30 Days of Pride: Your Ultimate LGBTQ+ Film Guide

This June marks 55 years since the first Pride march took place in New York City on June 28, 1970. While there are countless ways to celebrate Pride Month, from marches and parades to supporting LGBTQ+ businesses, we love how film has played a pivotal role in shedding light on the experiences, struggles, joys, and triumphs of the LGBTQ+ community for over a century. Ever since two men slow-danced together in the 1895 short film The Dickson Experimental Sound Film, LGBTQ+ stories have always shined on screen. To celebrate this year’s major milestone, we’ve curated a playlist of 30 LGBTQ+ stories, one for every day of Pride Month. From documentaries about history-changing pioneers to heartfelt romances celebrating queer love, these films underscore the boundless creativity and impact of LGBTQ+ directors, people, and culture. Stream all 30 films now on Kino Film Collection, and happy Pride Month! 

Skin Deep (2023)

Winner of the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival, "Skin Deep" subverts genre and gender as it flows between body swap thriller and intimate relationship drama. While on a retreat to try to salvage their relationship, Leyla and Tristan join another couple in a ritual to exchange bodies. What emerges is a story that embraces the endless fluid possibilities of what it means to truly love someone.

Private Desert (2021)

When his gender-fluid internet girlfriend Sara goes missing, suspended police academy instructor Daniel drives 2,000 miles across Brazil to look for her. What follows is a journey of the heart and a triumphant affirmation of queer love and humanity. Venice Film Festival winner “Private Desert” is a swooning sun-baked romance and a powerful examination of masculinity.

Don't Call Me Son (2016)

When a Brazilian teenager learns he was stolen at birth, he's forced to leave his working-class home for his wealthy biological family. But his gender expression and identity clash with their expectations, challenging ideas of family, acceptance, and belonging in this bold coming-of-age drama and Berlin Film Festival winner.

Benjamin (2018)

A charmingly offbeat gay romantic comedy about a mess-of-a-filmmaker juggling the anxieties and excitement of his upcoming film premiere with the fear and awkwardness of a burgeoning romance. Written and directed by British comedian Simon Amstell who peppers this charming, laugh-out-loud funny tale with hilariously deadpan one-liners and a scene-stealing cast of supporting characters.

Born to Be (2019)

With extraordinary access, “Born to Be” offers an intimate look at the pioneering work of Dr. Jess Ting (he/him) at the groundbreaking Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery. There, for the first time ever in New York City, transgender and gender non-binary people have access to quality gender-affirming care.

The Queen (1968)

More than 40 years before “RuPaul's Drag Race", this ground-breaking documentary about the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant introduced audiences to the world of competitive drag. The film takes us backstage to kiki with the contestants as they rehearse, throw shade, and transform into their drag personas in the lead-up to the big event.

Framing Agnes (2022)

Winner of the NEXT Innovator Award and Audience Award at the Sundance, "Framing Agnes" is the story of the pioneering transgender woman who participated in an infamous gender study conducted at UCLA in the 1960s. In this innovative documentary, an all-star cast of trans performers take on vividly rendered vintage reenactments to bring to life groundbreaking artifacts of trans history.

Tom of Finland (2017)

The proudly erotic drawings of artist Touko Laaksonen, known to the world as Tom of Finland, shaped the fantasies of a generation of gay men, influencing art and fashion. This stirring biopic follows his life from the trenches of WWII and repressive Finnish society through to when he and his art were finally embraced amid the sexual revolution of the 1970s.

The Gospel of Eureka (2019)

Welcome to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a one-of-a-kind oasis in the Ozarks where Christian piety rubs shoulders with a thriving queer community. This lushly photographed documentary spotlights the space where the town’s seemingly contradictory factions intersect. The result is a joyously offbeat slice of Americana that breaks down the red-state-blue-state divide.

Sebastian (2024)

Max is a young writer living in London and paying his dues working at a literary magazine. On the cusp of finding success, by night he moonlights as a sex worker in order to research his debut novel. This Sundance Film Festival selection from writer-director Mikko Mäkelä explores the transgressive power of queer sexuality and the transformative impact that can result from embracing a new identity.

When Night Is Falling (1995)

In Patricia Rozema’s lesbian love story, Camille, a professor at a Protestant college meets Petra, a wry and flamboyant performer in a modern Felliniesque circus troupe, and is inexplicably drawn. Camille pursues this sensual, dream-like woman, throwing her whole conservative life, not to mention her engagement to a respected minister, into disarray.

Poison (1991)

Winner of the Grand Jury Prizes at both the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals, "Poison", directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Haynes ("Carol"), is a groundbreaking American indie film and a trailblazing landmark of queer cinema that made national headlines when it was attacked by right-wing figures.

Denise Ho: Becoming the Song (2020)

"Denise Ho – Becoming the Song" profiles the openly gay Hong Kong singer and human rights activist Denise Ho. Drawing on unprecedented access, the film explores her remarkable journey from Cantopop superstar to outspoken political activist and artist who has put her career on the line to support the determined struggle of Hong Kong citizens to maintain their identity and freedom.

