.
The rather sensitive Elio (Timothée Chalamet), the only son of the American family of Italian and French Perlman ancestry, is facing another lazy summer at his parents’ home in the beautiful, languid Italian countryside. Every summer, Mr. Pearlman (Michael Stuhlbarg) hosts an academic to help with his research. This year’s student, Oliver (Armie Hammer), comes to bring change.
You can watch it on (USA): Netflix (subscription)
Close
Original Title: Close
Year: 2022
Director(s): Lukas Dhont
Writer(s): Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens
Country: Belgium, Netherlands, France
Language: French, Flemish, Dutch, English
Genre: Drama
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): PG-13
Two 13-year-olds named Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele) are best friends who have their friendship abruptly disrupted. Their classmates notice their intimacy and Leo starts to understand the weight of his close relationship with Rémi and how it may have consequences. ‘Close’ tells the tragic story about friendship, lost love and grief.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo), a blind teenager, tries to deal with his overprotective mother as he seeks his independence. When the new student in town joins Leonardo’s classroom, Gabriel (Fabio Audi), new feelings begin to blossom in Leonardo, which leads to him discovering more about himself and his sexuality.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
In Moonlight, we follow three chapters in our main character’s life. Chiro (Ashton Sanders) is a young black man living in a poor community in Miami. From bullying and identity crisis, to the temptation of drugs and the crime scene, Chiro lives many lives in the span of time we spend with him. Moonlight is an extremely character driven film and story.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
Writer(s): Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana
Country: United States, Canada
Language: English, Spanish
Genre: Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
It’s the summer of 1963 and two young men, Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), are hired to take care of Joe Aguirre’s (Randy Quaid) sheep in Brokeback Mountain. Jack’s plan is to be a cowboy and is working for Aguirre for the second year in a row, while Ennie intends to marry Alma (Michelle Williams) as soon as the summer ends. Living in isolation for weeks, they become increasingly friends and begin a romantic relationship. The summer comes to an end and Jack and Ennis must go back to their separate lives, but the period they lived that summer will mark their lives forever.
It is spring in Yorkshire, UK and a young sheep farmer, Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor), prefers to keep himself isolated as he numbs his daily frustrations with sex and drowns his sorrows in booze. However, The arrival of a Romanian migrant worker, Gheorghe Ionescu (Alec Secareanu), employed by the calving station, sparks an intense relationship that sets Saxby on a new path.
You can watch it on (USA): Tubi
Matthias & Maxime
Original Title: Matthias et Maxime
Year: 2019
Director(s): Xavier Dolan
Writer(s): Xavier Dolan
Country: Canada
Language: French, English
Genre: Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): Not rated
Two childhood best friends, Matthias (Gabriel D’Almeida Freitas) and Maxime (Xavier Dolan), have to share a kiss for a mutual friend’s short film and their friendship would never be the same. ‘Matthias & Maxime’ is a film about the limits between friendship and true love.
You can watch it on (USA): Mubi (Prime Video channels), Roku Channel
Red White & Royal Blue
Original Title: Red White & Royal Blue
Year: 2023
Director(s): Matthew López
Writer(s): Casey McQuiston, Matthew López, Ted Malawer
Country: United Stated
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) is the prince of England and Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) is the first son of the US president and the closest thing to royalty that exists in the United States. They are not very friendly towards each other and that is reflected when they get into a silly push game at Prince Henry’s older brother’s wedding, which led to them knocking the several thousand multilayered wedding cake down. Photos of the confrontation at the royal wedding that cost a royal cake leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control is to make it seem Alex and Prince Henry are best of friends. As President Claremont (Uma Thurman) begins her re-election bid, Alex finds himself embroiled in a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and bring down two nations.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
Writer(s): Madison Harrison, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): Not rated
It is the early 1990s. Jack’s mom starts dating a bouncer, who later moves in with his son Mark (Charlie Heaton), who is the same age as Jack (Owen Campbell). They soon become close friends. After getting beaten up outside a diner, they meet the third in their friendship trio, Sarah (Amandla Stenberg). The story is a retelling of a relationship between three teenagers, as the trajectory of the friendship is built and re-lived through different memories recovered and triggered by a police investigation.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow a screenwriter named Adam (Andrew Scott), who lives in an almost empty building in London. He takes advantage of the quiet to write. One night, his only neighbor, Harry (Paul Mescal), knocks on his door and ends up shaking Adam’s quiet life up. As Adam and Harry grow closer, the screenwriter is taken back to his childhood home, where he discovers that his deceased parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) are alive and appear to be the same age as the day they died, more than thirty years old. In this intense emotional and psychological journey, Adam is confronted with questions of loss, love, and the meaning of reality.
