Tubi is an upstart whippersnapper in the streaming space, rising in popularity for its free service that offers a massive library of films and television shows available to all of us in exchange for our willingness to watch a few commercials along the way. There are, by my count, at least 200 movies about lesbian, bisexual and queer women and/or trans people on Tubi, and the range of quality amongst those 200 is as vast as all the world’s oceans, from movies that were shot in an abandoned office park for $5 to actual real Hollywood cinema flicks. Here’s our guide to some of what’s best amongst queer and lesbian movies on Tubi.
Classic Lesbian Cannon
But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
Jamie Babbitt’s dark comedy holds up year after year with its satirical take on conversion therapy, starring Natasha Lyonne, Melanie Lynskey, Clea Duvall and RuPaul.
Carol (2015)
I mean, it’s Carol! Cate Blanchett is Carol and she wears a fur coat and loves a glove lunch. We have written 500 posts about Carol for you. You love Carol. Or you hate Carol. We love Carol.
The Truth About Jane (2000)
This TV movie is very much of its time, but features a winning performance by Stockard Channing as Janice, the struggling mother of a gay daughter in high school — and by RuPaul, who plays Jimmy, Janice’s friend who helps her process the news and inch towards acceptance.
Set It Off (1996)
This era-defining heist film, stars Jada Pinkett, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise and, of course, Queen Latifah; as four friends in L.A. who work at a Janitorial Services company with a shitty boss and decide to go ahead and rob a bank. Most important for our purposes here: Queen Latifah plays the seminal role of masculine lesbian Cleo Sims. “I don’t know that F. Gary Gray knew that in casting Queen Latifah as a breathtaking, once-in-lifetime Black butch action hero, he was changing the face of … well, everything,” wrote Carmen. “That in this film’s creation would become a Black lesbian icon burrowed right into the core of our canon.”
Queer Documentaries
Southwest of Salem (2016)
The tragic story of four Latina lesbians wrongfully convicted of the sexual assault of two small children during the 80s and 90s witch-hunt Satanic Panic era — and their fight for freedom.
Read Yvonne Marquez’s review of Southwest of Salem
The Celluloid Closet (1996)
This seminal documentary examines depictions of LGBTQ+ characters in cinema from the silent era into the 90s, exploring tropes and evaluating representation with a glorious roster of talking heads.
Chavela (2017)
The life of boundary-breaking lesbian ranchera singer Chavela Vargas — the first artist in Mexico to openly sing to another woman on stage, one of the first to wear pants pre-1950 — is given a loving tribute in this documentary.
Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement (2009)
This film tells the story of legendary lesbian couple Edie and Thea, from their childhoods to their first meeting in 1963 to Thea’s M.S. diagnosis and their eventual marriage in Toronto in 2007.
Regarding Susan Sontag (2014)
“While it would be easy to create a sterilized portrait of the accomplished intellectual, Kates refrains from doing so. No subject is too delicate: Sontag’s ego, contradictions, futile attempts at becoming a successful novelist, inability to play nice with other feminists, and infamous glass closet are all touched upon during Regarding‘s 90 minutes.” – Sarah Fonseca, “Regarding Susan Sontag”: A Style Guide for the Young, Queer, and Whipsmart
The Aggressives (2005)
This groundbreaking documentary, filmed in New York between 1997 and 2004, cast light on the thriving queer subculture of “Aggressives,” or “AGs,” QPOC who have adopted masculine behaviors and styles, built their own social spaces and are challenging traditional ideas of gender and sexuality.
Framing Agnes (2022)
Chase Joynt’s experimental documentary Framing Agnes begins as a tribute to visibility before evolving into the exact opposite, “wrote Drew of this film in which trans actors (including Jen Richards and Angelica Ross) perofrm transcripts from the 1960s gathered at UCLA’s gender health research facilities.
