Pride month is as much about joy and celebration as it is about visibility and resistance, and the best LGBTQ+ films carry all of that—sometimes in subtle moments, sometimes in unforgettable, radical ways.
This list is less about ticking boxes and more about amplifying the full spectrum of queer storytelling—from the tender and intimate to the unapologetically bold. Whether it’s a slow-burn romance in rural Italy, a blood-soaked queer thriller, or a raw documentary that gives voice to history, these 16 films deserve a spot on your watchlist this June—and far beyond it.
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
Call Me By Your Name (2017)Netflix
Guadagnino’s slow summer simmer of a romance made peaches scandalous again. But beneath the Italian sun-drenched sensuality and Sufjan Stevens’ ballads is a quietly devastating coming-of-age story — Elio and Oliver’s brief, brilliant love affair is about first desire, but also first loss. Chalamet’s performance is all nerves and yearning; Hammer’s Oliver, a cipher of casual privilege. Together, they burn bright, and fast. It’s about what’s said in glances — and what isn’t said at all.
The Handmaiden (2016)
The Handmaiden (2016)IMDb
Park Chan-wook’s erotic psychological thriller is less a love story and more a masterclass in queer revenge. Set in 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea, this tale of double-crosses and forbidden sapphic passion is dizzyingly layered, both narratively and visually. Come for the con, stay for the twisty Rashomon-style storytelling — and a love story that ultimately breaks free from the gaze that tries to exploit it.
All of Us Strangers (2023)
All of Us Strangers (2023)IMDb
If grief could be bottled, Andrew Haigh has distilled it into this quietly surreal gem. A spectral meditation on memory, loneliness, and queer intimacy, it follows Adam (Andrew Scott) reconnecting with long-dead parents and a present-tense lover (Paul Mescal). It’s dreamy, devastating, and never overwrought. Just a gentle reminder: healing is nonlinear, but love — even spectral, fleeting — might still find you.
Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
Love Lies Bleeding (2024)IMDb
Gym rats, desert dust, and hot energy. Kristen Stewart’s Lou is raw magnetism — a gun-slinging gym manager whose entanglement with a queer bodybuilder (Katy O’Brien) spirals into a neo-noir fever dream. Rose Glass’s film is equal parts pulp and poetry — unafraid to be messy, muscular, and hot-blooded. It’s Bonnie and Clyde, with protein shakes and trauma.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)Netflix
A reclamation, not just a retelling. David France’s documetary pulls Marsha P. Johnson — drag queen, trans activist, Stonewall veteran — from the footnotes of history and puts her centre stage. While it investigates the suspicious circumstances around her death, it also highlights the vibrancy of her life. It’s a reminder: Pride exists because of people like Marsha, and justice is still unfinished business.
A Nice Indian Boy (2024)
A Nice Indian Boy (2024)IMDb
This one’s a unicorn: a queer South Asian rom-com that’s both genuinely funny and culturally rooted. Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff navigate intergenerational expectations, cultural mishaps, and a wedding that’s as chaotic as it is touching. It doesn’t shy away from identity politics — it embraces them with levity, charm, and heart.
Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)
Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)Netflix
Taiwan’s highest-grossing LGBTQ+ film is a tender, bruising elegy for a love that couldn’t survive the world around it. Set in the 1980s as martial law lifts, A-Han and Birdy’s connection is shaped — and often thwarted — by faith, shame, and fear. But there’s aching beauty in how it unfolds, in every longing glance and missed moment. For anyone who’s loved in secret, this one cuts deep.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)MUBI
It’s iconic for a reason. Ang Lee’s epic is less about a ‘cowboy’ cliché than a deeply American tragedy — love lost to repression, time, and terrain. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal offer soul-baring performances that still resonate. Nearly two decades later, the line “I wish I knew how to quit you” still lingers like a bruise.
Happy Together (1997)
Happy Together (1997)Prime Video
This is Wong Kar-wai’s art. His Buenos Aires-set drama follows a volatile couple from Hong Kong as they spin in and out of each other’s orbit. Shot in sweaty neon and aching silences, it’s as much about dislocation as it is about love. Poetic, punk, and pulsating with feeling.
The Danish Girl (2015)
The Danish Girl (2015)IMDb
While it drew criticism for casting and historical inaccuracies, The Danish Girl remains a landmark in mainstream transgender representation. Eddie Redmayne’s Lili Elbe and Alicia Vikander’s Gerda Wegener bring nuance to a marriage evolving in real-time as Lili transitions. It’s imperfect — but its impact can’t be denied.
Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)
Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)IMDb
What if international diplomacy depended on chaos and royal longing? This fanfic-turned-film is unapologetically soft, idealistic, and lovely. Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine have sizzling chemistry in a fantasy where queer love gets a happy ending — and the palace.
We Were Here (2011)
We Were Here (2011)wewereherefilm.com
A searing chronicle of the AIDS epidemic’s toll on San Francisco’s gay community. Through five eyewitness testimonies, director David Weissman creates a document that is personal, political, and profoundly moving. There’s rage here, and sorrow — but also extraordinary acts of love and resistance. Essential viewing.
Maurice (1987)
Maurice (1987)IMDb
A classic that’s lush, literary, and surprisingly radical. Based on E.M. Forster’s suppressed novel, Maurice is a period piece where the queer protagonist actually gets a happy ending. It’s about choosing authenticity over respectability, even when it hurts.
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020)
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020)IMDb
Bollywood meets queer revolution — with Ayushmann Khurrana playing a nose-ringed boyfriend fighting for acceptance in a conservative Indian household. It’s campy, fun, and earnest in all the right ways. Think Dilwale Dulhania — but with two grooms.
Fire Island (2022)
Fire Island (2022)IMDb
This is what happens when Jane Austen gets a poppers-soaked glow-up. Joel Kim Booster’s take on Pride and Prejudice swaps ballrooms for beach houses, but the wit, the longing, and the commentary on class within queer spaces are razor-sharp. Bonus: it’s one of the few films that gets queer friendship right.
Bottoms (2023)
Bottoms (2023)IMDb
High school. Hormones. Fight clubs. This anarchic lesbian teen comedy doesn’t follow rules — it dropkicks them. Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott play lovable disasters who fake a feminist fight club just to hook up with cheerleaders. It’s dumb, brilliant, and proof that queer films can be as chaotic and fun as they are meaningful.