It is the 1950s, a school teacher named Marion (Emma Corrin) and a policeman named Tom Burgess (Harry Styles) meet on the coast of Brighton and fall in love. The lovebirds begin a life together, which is interrupted when they meet Patrick Hazelwood (David Dawson), a curator at the Brighton Museum. Patrick ends up developing feelings for Tom. Despite homosexuality being illegal at that time, Tom and Patrick begin a passionate affair. For a while, the three of them embrace a common dynamic, until jealousy destroys the agreement. After repressed feelings and unresolved issues left aside for many years, Tom, Patrick and Marion are reconnected.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video, Pluto, Tubi
After an alcohol-fueled party at his straight friends’ house, Russell (Tom Cullen) decides to stop by a gay club, where he runs into Glen (Chris New). They have gone home together and what seemed at first to be just a one-night stand becomes something more, something special.
You can watch it on (USA): AMC+ (Prime Video Channels)
Giant Little Ones
Original Title: Giant Little Ones
Year: 2018
Director(s): Keith Behrman
Writer(s): Keith Behrman
Country: Canada, United States
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
We meet Franky Winter (Josh Wiggins) as an ordinary teenage boy, who is popular at school and dates a girl he likes, Cil (Hailey Kittle). Everything changes when Franky and his best childhood friend, Ballas Kohl (Darren Mann), get drunk and get into an incident at a colleague’s birthday party and Franky sees his life turn upside down.
You can watch it on (USA): Peacock (subscription), Amazon Prime Video (subscription), Freevee
Writer(s): E.M. Forster, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, James Ivory
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
It is 1900s England and two British friends, Clive (Hugh Grant) and Maurice (James Wilby), fall in love at Cambridge. But it is the Edwardian age and they can’t have a public relationship. To gain his place in society after being expelled, Clive enters the business world and marries Anne (Phoebe Nicholls). With no prospects, Maurice decides to visit his ex-lover’s country house in search of rest and a psychoanalyst. However, he ends up getting involved with the man in charge of the hunt, Alec (Rupert Graves). E.M. Forster’s story of coming to terms with sexuality in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
The British government sets up a team that aims to break Enigma, the famous code that the Germans use to send messages to submarines, during World War II. Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), a brilliant 27-year-old mathematician is one of its members. It doesn’t take long for Turing to lead the team. For the team to complete its mission, Turing will have to learn to work as a team and has Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley) as his greatest supporter. ‘The Imitation Game’ tackles themes of prejudice against women and queer people. This is the portrayal of an intense race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
Writer(s): Enrico Casarosa, Jesse Andrews, Simon Stephenson, Mike Jones, Julie Lynn, Randall Green
Country: United States
Language: English, Italian
Genre: Animation
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): PG
In this Pixar film, we follow the curious sea monster called Luca (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), as he experiences a life-changing summer on the Italian Riviera. Luca’s curiosity leads him to meeting Alberto (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer), another sea monster who collects objects from humans. Falling in love with friendship and things that humans have created, Luca and Alberto begin their journey to discover who they are.
