This June marks the 50th pride month, marked in many countries around the world. As this year’s events have been canceled due to the pandemic, it’s the perfect time to watch a few LGBTQ+ related films to educate yourself about the history of the community.
Milk (2008)
This film is based on the life of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist and politician who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California.
Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, the film stars Sean Penn as Milk alongside Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, and James Franco.
The film was released to much acclaim and earned numerous accolades including 8 Oscar nominations at the 81st Academy Awards.
Moonlight (2016)
A coming-of-age drama written and directed by Barry Jenkins, based on Tarell Alvin McCraney’s unpublished semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. It stars Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali.
The film an Academy Award for best picture and by doing so was the first film with an all-black cast, the first LGBTQ-related film, and the second-lowest-grossing film domestically to win this award.
Paris is Burning (1990)
In the great tradition of Paris is Burning, the library is now open – and the T is — this documentary will change the way you look at ballroom culture and the art of drag.
This documentary was directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in it. Critics consider the film to be an invaluable documentary of the end of the “Golden Age” of New York City drag balls.
In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Philadelphia (1993)
American treasure Tom Hanks won his first of three (so far) Academy Award for Best Actor for this film, which was groundbreaking in the way it dealt with the HIV/aids pandemic. Directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Hanks and Denzel Washington, the film was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to even acknowledge HIV, homosexuality, and homophobia.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Directed by Ang Lee and adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name, the film stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams. It depicts the complex emotional and sexual relationship between Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist in the American West from 1963 to 1983.
Brokeback Mountain has been regarded as a stepping stone for the advancement of queer cinema into the mainstream. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