Wish Me Away (2012)
When Chely Wright came out in 2010, it was a big f*cking deal —country music simply had no space for a lesbian, but she couldn’t keep swallowing her own self forever. Wish Me Away follows her through her childhood through her early success in Nashville and through the painful process of coming out publicly, and dealing with the repercussions.
Lesbian Romance
I Can’t Think Straight (2007)
Tala, the daughter of wealthy Christian Palestinians living in Jordan, is prepping to marry when she meets Leyla, an aspiring writer and British Indian Muslim woman who’s also in a relationship with a man — but the two women hit it off, and what ensues will shake up their lives and their families forever. Erin enjoyed this movie so much she wanted to send its writer/director an Edible Arrangement.
A New York Christmas Wedding (2019)
This wacky trip of a lesbian Christmas movie sees Jenny (Nia Fairweather), nervous about her engagement to her fiancé, David, when a guardian angel Azraael (Cooper Koch) shows up to give her a vision into the future she could’ve lived but did not — in which she ended up with her childhood best friend, Gabrielle (Adriana DeMeo). “Instead of some far-off Snow White Christmas Village, it’s an queer Afro-Latina looking for love in a very not whitewashed New York,” wrote Carmen in her review.
Gray Matters (2006) – Heather Graham is Gray, a quiet, family-oriented girl who has a very intense and co-dependent relationship with her brother —they live together, go to dance classes together, all of it. But that relationship is in trouble when Gray meets Sam, sets Sam up with her brother — and then falls for Sam herself. Hijinks!
Kiss Me/Kiss Myg (2011)
Mia meets Frida at an engagement party for Mia’s father and Frida’s mother and is immediately drawn to Frida, an out lesbian. But their attraction poses a pretty serious problem because Mia is also engaged to be married, to a man (his name is Tim of course).
Princess Cyd (2017)
Heartwarming and sincere, Princess Cyd is the story of a life-changing summer in which our titular character lives with her estranged writer aunt, falls for a neighborhood boy and also her local barista, Katie. Heather writes: “Princess Cyd is quiet almost to the point of stillness and deeply generous.”
Rafiki (2018)
This “beautiful, colorful celebration of Black queer love” sees two young women in Kenya, Kena and Ziki, falling in love in a country where homosexuality is illegal and so many of their friends and family members aren’t supportive of their relationship. Filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu creates art in a style she calls “Afrobubblegum, presenting a ‘fun, fierce and fantastical representation of Africa.”
Signature Move (2017)
Fawzia Mirza’s “late-in-life coming-of-age lucha libre romance” is about a thirtysomethign Pakistani Muslim lesbian in Chicago who’s taking care of with her mother and training to be a wrestler when she meets and falls for a woman who challenges her to embrace her true self..
The Summer of Sangaile (2015)
“Alanté Kavaïté’s coming-of-age queer love story is less about the spectacle of the thing and more about the emotional nuance. It’s dark in places but as light as first love’s wings in others… Summer of Sangaile will compel you to smile really big and shed three knowing, bittersweet tears.” – Heather Hogan
Indie Queer Movies
The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)
Desiree Akhvan’s adaptation of emily m. danforth’s stunning coming-of-age novel follows teenage Cameron Post (Chloë Grace Moretz) in the early nineties who’s sent to conversion camp after her boyfriend catches her having sex with her secret girlfriend Coley Taylor, in the backseat of Coley’s car. There she meets Jane Fonda (Sasha Lane), who was raised in a hippie commune, and begins to discover who she really is and who she wants to be.
“This is a quiet movie, Akhavan trusting Ashley Connor’s cinematography, Julian Wass’ score, and her actors’ faces to tell the story. Akhavan never lets the seriousness of the subject matter overwhelm the moments of humor and joy — the suggestion that our best hope for holding onto ourselves is to find community.” – Drew Gregory
A Date For Mad Mary (2016)
After a brief stay in prison, Mad Mary returns to her hometown, where she must push back against her reputation to get a date to her best friend’s wedding. “The film balances its subject matter and its tones due to sharp writing and Kerslake’s truly remarkable performance,” writes Drew. “This is really a gem of a film.”