Writer(s): Becky Albertalli, Elizabeth Berger, Isaac Aptaker
Country: United States
Language: English, German, French
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): PG-13
Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) is 17 years old and leads an ordinary life, except for the secret he’s been keeping from his friends and family that he is gay. This secret becomes more complicated when he falls in love with one of his anonymous schoolmates, Blue, whom he exchanges confidences with daily via email. This is a story of Simon’s journey to finding Blue and himself.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
Writer(s): David Marshall Grant, Dan Savage, Michael Ausiello
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): PG-13
We follow the 13-year relationship between writer Michael Ausiello (Jim Parsons) and photographer Kit Cowan (Ben Aldridge) from the day Michael receives his terminal cancer diagnosis until the day of his death. A film about love, loss and acceptance.
You can watch it on (USA): Peacock (subscription), Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
Writer(s): Chase Palmer, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Gary Dauberman, Stephen King
Country: United States, Canada
Language: English, Hebrew
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
In ‘It’, a group of seven teenagers from Derry, a town in Maine, form the self-titled “Losers Club”. The peaceful town is shaken when children begin to disappear and all that can be found of them are their body parts. Soon, the members of the “Losers Club” wind up coming face to face with the one responsible for the crimes: Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgård).
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
4th Man Out
Original Title: Fourth Man Out
Year: 2015
Director(s): Andrew Nackman
Writer(s): Aaron Dancik
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): Not rated
On his 24th birthday, a mechanic named Adam (Evan Todd) decides to come out to his blue-collar childhood friends Chris (Parker Young), Nick (Chord Overstreet) and Ortu (Jon Gabrus). The news is unexpected and it takes time for others to know how to deal with the situation. Until Chris takes charge of the situation and decides to help his best friend find a boyfriend.
You can watch it on (USA): Peacock (subscription), Tubi
I Killed My Mother
Original Title: J’ai tué ma mère
Year: 2009
Director(s): Xavier Dolan
Writer(s): Xavier Dolan
Country: Canada
Language: French, English, Latin
Genre: Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): Not rated
We follow Hubert (Xavier Dolan), a 17-year-old who not only doesn’t love his mother, but resents her completely. She is a master manipulator and her mechanisms of manipulation and blaming employed by her also do not go unnoticed and Hubert finds himself progressively taken over by a relationship of love and hate beyond his control.
Hubert is confused and he wanders through adolescence full of artistic discoveries, illicit experiences, friendships and sex.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
The Thing About Harry
Original Title: The Thing About Harry
Year: 2020
Director(s): Peter Paige
Writer(s): Peter Paige, Joshua Senter
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): TV-14
Sam Basilli (Jake Borelli) and Harry Turpin (Niko Terho) are from the same hometown and high school enemies. Sam is a young gay man and Harryis a popular jock and Sam is forced to share a car ride back home with Harry. Things take a very unexpected turn when Sam finds out that Harry is out as a gay man, which opens the possibility of a potential romance between the two.
We follow Frankie (Harris Dickinson), a Brooklyn teenager with no goal, who struggles to escape his rather grim home life. He also struggles with self-identity, while he balances his time between a potential future girlfriend, the delinquent company he keeps, and the older men he meets online.
You can watch it on (USA): Tubi, Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow Timothy Conigrave (Ryan Corr) and John Caleo (Craig Stott), who were in love back in high school. Back when Tim was an aspiring actor and John was the captain of the rugby team. It is 15 years later and we witness life play some hard tricks on both of them from separations and loss, to discrimination and jealousy. Everything just leads them to an unexpected path.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
It is the season and Peter (Michael Urie) is desperate to avoid his family’s judgment for being single, so he has the idea to convince his best friend Nick We (Philemon Chambers) to play his fake boyfriend during the holiday season. Peter is set up on a blind date with James (Luke Macfarlane) arranged by his own mother Carole (Kathy Najimy) and now everything goes off course.
