Jane Schoenbrun turned sapphic dreams into celluloid this year.
In Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, the director cast Hannah Einbinder as a queer director attempting to court (in more ways than one) the reclusive star of the horror franchise she’s hoping to reboot, played by Gillian Anderson. The result is a mesmerizing deconstruction of filmmaking itself, and an exploration of the ways the transgender body has long been the animating force behind the slasher subgenre. It’s tough to describe without seeing it, but that’s kind of the point.
“I try to put language to experiences we don’t currently have language for through the beautiful and strange art form of cinema,” they say of their approach. “What a way to communicate!”
Creating a situation in which Einbinder and Anderson lock lips would qualify anyone for the Out100. But in 2026, Schoenbrun also cemented themself as one of the most invigorating and conversation-driving filmmakers working today. Their previous two features, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and I Saw the TV Glow, spoke to the trans experience with an expert, almost painful specificity that resonated more widely. With Miasma, they’ve crafted a treatise on intimacy, sexuality, and narrative that has already become a modern classic. @janedoesnotknow