Adam (2019)
Based on Ariel Schrag’s graphic novel, Adam is the story of an awkward teenage boy who spends his last high school summer in New York with his sister and the queer and trans community she’s surrounded herself with. When those gay friends assume Adam himself is trans, he doesn’t correct them. It’s a self-conscious, humorous snapshot of young queer life in the late ’00s.
Boy Meets Girl (2014)
One of the first films to show a trans woman played by a trans actress dating another woman, “Boy Meets Girl” is a lighthearted romance about Ricky, a 21-year-old bisexual Virginia trans woman dreaming of a design career in New York, who makes two surprising connections in one unforgettable summer.
Goldfish Memory (2003)
“Like Love, Actually, but Irish, gay, and riddled with commitment issues this ensemble romantic comedy follows the lives and intersecting relationships of several delightfully messy people. Equally split between gay, lesbian, and straight romances, some storylines work better than others, but all of the actors are charming and the film is smarter about love than most of these kinds of romcoms.” – Drew Gregory
Loving Annabelle (2007)
After being sent to a Roman Catholic school to shape up, teenage Annabelle shocks her new classmates and her instructor, Simone Bradley, in her English class — but Simone ends up drawn to Annabelle, and the two develop a relationship. “As much as I’d love to pretend I can write this movie off for the problematic aspects,”
Valerie wrote, “the truth is this movie was vital to my queer evolution and rewatching now as an out and proud queer woman who has consumed thousands of hours of LGBTQ+ content since I first laid eyes on that stripey-haired teen and her shy teacher crush, I was transported to that feeling of excitement and, frankly, hope that this movie once provided me.”
Red Doors (2005)
Ed, the father of three daughters in a Chinese-American family living in the New York suburbs, is revisiting his whole family history through VHS tapes — including the story of Julie, the shy middle child who’s life is shaken up when she falls for actress Mia Scarlett.
Hahahahaha Comedies
Blockers (2018)
This unexpectedly smart sex comedy follows a group of teenage friends who’ve made a pact to lose their virginity on prom night and their overprotective parents, who really hate this idea! It’s charming and hilarious in equal measure, and the queer teenager’s evolution is a particularly delightful.
BFFs (2014)
Two straight best friends pretend to be a couple to enable them to attend a relationship retreat one of them bought with a now-ex boyfriend. But once there, the lines between friendship and romance blur in a film that’s a funny and lighthearted look at the silly complexities of female friendship.
Camp Takota (2014)
This light-hearted comedy suitable for the whole family with a subtle queer edge stars Grace Helbig as an author with her life in shambles who reuintes with two estranged pals — including lesbian camp counselor played by Hannah Hart — to save the summer camp where they all met.
The Feels (2018)
Andi (Constance Wu) and Lu (Angela Trimbur) corral their friends into California Wine County for a pre-wedding bachelorette party, where Lu makes the drunk confession that she’e never had an orgasm —much to Andi’s surprise, who thought they were having the best sex of their lives. Everybody pitches in to solve this problem, but they’ve got a lot of their own emotional hijinks to tend to along the way. Heather writes: “it’s authentic and it’s tender and while the climax is a little bit rushed — eh hem — it’s a gay happy ending. And that, itself, is still revolutionary.
Life Partners (2014)
Leighton Meester is Sasha, a lesbian who’s entrenched in a deeply co-dependent best friendship with Paige, who is straight — a friendship that’s tested when Paige meets a man (Adam Brody) she actually likes and Sasha hates sharing. B Nichols called Life Partners “a film in which everything that could go usually wrong in a lesbian film inexplicably doesn’t!” Beth Dover and Gabourey Sidibe are delightful as Sasha’s queer friends.