You can watch it on (USA): Netflix
Dating Amber
Original Title: Dating Amber
Year: 2020
Director(s): David Freyne
Writer(s): David Freyne
Country: Ireland, France, United States
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): Not rated
We follow two high school friends, Eddie (Fionn O’Shea) and Amber (Lola Petticrew), who want to fit into society and its heteronormative standards, so they decide to start a fake heterosexual relationship.
You can watch it on (USA): Freevee, Peacock (subscription), Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
Writer(s): Sarah Waters, Chung Seo-kyung, Park Chan-wook
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean, Japanese
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): Not rated
It is the 1930s in South Korea, during the Japanese occupation. Japanese heiress, Hideko (Kim Min-Hee), leads a very isolated life alongside her authoritarian uncle (Cho Jin-woong), until young Sookee (Kim Tae-ri) is hired as a handmaiden for Hideko. We follow Sookee as she bares the secret that she was actually hired by Count Fujiwara (Jung-woo Ha), a swindler, who wants Sookee’s help to seduce and marry Hideko. He wants to steal her fortune and lock her up in a sanatorium. Sookee has a change of heart when she begins to understand Hideko and sympathize with her more.
You can watch it on (USA): Freevee, Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Original Title: Portrait de la jeune fille en feu
Year: 2019
Director(s): Céline Sciamma
Writer(s): Céline Sciamma
Country: France
Language: French, Italian
Genre: Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
It is 18th century France. Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is a young painter who is given the task of painting a portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) for her wedding without her knowing. Marianne spends a good deal of time observing and getting to know Héloïse, which leads to them growing closer and closer.
You can watch it on (USA): Hulu (subscription), Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow Megan (Natasha Lyonne) who is the stereotypical American cheerleader. She is pretty, pretty popular, a good student and dates the captain of the football team. Afraid their daughter might be queer, Megan’s parents realize Megan is a vegetarian, hugs her friends too much and runs away from her boyfriend’s kisses, and the fact that she has a poster of Melissa Etheridge in her room, so she must be queer. Afraid their daughter really is gay, they send her to the “True Directions” homo-rehabilitation camp. The camp is run by ex-gay Mike (RuPaul) and has an infallible five-step “cure” program.
You can watch it on (USA): Tubi
You Can Live Forever
Original Title: You Can Live Forever
Year: 2022
Director(s): Sarah Watts, Mark Slutsky
Writer(s): Sarah Watts, Mark Slutsky
Country: Canada
Language: English, French
Genre: Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): 13+
We follow lesbian teen Jaime (Anwen O’Driscoll) is sent to live in a Jehovah’s Witness community, she falls hard for a devout girl named Marike (June Laporte). The two live an intense love affair and that affair brings them consequences that will reshape their lives forever.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow Old Dolio Dyne (Evan Rachel Wood), a young woman who belongs to a family of criminals. The life of scamming is the only one that Old Dolio has ever known. When her parents, Robert (Richard Jenkins) and Theresa (Debra Winger) involve a stranger, Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), in the biggest heist they’ve ever planned, Dolio finds her life turned upside down.
You can watch it on (USA): Bravo Now, E! Now, NBC, Peacock, Syfy Now, Telemundo Now, Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow the loser best friends PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie I’m (Ayo Edebiri) as they start a fight club in high school to meet girls, ultimately lose their virginity and rise from the bottom of the social scene. They soon find themselves in over their heads when the most popular students in the name of self-defense start beating each other up.
You can watch it on (USA): MGM+ (subscription), Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
We follow 16-year-old Claudia (Markella Kavenagh), who is isolated on a remote property, as her world is turned upside down when Grace (Maiah Stewardson) appears in her garden. They immediately connect and it is everything that had been lacking in each of their lives.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow Abby (Kristen Stewart) as she meets her girlfriend’s, Harper (Mackenzie Davis), family for the first time. Right away, Abby realizes Harper’s family doesn’t know she is gay. Now, Harper asks for Abby to pretend to be just a friend, essentially asking her to go back in the closet. Abby then begins to question her loved one, the person she thought she knew.