The Man With the Answers (2020)

"The Man with the Answers" is a picture-postcard travelogue and tender story of self-discovery that follows a former Greek diving champion and an eccentric German student who take an adventurous road trip of rediscovery from Bari to Bavaria after an unexpected phone call summons him to Germany.

Against the Current (2021)

Veiga Grétarsdóttir is the first person in the world to attempt to kayak over 2,000 kilometers around Iceland, counter-clockwise and “against the current.” Veiga’s personal journey is no less remarkable. She was born 44 years ago as a boy in a fishing village and at the age of 38 decided to undergo gender reassignment.

Prey For Rock and Roll (2003)

This fist-pumping LGBTQ+ touchstone and rock and roll cult classic stars the electrifying Gina Gershon as Jacki, a rocker who worries she may never make it big. Along with bandmates played by Drea de Matteo, Lori Petty, and Shelly Cole, she has spent years of struggle playing gigs up and down the Sunset Strip. But when that break finally arrives, their lives are turned upside down.

Caravaggio (1986)

Derek Jarman's profound reflection on art, sexuality and identity retells the life of the celebrated 17th-century painter through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld. The painter's precise aesthetic makes up the movie's visuals, and touches Jarman's major concerns: history, homosexuality, violence and the relationship between painting and film.

Flaming Ears (1992)

This pop sci-fi lesbian extravaganza set in the year 2700 in the fictional burned-out city of Asche follows the tangled lives of three women. Truly underground and shot on Super 8, "Flaming Ears" is original for its playful disruption of narrative conventions, its witty approach to film genre, and its punk visual splendor.

Colonel Redl (1984)

Set in the lead up to WWI, István Szabó's Cannes Grand Jury-winning and Academy Award nominated film charts the rise of Alfred Redl to head of counterintelligence of the Austro-Hungarian Army. His hidden homosexuality, however, is used against him by enemies of the state, putting both his professional standing and his country's security in dire straits.

The Wound (2017)

Shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, "The Wound" is an exploration of tradition and sexuality set amid South Africa’s Xhosa culture that caused controversy and sparked crucial conversations in its home country.

The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (2011)

This tender portrait of music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge and their partner, dominatrix Lady Jaye, was filmed over the course of seven years and completed following Lady Jaye’s sudden death in 2007. Integrating home movies, stylishly staged tableaux, and archival footage, this documentary poignantly centers on the body modification that brought the couple together.

The Garden (1990)

Directed by Derek Jarman and starring Tilda Swinton, this kaleidoscopic film shows the filmmaker’s genius at its most coruscating, featuring an over-the-top Hollywood-style musical number, nightmare images of tar-and-feather queer persecution, and footage of the particularly menacing-looking nuclear power plant that overlooks Jarman’s own garden.

Loving Highsmith (2022)

This unique look at celebrated author Patricia Highsmith is based on her diaries, notebooks, and reflections of her lovers, friends, and family. Focusing on her quest for love and her troubled identity, the film sheds new light on the thriller writer’s life and oeuvre. Many of her novels were adapted for the big screen, including Alfred Hitchcock's “Strangers on a Train” and Todd Haynes' “Carol."

Wittgenstein (1993)

A humorous portrait of one of the 20th century’s most influential philosophers, Ludwig Wittgenstein. This self-tortured Viennese eccentric, who preferred detective fiction and the musicals of Carmen Miranda to Aristotle, is a fitting subject for Derek Jarman’s irreverent imagination. A profoundly entertaining work about modern philosophy and the dark genius that revolutionized it.

Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters (2020)

Reaching beyond the world of dance and the remarkable legacy of renowned choreographer-dancer-director Bill T. Jones, this Peabody Award winning documentary touches the essence of creativity and its relevance to the times in which we now live.

Kamikaze Hearts (1986)

Alternately distressing, instructive, contestable, and fascinating, Juliet Bashore’s quasi-documentary plunges into the 1980s porn industry and takes an unsparing look at issues of misogyny, drug abuse, and exploitation via the story of two women—the naive newcomer Tigr and her partner, the magnetic, imperious porn veteran Sharon Mitchell — caught in a toxic romance.

Pasolini (2019)

Abel Ferrara's "Pasolini"​ stars frequent collaborator Willem Dafoe as film director Pier Paolo Pasolini and chronicles the final hours before his death. Facing persecution from the public, politicians, and critics, Pasolini visits with his beloved mother and friends - all the while cruising in his Alfa Romeo for adventure and connections with beautiful younger men in the dark streets of Rome.

The Man Who Drove With Mandela (1998)

In 1962, at the height of oppression in apartheid South Africa, a gay white theater director was arrested with Nelson Mandela. His name was Cecil Williams. This is his story. Winner of the Best Documentary award at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival.

A Bigger Splash (1974)

In this intimate and innovative film about artist David Hockney, director Jack Hazan creates an improvisatory narrative-nonfiction hybrid. The result is at once a time capsule of hedonistic gay life in the 1970s and an honest-yet-tender depiction of gay male romance. A true classic, "A Bigger Splash" is an invaluable view of art history in action.

52 Tuesdays (2013)

16-year-old Billie's reluctant path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans for a gender transition and their time together becomes limited to Tuesday afternoons.