The annual Sundance Film Festival is officially underway, and that means that some of the best independent and international films of the year are being screened, often for the first time. Among the titles this year are several queer ones that we can’t wait to see.
From documentaries, to Mexican and Finnish films, to love stories and coming-of-age narratives, this year’s festival highlights some great new offerings from queer filmmakers. While some of these films might have a larger audience than others, they’re all worth checking out. To also check out a list of all these movies, as well as all the LGBTQ+ shorts that will be playing at Sundance, go to their website.
Here are the seven of the many LGBTQ+ films we’re most excited to see at Sundance this year!
Coming from wife duo Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne, Am I Ok? is the movie we are most excited for out of the festival. It stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy and Sonoya Mizuno as Jane, two best friends whose relationship is thrown into chaos when one gets a promotion, and the other comes out as gay. From all reports, this is a movie everyone will want to see.
This Mexican film follows two women, Maria Garcia and Rafaela, as they fight to keep the Garcia family’s once-majestic tequila factory open. The film comes from writer-director Juan Pablo González and stars Teresa Sánchez in a powerful performance.
Director Chase Joynt takes a look at trans history in this inventive film that reimagines the lives of some of the trans people interviewed in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960’s. Starring trans actors Zackary Drucker, Angelica Ross, Jen Richards, Max Wolf Valerio, Silas Howard, and Stephen Ira, this film shines a light on trans people that have been often ignored.
A Finnish movie about female friendship, Girl Picture follows best friends Mimmi and Rönkkö as they look for love and find themselves while working at a food court smoothie kiosk. Mimmi is queer and is dating a female skater named Emma.
Marte Um follows a lower-middle-class Black Brazilian family living in a major city in the country after a far-right extremist president is elected. The family’s oldest daughter, Eunice, falls in love with a free-spirited young woman and ponders whether or not it's time for her to set out on her own.
Written and directed by its star, Theda Hammel, My Trip to Spain is a short series following Alexis, a trans woman who is about to head to Spain for cosmetic surgery. When her old friend Charlie (John Early) shows up to housesit, he tries to convince her to cancel the surgery and also pursues a relationship with her gardener, Bruno.
Director Rita Baghdadi followed Lilas Mayassi and Shery Bechara, the founders and guitarists of the Middle East’s first and only all-woman thrash metal band Slave to Sirens, for this documentary feature. Joined by three other bandmates, vocalist Maya Khairallah, bassist Alma Doumani, and drummer Tatyana Goughaba, the Sirens navigate the music world at the same time as they navigate friendship, sexuality, and their lives in Beirut.