It is Rachel’s (Piper Perabo) wedding day when she begins a friendship with Luce (Lena Headey), who is a florist, and they get along very very well. Rachel and Heck (Matthew Goode) get married and Rachel has made plans to introduce Luce to her husband’s friend Cooper (Darren Boyd), but Luce reveals she is a lesbian. Rachel and Luce spend more and more time together, which eventually leads to Rachel questioning her feelings for her friend Luce.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
Crush
Original Title: Crush
Year: 2022
Director(s): Sammi Cohen
Writer(s): Kirsten King, Casey Rackham
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): TV-MA
We follow Paige Evans (Rowan Blanchard), a dedicated high school student who is forced to join her high school track team. She isn’t upset for too long since her long-time crush Gabriela Campos (Isabella Ferreira) is part of the team. This will be her opportunity to get to know Gabriela better and even pursue her. Everything becomes very complicated when Paige realizes she might have feelings for another girl in the track team, AJ Campos (Auli’i Cravalho), who happens to be Gabriela’s sister. Paige suddenly finds herself in a love triangle.
Country: United Kingdom, France, Australia, United States
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
We follow Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), a young woman with a boring job in the toy section of a department store. One day, elegant Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) comes into the store looking for a Christmas gift for her daughter and they meet. They bond over the fact that they both are not happy with their lives, Therese with her clerk work and Carol with her loveless marriage. Therese and Carol become closer and closer friends, until the day they become something more.
You can watch it on (USA): Netflix (subscription), Paramount+ (subscription)
We follow Ronit (Rachel Weisz), a photographer who was casted out of the Jewish community she grew up in, as she returns home for the first time following the death of her father, who was a very respected rabbi. She is welcomed by her childhood friend Dovid Kuperman (Alessandro Nivola), who is now married to the girl she was in love with in the past, Esti (Rachel McAdams). As Ronit and Esti reconnect, they test the boundaries of faith, love and sexuality.
You can watch it on (USA): Starz (subscription), Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow friends Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan). Jamie is suffering from her breakup with her girlfriend, and Marian really needs some time to relax. They then decide that a trip to Tallahassee is what they need. However, the trip takes a completely unexpected turn when the two end up crossing paths with a group of criminals along the way.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Original Title: The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Year: 2018
Director(s): Desiree Akhavan
Writer(s): Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele, Emily M. Danforth
Country: United Kingdom, United States
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): Not rated
It is 1993 and Cameron Post (Chloe Grace Moretz) is caught by her boyfriend having sex with her best friend, (Quinn Shephard), at the middle of the prom. Cameron is then sent to a religious center that claims to cure young people attracted to the same sex. At the center, Cameron meets people like her and they create a found family to help deal with the surrounding intolerance.
You can watch it on (USA): Freevee, Peacock (subscription), Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
Writer(s): Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel
Country: United States
Language: English, Mandarin, French, Spanish
Genre: Comedy
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
We follow childhood best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein), known for being the biggest academic prodigies at school, as they are about to finish high school. Just days before their high school graduation, they discover that the classmates that have partied all four years of high school are going to great schools. Amy and Molly realize that they regret having studied so much and having so little fun. Determined to have fun before they officially graduate, they decide to chase the 4 years of fun lost in just one night.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow Danielle (Rachel Sennott), a young bisexual woman still confused and indecisive about her career. She is pressured by her parents to make up her mind and figure out something to do, but she finds alternative ways to earn money. When she goes to a funeral with her family, she realizes her ex-girlfriend (Molly Gordon) and her sugar daddy (Danny Deferrari) are there, leaving the young woman not knowing what to do.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
Novitiate
Original Title: Novitiate
Year: 2017
Director(s): Maggie Betts
Writer(s): Maggie Betts
Country: United States
Language: English, American Sign Language, Latin
Genre: Drama
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
It is the 1960s. We follow Cathleen (Margaret Qualley), a young woman who decides to become a nun. She joins the convent that is under Mother Abbess, Reverend Mother Marie Saint Clare (Melissa Leo), whose harsh rules will make Sister Cathleen deal with issues related to faith, changes within the Catholic Church as an institution and religion, and her sexuality.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
Writer(s): Celeste Ballard, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): TV-MA
We follow Drea (Camila Mendes) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke), two high school girls who come together after dealing with some injustice and bullying. They agree to help each other out by doing revenge and going after one another’s bullies.