Women Who Kill (2017)
This dry, dark comedy follows exes Morgan (Ingrid Jungermann) and Jean (Ann Carr), locally famous true-crime podcasters in Park Slope who interview female serial killers — but Morgan can’t seem to shut off her suspicion of darkness lurking beneath everything when she starts dating Simone, a mysterious girl she meets at the Park Slope Food Co-Op.
Thrills and Chills
Good Manners (2017)
“Good Manners…is exploring something uniquely queer. Part of the reason it’s such an overwhelming and complex film is because its queerness forces it to embody both the body horror of pregnancy and the fear of parental failure, while also including the distrust of adoption found in something like The Omen and the rejection of an other found in works like Frankenstein and Freaks.”
— Drew Burnett Gregory, via Monsters & Mommis: “Good Manners” Is a Tribute to Queer Motherhood
Bit (2019)
Laurel (Nicole Maines) is just a regular 18-year-old trans girl with protective parents before she gets vampired while spending the summer with her brother in LA, where she has a perfect gay meet-cute with Izzy who of course digs in and turn Laurel into a vampire. “Brad Michael Elmore’sBitisn’t a landmark film about the trans experience,” wrote Drew in her review of Bit. “But God is it fun. And it’s not without meaning.”
Clementine (2019)
This drama about “longing, youth, and slippery notions of truth and lies”. Karen, reeling from her breakup with an older woman, breaks into her ex’s lake house where she meets Lana (Sydney Sweeney), a captivating presence with whom things get very complicated, very quickly.
The Hunger (1983)
Miriam (Catherine Denevue), a centuries-old Egyptian vampire, is devastated by her lover John (David Bowie)’s sudden deterioration and set sher sights on Sarah (Susan Sarandon), a young scientist who studies aging. Although she describes the movie as “baffling,” with a “convoluted plot” that is “lacking in any sort of clear thematic depth,” Drew notes that none of that really matters with this cast and “one of the best lesbian sex scenes of all time.”
Jack & Diane (2012)
Charming and naive Diane (Juno Temple) meets tough-skinned Jack (Riley Keough) in New York City. They hook up all night and must grapple with their growing relationship under challenging circumstances — Diane’s moving at the end of the summer, but her feelings for Jack are manifesting themselves in terrifying ways, creating violent changes in her physical body.
Lyle (2014)
Leah (Gaby Hoffman) and June (Ingrid Jungermann) are mothers grieving the loss of their toddler while planning for a new baby in a psychological thriller Kristin Russo described as “each moment punching your eyeballs in with the sheer force of its beauty.”
The Carmilla Movie (2017)
Beloved actor Elise Bauman co-stars in this film inspired by the web-series of the same name which was adapted from the 1872 graphic novel Carmilla. Five years after vanquishing the apocalypse, Laura (Bauman) and Carmilla (Natasha Negovanlis) and their pals face a new supernatural threat tied to Carmilla’s past. Valerie, a fan of the web series, declared the film “everything we want it to be (and so much more).”
Wynonna Earp: Vengeance (2024)
In this film based on the original television series, Wynonna Earp returns home “to battle her greatest foe yet: a psychotic seductress hellbent on revenge against her… and everyone she loves.” “We’re so pleased about how seamlessly Vengeance fit into the series,” wrote Nic and Valerie. “Even though it was technically a different format, it really did just feel like a long episode of Earp, like no time had passed at all, and we love to see it.”
Queer Arthouse Movies
House of Hummingbird (2018)
This award-winning South Korean drama, set in 1994, captures the acute misery of being 14 years old, a time when everything seems like the end of the world. Eun-hee is a working class girl with a secret boyfriend, an abusive brother, a Chinese teacher she’s obsessed and a best friend, Yu-ri—a schoolgirl who’s nursing a huge crush on Eun-hee. Drew writes that “this is a movie for all the queers who ate lunch in a teacher’s room and this is a movie for all the queers who wondered if a future was possible and then, one day, stopped wondering and started to believe.”
Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)
Certainly a controversial film within the community, this Palme d’or winner is a tortured love story has its fans and has its viewers who feel the male gaze reigns supreme upon its legendarily long sex scenes. It’s the story of a French teen Adèle who forms a deep sexual and romantic connection with an older art student, following Adèle as she becomes an adult and eats a lot of spaghetti.
Certain Women (2016)
This film is so quiet and empty and full, and about Montana as much as it is about any of the people who live there. Stewart plays a law student who forms a bond with a rancher in the town (Lily Gladstone) where she’s teaching “School Law” and she doesn’t say much, but she accomplishes so much here with her small patches of time.
Petit Mal (2022)
“Petit Mal is about a throuple figuring out how to begin again. It’s not that the film shies away from the specific joys and challenges of a throuple — it’s just done in a way that doesn’t attach value or judgment.” -Drew, “Petit Mal” is a Lesbian Throuple’s Real Life Friction
Salmonberries (1991)
k.d. lang stars as an orphaned Eskimo who passes as male to work at a mine in Alaska. She has a relationship with Roswitha (Rosel Zech), an exiled widowed East German librarian. “It’s a slow and odd film about identity and the past that doesn’t totally work but is endlessly fascinating,” wrote Drew.
Silent Night
Dyke Drama
Professor Marston & The Wonder Women (2017)
This biopic about the creator of Wonder Woman is also, Drew writes, “a story about polyamory, about BDSM, about three individuals fighting to define their own lives and loves. There is power in completely disavowing mainstream forms and there is a different kind of power in mastering them and subverting them from within. Luke Evans and Bella Heathcoate are great as William Marston and the Marstons’ new partner, but Rebecca Hall as Elizabeth Marston truly astounds. The movie doesn’t ignore the complications of their relationship — the external and the internal — but instead allows the relationship and these characters an understanding they were never granted. There’s a reason Wonder Woman is such a popular character: these lives aren’t so rare after all — only on our screens.”
Lizzie (2018)
Inspired by the infamous 1892 murders of the Borden family —for which their daughter Lizzie was the primary suspect —this film sees Kristen Stewart as the new Irish maid who strikes up a relationship with Lizzie as her relationship with her parents begins to fall apart. “Lizzieis brutal, historically attuned, and committed to exploring effeminate trauma and retaliation,” wrote Fonseca in her review.
My Days of Mercy (2017)
Elliot Page is Lucy and Kate Mara is Mercy in this film that mixes politics with passion. Lucy and her sister are anti-death-penalty protestors fighting to get their father, Simon, off death row. At a protest in Illinois, Lucy meerts Mercy, the daughter of a cop with dies to the death penalty case being protested. Despite their potential political tensions, a romance begins to grow.
Take Me For a Ride (2016)
“A simple coming-of-age movie about queer teen love in Ecuador, Take Me For a Ride works because of the precise cinematography and the chemistry between lead actors Samanta Caicedo and Maria Juliana Rangel. The drama remains low-key and the film feels like a personal snapshot.” – Drew
The World to Come (2020)
Mona Fastvold’s exquisite skills as a director are on display in this movie which fits most of the lesbian film tropes — 19th century, isolation, white straight cis actresses, lots of longing and period costumes. Two women in bad marriages develop a quick and deep friendship with each other that blossoms into more!
In her review of The World to Come, Drew called it “an extraordinary lesbian romance ruined by Casey Affleck.”
The Secrets / Ha Sadot (2007)
This “complicated film about faith and love and commitment to principles all in the face of patriarchy” is the story of two young women studying at Jewish seminary — studious and conservative Noemi and rebellious Michelle. They discover their queerness through their feelings for each other, while both are pushed towards marrying men.
georgia to turkey Lucy T. Dinner on the Bosphorus was unforgettable — lights, music, and the view! https://share.google/Vlue3hZ1Q1QJ1ePOX