Newfest 2020 Preview: Trans Teens, Jewish Funerals, and So Much More
If you live in the US you can watch the films! Even if you’re not in New York!
Jenni Olson’s Films Are Now On Criterion — Butch Dyke Longing For the Moment
When Jenni Olson made these films, she wasn’t thinking about pandemics or quarantines or anything else this year has wrought, and yet there has never been a better time to revisit these five movies.
“Chutney Popcorn” Is the South Asian Dyke Rom-Com I Always Wished “Bend It Like Beckham” Had Been
I wish I could go back and show this film to my baby gay self.
What’s New to Stream in October 2020
Everything streaming with queer women and trans characters in October, including hot women in space and a docuseries starring all your favorites.
Yes, “Loving Annabelle” Is Problematic — But it Was a Vital Film in My Own Queer Journey
There’s a reason forbidden romances like this spoke to me as a closeted person!
“Antebellum” Forgot That Black Women Can’t Save the World From Fascism, We Only Must Save Ourselves
Seeing as the modern police force is an evolution of slave catchers, for a film trying to make a point about how the horrors of the past still exist in the present — it comes across as both ahistorical and like a serious misstep.
Lez Try It: Sword Fighting á la Lost and Delirious
When I got to the sword fighting gym, I immediately felt out of place in the way that being the only lesbian in a room full of men holding swords can make you feel.
“Kissing Jessica Stein” Is a Classic of Queer Jewish Anxiety
I hope those of you who celebrate had a relatively joyous Rosh Hashanah. And now please join me in the High Holy Day of revisiting a Jewish queer woman classic.
“The First Time”: Drew Burnett Gregory Made a Movie in Quarantine and it’s 15 Minutes of Pure Queer Bliss
The First Time is everything I’ve come to love about Drew’s writing over the last several years: smart hilarious, powerful, and deeply generous. And just heckin’ gay and trans.
“The Handmaiden” Dares You to Look
This movie is simultaneously sexy and fucked-up, and its paradoxes mesmerize.
What’s the Gayest Not-Gay Film Your Parents Rented You From Blockbuster?
“Foxy Brown quickly became my favorite film of the blaxploitation classica. Pam Grier — yes, that Pam Grier, Bette’s big sister (it’ll annoy me forever that that’s how generations of queer women remember Grier) — was just astounding in the titular role… badass and unrelentingly sexy. The other awesome thing about that movie? I think it was the first time I’d seen a lesbian bar on screen.”
Ìfé Writer and Director Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim on Decolonizing Nigerian Storytelling and Queer Love Stories
“Ìfé is a story that not many queer people have seen come out of Nigeria. I’m really hoping that, apart from everything else that it does – normalizing the queer experience and being a great source of representation – I’m really hoping that it brings joy to the LGBT community.”
“Set It Off” Is the Queer Tribute to Black Women’s Friendship We Need After a Summer of Black Mourning
As Cleo, Queen Latifah had never been better. Young, mighty, unadulterated, sweet to her friends, sexy in the way that only studs can be — an energy that radiates beneath the pores and melanin, the quiet, intoxicating confidence that comes from truly owning your shit.
Isabel Sandoval on “Lingua Franca,” Sex Scenes, and the Trans Female Gaze
“There’s a certain undeniable assertion of identity and personhood in seeing a woman think.”
“Lingua Franca” Is a Masterpiece — Written By, Directed By, and Starring a Trans Woman
Not only is this film more than its labels because Sandoval sees her character’s humanity — it’s more than its labels because Sandoval is so good in all her roles. This is a patient and artful film, nuanced in its writing and direction, and filled with stellar performances.
“Ammonite” Trailer: Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” Meets “Gentleman Jack”
This Mary Anning biopic has all the hallmark of a lesbian classic, including forbidden touches, longing glances, and a frantically erotic violin.
Film Historian Jenni Olson on “Mädchen in Uniform,” The First Ever Lesbian Film
“They were like whatever we have dozens of lesbian bars, we have magazines, we have all of this culture, we have Marlene Dietrich, we don’t need this little girl thing.”
“Summerland” Is An Escapist Gay Melodrama And That Might Just Be Enough
There is charm to be had in watching two phenomenally talented straight actresses play out a lesbian relationship in the kind of wartime melodrama that is so often straight and white.
My Top 10 Favorite Lesbian Films: Valerie Anne, Who Loves a Cheesy Movie and Won’t Apologize For It
I swear the Blockbuster cashiers knew I was gay before anyone else in my life.
GLAAD 2020 Film Report: Mainstream Movies Continue to Ignore Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer and Trans Women
Of 118 major studio releases in 2019, 15 included gay men, eight included lesbian or bisexual women, and zero included trans characters.