You can watch it on (USA): Netflix (subscription)
Princess Cyd
Original Title: Princess Cyd
Year: 2017
Director(s): Stephen Cone
Writer(s): Stephen Cone
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
We follow Cyd Loughlin (Jessie Pinnick), a 16-year-old girl who wants to escape her home life with her depressive single father. It is summer and Cyd goes to Chicago to visit her aunt Miranda (Rebecca Spence), who is an author. During that summer in Chicago, Cyd falls in love with a local girl.
Language: Spanish, English, Mandarin, French, Hindi
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): PG-13
We follow Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), the stereotypical misfit student who has the habit of doing her classmates’ homework for money to contribute to the bills at home.When Paul Munsky
(Daniel Diemer), a football player, approaches Ellie to ask for help writing a love letter to his crush, Ellie has no idea she will soon become friends with him and quickly falls for the recipient of the love letters, Paul’s crush: Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire).
We follow Bee (Maria Bakalova) as she travels to meet her new girlfriend, Sophie (Amandla Stenberg), wealthy and problematic friends. After drinking, using drugs and dancing, the group decides to play “Bodies Bodies Bodies”, a game where someone is murdered and everyone has to guess who the killer was. Someone actually dies and with no signal, car, electricity or any outside help, the group needs to come together to find the real killer among the group before it’s too late.
You can watch it on (USA): Netflix (subscription), Paramount+ (subscription)
It is 1984, Margaret Thatcher is in power and the miners are on strike. With gay pride arriving in London, a group of gay and lesbian activists decide to raise money to send to the miners’ families. When the National Union of Miners learn the donation comes from gay activists, they become embarrassed to receive help from such a group of people. The gay activists do not give up and they decide to deliver their donation in person and they go to Wales. Two groups that were otherwise very unlikely to form a relationship, come together for a cause.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez), the transsexual prostitute who has been recently released from prison, as she seeks revenge. As soon as she leaves jail, Sin-Dee’s best friend, Alexandra (Mya Taylor), tells her that her boyfriend Chester (James Ransone) has been unfaithful and is now seeing a cisgender woman.Sin-Dee decides to find the two and punish them for their betrayal.
You can watch it on (USA): Netflix (subscription), Hulu (subscription), Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
It is the early 1970s. We follow Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), a New Yorker who decides to change his life for the better by moving in with his boyfriend Scott (James Franco) in San Francisco. Willing to face the violence and prejudice of the time, Milk seeks equal rights and opportunities for all, without sexual discrimination. Harvey entered into an intense political battle and managed to be elected to the Board of Supervisors of the city of San Francisco in 1977. By winning, Milk becomes the first openly gay man to reach an important public position in the United States.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
It is the 1980s. We follow Lou (Kristen Stewart), an isolated gym manager, as she meets and falls madly in love with an ambitious bodybuilder named Jackie (Katy M. O’Brian). Their love story involves big egos, desires, blood and revenge.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
Femme
Original Title: Femme
Year: 2023
Director(s): Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
Writer(s): Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Thriller
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): Not rated
We follow Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), a drag queen who is targeted by very hateful boys in a horrific homophobic attack, which destroys his life and career. Time passes and Jules encounters one of the attackers, Preston (George MacKay), in a gay sauna. Jules wants revenge but he must decide how far he is willing to go.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
Of an Age
Original Title: Of an Age
Year: 2022
Director(s): Goran Stolevski
Writer(s): Goran Stolevski
Country: Australia
Language: English, Serbian
Genre: Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
It is 1999. We follow Kol (Elias Anton), a 17-year-old amateur ballroom dancer, as he experiences a very intense and rather unexpected romance with Adam (Thom Green), a friend’s older brother. Their connection is real and it is passionate. Will it only last a moment or a lifetime?
