Culture | Film In both box office hits and indie favourites, LGBTQ + stories have provided some of the most compelling moments in modern cinema. Thankfully, this is just the beginning, too: over the last decade, the film industry has started to produce a greater number of films exploring all manner of different stories and queer experiences, with gems such as Call Me By Your Name, God’s Own Country and Moonlight. From classic to contemporary, here is our pick of some of the best LGBTQ+ films of all time to watch during Pride month.
Released in 1961, Victim premiered before the decriminalisation of homosexuality, meaning it was a daring and dangerous story to tell. Dirk Bogarde starred as a successful barrister who falls victim to a blackmailing ring threatening to reveal pictures of him with another man. This was the first British film to use the word “homosexual” and its references to same-sex attraction led to the British Board of Film Sensors giving it an X rating, saying that viewers might find it “shocking, distasteful and disgusting”.
The film directly influenced public opinion and played a part in changing the law in favour of gay men. This documentary about the ballroom culture of Eighties New York is a seminal piece of film-making. In Harlem, the ballroom scene gave Black and Latinx queers a safe place away from the danger and poverty of the outside world.
Paris Is Burning captures all the glamour, rivalry, survival and the unwavering support of a chosen fa.