Pride: A Month of Films Celebrating the LGBTQ+ Experience
BY SCOTTIE KNOLLIN
For this year’s Pride Month, we’re celebrating the queer experience with a monthlong curated list of queer cinema currently streaming. From surprise box office and awards season darlings to underrated and rarely seen gems, these 30 titles offer an array of entertainment, education, and everything in between.
Happy Pride.
June 1: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Directed by Ang Lee
Synopsis: “Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship.”
Currently streaming on Netflix; view trailer.
Winner: Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score
June 2: BAD EDUCATION
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Synopsis: “An examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.”
Currently streaming on HBO Max; view trailer.
June 3: PARIS IS BURNING
Directed byJennie Livingston
Synopsis: “A chronicle of New York’s drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing, and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
June 4: HAPPY TOGETHER
Directed by Kar-Wai Wong
Synopsis: “A couple take a trip to Argentina but both men find their lives drifting apart in opposite directions.”
Currently streaming on HBO Max; view trailer.
June 5: ANGELS IN AMERICA
Directed by Mike Nichols
Synopsis: “Playwright Tony Kushner adapted his political epic about the A.I.D.S. crisis during the mid 1980s and centers the story around a group of separate but connected individuals.”
Currently streaming on HBO Max; view trailer.
June 6: PARIAH
Directed by Dee Rees
Synopsis: “A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.”
Currently streaming on Netflix; view trailer.
June 7: BEACH RATS
Directed by Eliza Hittman
Synopsis: “A Brooklyn teenager spends his days experimenting with drugs and looking online for older men to meet with.”
Currently streaming on Hulu; view trailer.
June 8: THE GARDEN
Directed by Derek Jarman
Synopsis: “A nearly wordless visual narrative focuses on homosexuality and Christianity set against the backdrop of Prospect College.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
June 9: DISCLOSURE
Directed by Sam Feder
Synopsis: “An in-depth look at Hollywood's depiction of transgender people and the impact of those stories on transgender lives and American culture.”
Currently streaming on Netflix; view trailer.
June 10: MOONLIGHT
Directed by Barry Jenkins
Synopsis: “A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.”
Currently streaming on Netflix; view trailer.
Winner: Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali), and Best Adapted Screenplay
June 11: THE BIRDCAGE
Directed by Mike Nichols
Synopsis: “A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's right-wing moralistic parents.”
Currently streaming on Hulu; view trailer.
June 12: IN A YEAR WITH 13 MOONS
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbender
Synopsis: “A transgender woman tries to salvage something from the wreckage love has made of her life by confronting her anguished past, hoping to find ultimate acceptance among quondam acquaintances and herself.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
June 13: LOVE, SIMON
Directed by Greg Berlanti
Synopsis: “Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends and all of his classmates: he's gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.”
Currently streaming on Hulu; view trailer.
June 14: BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE)
Directed by Robin Campillo
Synopsis: “Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
June 15: SHAKEDOWN
Directed by Leilah Weinraub
Synopsis: “Chronicles explicit performances in an underground lesbian club in Los Angeles. Cumulatively, questions arise about how to diagram the before and after of a utopic moment.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
June 16: PRINCESS CYD
Directed by Stephen Cone
Synopsis: “A 16-year-old girl visits her aunt in Chicago for the summer. While there, she falls for another girl, and she and her aunt challenge each other's sex and spirit.”
Currently streaming on Hulu; view trailer.
June 17: A SINGLE MAN
Directed by Tom Ford
Synopsis: “An English professor, one year after the sudden death of his boyfriend, is unable to cope with his typical days in 1960s Los Angeles.”
Currently streaming on Netflix; view trailer.
June 18: THE LARAMIE PROJECT
Directed by Moisés Kaufman
Synopsis: “The true story of an American town in the wake of the murder of Matthew Shepard.”
Currently streaming on HBO Max; view trailer.
June 19: BEAU TRAVAIL
Directed by Claire Denis
Synopsis: “Focuses on an ex-Foreign Legion officer as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in Djibouti.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
June 20: THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON
Directed by David France
Synopsis: “Victoria Cruz investigates the mysterious 1992 death of black gay rights activist and Stonewall veteran, Marsha P. Johnson. Using archival interviews with Johnson, and new interviews with Johnson's family, friends and fellow activists.”
Currently streaming on Netflix; view trailer.
June 21: QUERELLE
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbender
Synopsis: “A handsome sailor is drawn into a vortex of sibling rivalry, murder, and explosive sexuality.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
June 22: BOOKSMART
Directed by Olivia Wilde
Synopsis: “On the eve of their high school graduation, two academic superstars and best friends realize they should have worked less and played more. Determined not to fall short of their peers, the girls try to cram four years of fun into one night.”
Currently streaming on Hulu; view trailer.
June 23: VICTIM
Directed by Basil Dearden
Synopsis: “A closeted lawyer risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
June 24: OTHER PEOPLE
Directed by Chris Kelly
Synopsis: “A struggling comedy writer, fresh off a breakup and in the midst of the worst year of his life, returns to Sacramento to care for his dying mother.”
Currently streaming on Netflix; view trailer.
June 25: EDGE OF SEVENTEEN
Directed by David Moreton
Synopsis: “A teenager copes with his sexuality on the last day of school in 1984. It shows him coping with being gay and being with friends.”
Currently streaming on Netflix; view trailer.
June 26: PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Directed by Céline Sciamma
Synopsis: “On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.”
Currently streaming on Hulu; view trailer.
June 27: THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK
Directed by Rob Epstein
Synopsis: “A documentary of the successful career and assassination of San Francisco's first elected gay city supervisor.”
Currently streaming on HBO Max; view trailer.
Winner: Academy Award for Best Documentary
June 28: HENRY GAMBLE’S BIRTHDAY PARTY
Directed by Stephen Cone
Synopsis: “Preacher's kid Henry Gamble is turning 17 today. Bring your swimsuit.”
Currently streaming on Hulu; view trailer.
June 29: DESERT HEARTS
Directed by Donna Deitch
Synopsis: “While waiting for her divorce papers, a repressed professor of literature is unexpectedly seduced by a carefree, spirited young lesbian.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
June 30: WEEKEND
Directed by Andrew Haigh
Synopsis: “After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what's expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.”
Currently streaming on Criterion Channel; view trailer.