We follow tennis players Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and their very toxic love triangle. Tashi is a tennis prodigy turned coach, who marries Art, whom she coaches. When her husband and athlete is trying to overcome a difficult time in his tennis career, Tashi’s strategy is for him to play in a “Challenger” tournament, where she will have to face Patrick, her former best friend and Tashi’s ex-boyfriend. As we watch the tournament between ex-best friends, now rivals, Art and Patrick, we are taken back and forth in time to their entire love triangle.
You can watch it on (USA): In Theaters, Amazon Prime Video (rent/buy)
We follow longtime friends, Lucy (Dakota Johnson) and Jane (Sonoya Mizuno). They are inseparable and they know absolutely everything about each other. Jane receives a promotion that requires her to move to London, which would mean leaving Lucy behind. In a leap of faith, Lucy confesses to her best friend Jane that she is a lesbian and she has been secretly in love with her for a while. Jane goes to London and their friendship fades.
You can watch it on (USA): Max (subscription)
The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Girls in Love
Original Title: The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Girls in Love
Year: 1995
Director(s): Maria Maggenti
Writer(s): Maria Maggenti
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R
We follow Evie Roy (Nicole Ari Parker) and Randy Dean (Laurel Holloman), two girls from extremely different social and economic backgrounds who develop feelings for each other and go through the struggles of a new relationship.
We follow Thelma (Eili Harboe), a very religious woman, as she moves to Oslo to pursue a higher education in Biology. She is made aware a female friend is in love with her and as Thelma tries to repress and deny her feelings for Anja (Kaya Wilkins), her unprecedented psychosomatic manifestation of repressed emotions start to take over, bringing devastating results.
We follow Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), an overworked Chinese immigrant who is just trying to figure out her taxes. She is married to Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) and they own a laundry business on the brink of failure. Both their business and their relationship are in shambles. Evelyn’s relationship with her father (James Hong) and her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) are also not very good. The family will take a daytrip to the IRS building, where they have a very fun meeting with the IRS auditor, Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis). We embark on a journey with Evelyn through different settings, characters and universes.
It is the early 2000s. We follow a freshman university student named Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), who has a hard time fitting in at Oxford University. After meeting Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), Oliver is immediately attracted to the young man’s aristocratic world. Everything lines up for the opportunity to occur and it does, Felix invites him to spend a season in his family’s home. But what starts as a seemingly innocent friendship soon escalates into a growing obsession.
You can watch it on (USA): Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
It is the 1990s in New York City. We follow Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield), a young theater composer who works as a waiter, while he dreams of writing and making great art and beautiful music. Jon sees many of his friends moving on from their dreams to pursue careers that have a better chance of bringing them success, 9 to 5 schedules and fixed salary. About to turn 30 years old, Jon is overcome with anxiety that his dream is unrealistic and not worth fighting for. Jon would eventually become a real life Broadway legend.
We follow the original story of the 2004 production of the same mane. We follow a girl named Cady Heron (Angourie Rice),who moves from Africa to the United States and is about to go to regular school after being homeschooled. Cady gets Regina George’s (Renée Rapp) attention and she is invited to join the Plastics clique. At first, Cady feels that things can work and that she can fit in among her apex predator new friends, but the situation starts to get out of control, especially after she falls in love with the wrong boy. She must now rely on her outcast friends Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey).
You can watch it on (USA): MGM+ (subscription), Paramount+ (subscription), Amazon Prime Video (subscription)
We follow Jenny (Gina Rodriguez), music journalist, as she goes through a devastating breakup. Jenny and her best friends are looking for a New York adventure. They end up learning much more than they imagined and experiencing some of the most important moments of their lives, in what was supposed to be an unforgettable night.
Click here to read The Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase’s love letter to Cinema, TV and Media. An excerpt from the love letter: The Hollywood Insider’s CEO/editor-in-chief Pritan Ambroase affirms, “We have the space and time for all your stories, no matter who/what/where you are. Media/Cinema/TV have a responsibility to better the world and The Hollywood Insider will continue to do so. Talent, diversity and authenticity matter in Cinema/TV, media and storytelling. In fact, I reckon that we should announce “talent-diversity-authenticity-storytelling-Cinema-Oscars-Academy-Awards” as synonyms of each other. We show respect to talent and stories regardless of their skin color, race, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, etc., thus allowing authenticity into this system just by something as simple as accepting and showing respect to the human species’ factual diversity. We become greater just by respecting and appreciating talent in all its shapes, sizes, and forms. Award winners, which includes nominees, must be chosen on the greatness of their talent ALONE.
I am sure I am speaking for a multitude of Cinema lovers all over the world when I speak of the following sentiments that this medium of art has blessed me with. Cinema taught me about our world, at times in English and at times through the beautiful one-inch bar of subtitles. I learned from the stories in the global movies that we are all alike across all borders. Remember that one of the best symbols of many great civilizations and their prosperity has been the art they have left behind. This art can be in the form of paintings, sculptures, architecture, writings, inventions, etc. For our modern society, Cinema happens to be one of them. Cinema is more than just a form of entertainment, it is an integral part of society. I love the world uniting, be it for Cinema, TV, media, art, fashion, sport, etc. Please keep this going full speed.”
JuliaMaia is a writer and filmmaker originally from Brazil. She grew up watching every piece of television and film she encountered from all over the world, which inspired her to come to Los Angeles to study film. She always knew that in order to be happy and fulfilled she had to be surrounded by art. She is always in search of the next film, show or performance that will inspire her. Her background in filmmaking helps her appreciate the technical elements of a film, as well as relish the journey of each story being told. There is not a topic Maia enjoys talking about more than film and the film industry and how it impacts the world and vice versa. The Hollywood Insider is the perfect platform for Maia to participate in the discourse about anything film related with many that , much like herself, love to take part in real important conversations and deeply appreciate the art of telling stories.
JuliaMaia is a writer and filmmaker originally from Brazil. She grew up watching every piece of television and film she encountered from all over the world, which inspired her to come to Los Angeles to study film. She always knew that in order to be happy and fulfilled she had to be surrounded by art. She is always in search of the next film, show or performance that will inspire her. Her background in filmmaking helps her appreciate the technical elements of a film, as well as relish the journey of each story being told. There is not a topic Maia enjoys talking about more than film and the film industry and how it impacts the world and vice versa. The Hollywood Insider is the perfect platform for Maia to participate in the discourse about anything film related with many that , much like herself, love to take part in real important conversations and deeply appreciate the art of telling stories.
JuliaMaia is a writer and filmmaker originally from Brazil. She grew up watching every piece of television and film she encountered from all over the world, which inspired her to come to Los Angeles to study film. She always knew that in order to be happy and fulfilled she had to be surrounded by art. She is always in search of the next film, show or performance that will inspire her. Her background in filmmaking helps her appreciate the technical elements of a film, as well as relish the journey of each story being told. There is not a topic Maia enjoys talking about more than film and the film industry and how it impacts the world and vice versa. The Hollywood Insider is the perfect platform for Maia to participate in the discourse about anything film related with many that , much like herself, love to take part in real important conversations and deeply appreciate the art of telling stories.
