The Best LGBTQ+ Films of All Time
by pbn | created - 28 Apr 2019 | updated - 01 May 2019 | PublicIn 2018, for the 30th anniversary of BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the British Film Institute surveyed over 100 programmers, critics and filmmakers to find the 30 greatest LGBTQ+ films of all time. Which of their picks is your favorite?
Discuss here after voting
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1. Carol (2015)
14A | 118 min | Drama, Romance
An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York.
Director: Todd Haynes | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler
Votes: 110,639 | Gross: $12.71M
2. Weekend (II) (2011)
97 min | Drama, Romance
After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what's expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.
Director: Andrew Haigh | Stars: Tom Cullen, Chris New, Jonathan Race, Laura Freeman
Votes: 27,265 | Gross: $0.46M
3. Chun gwong cha sit (1997)
PA | 96 min | Drama, Romance
A couple take a trip to Argentina but both men find their lives drifting apart in opposite directions.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Chen Chang, Gregory Dayton
Votes: 21,290 | Gross: $0.19M
4. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
14A | 134 min | Drama, Romance
The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys, and their lives over the years.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid
Votes: 315,342 | Gross: $83.04M
5. Paris Is Burning (1990)
14A | 71 min | Documentary
A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.
Director: Jennie Livingston | Stars: Brooke Xtravaganza, André Christian, Dorian Corey, Paris Duprée
Votes: 11,862 | Gross: $3.78M
6. Sud pralad (2004)
G | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A romance between a soldier and a country boy, wrapped around a Thai folk-tale involving a shaman with shape-shifting abilities.
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Stars: Banlop Lomnoi, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Huai Dessom, Sirivech Jareonchon
Votes: 4,928
7. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An ambitious Pakistani Briton and his white boyfriend strive for success and hope when they open a glamorous laundromat.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Richard Graham
Votes: 13,807 | Gross: $2.45M
8. Todo sobre mi madre (1999)
14A | 101 min | Drama
Young Esteban wants to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his second mother, a trans woman, carefully concealed by his mother Manuela.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan
Votes: 86,432 | Gross: $8.26M
9. Un chant d'amour (1950)
26 min | Short, Fantasy, Romance
Two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
Director: Jean Genet | Stars: Bravo, Jean Genet, Java, Coco Le Martiniquais
Votes: 3,002
10. My Own Private Idaho (1991)
R | 104 min | Drama
Two best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, James Russo, William Richert
Votes: 48,541 | Gross: $6.40M
11. Tangerine (2015)
18A | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A hooker tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart.
Director: Sean Baker | Stars: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O'Hagan
Votes: 25,857 | Gross: $0.70M
12. Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant (1972)
124 min | Drama, Romance
An arrogant fashion designer falls in love with an icy beauty who wants to be a model.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Eva Mattes
Votes: 8,189
13. La vie d'Adèle (2013)
R | 180 min | Drama, Romance
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche | Stars: Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Aurélien Recoing
Votes: 134,303 | Gross: $2.20M
14. Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
88 min | Drama, Romance
At an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
Directors: Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich | Stars: Dorothea Wieck, Hertha Thiele, Emilia Unda, Hedy Krilla
Votes: 2,378
15. Fucking Åmål (1998)
14A | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two teenage girls in small-town Sweden. Elin is beautiful, popular, and bored with life. Agnes is friendless, sad, and secretly in love with Elin.
Director: Lukas Moodysson | Stars: Alexandra Dahlström, Rebecka Liljeberg, Erica Carlson, Mathias Rust
Votes: 49,091 | Gross: $0.17M
16. Orlando (1992)
PG | 94 min | Biography, Drama, Fantasy
After Queen Elizabeth I commands him not to grow old, a young nobleman struggles with love and his place in the world.
Director: Sally Potter | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, Quentin Crisp, Jimmy Somerville
Votes: 13,760 | Gross: $5.29M
17. Victim (1961)
G | 90 min | Drama
The death of a young man leads to the discovery of a blackmail plot against several gay men in 1960s London.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia Syms, Dennis Price, Anthony Nicholls
Votes: 4,904
18. Je tu il elle (1974)
86 min | Drama
'Je' is a girl voluntarily lock up in a room. 'Tu' is the script. 'Il' is a lorry driver. 'Elle' is the girlfriend.
Director: Chantal Akerman | Stars: Chantal Akerman, Niels Arestrup, Claire Wauthion
Votes: 1,695
19. Looking for Langston (1989)
45 min | Biography, Drama
A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. A wake is going on, with ... See full summary »
Director: Isaac Julien | Stars: Ben Ellison, Matthew Baidoo, Akim Mogaji, John Wilson
Votes: 441
20. Beau Travail (1999)
92 min | Drama, War
This film focuses on an ex-Foreign Legion officer as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in Djibouti.
Director: Claire Denis | Stars: Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin, Richard Courcet
Votes: 7,703 | Gross: $0.25M
21. Beautiful Thing (1996)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Jamie is a shy teenager, often bullied at school. His neighbour Ste has a rough time at home, being beaten by his father and brother. This issues bring them together and they find that what they feel for each other is more than friendship.
Director: Hettie Macdonald | Stars: Glen Berry, Linda Henry, Scott Neal, Tameka Empson
Votes: 22,194 | Gross: $1.50M
22. L'inconnu du lac (2013)
18+ | 100 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this but wants to live out his passion anyway.
Director: Alain Guiraudie | Stars: Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d'Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatte
Votes: 12,719 | Gross: $0.32M
23. Teorema (1968)
G | 98 min | Drama, Mystery
A mysterious young man seduces each member of a bourgeois family. When he suddenly leaves, how will their lives change?
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Silvana Mangano, Terence Stamp, Massimo Girotti, Anne Wiazemsky
Votes: 11,604
24. The Watermelon Woman (1996)
90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.
Director: Cheryl Dunye | Stars: Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker, Lisa Marie Bronson
Votes: 1,361
25. Pariah (I) (2011)
14A | 86 min | Drama
A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
Director: Dee Rees | Stars: Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans, Aasha Davis, Pernell Walker
Votes: 5,885 | Gross: $0.76M
26. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
14A | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Jeanne Bates
Votes: 310,146 | Gross: $7.22M
27. Portrait of Jason (1967)
105 min | Documentary, Biography
Black gay prostitute Jason Holliday is rigorously interviewed on his story and character, revealing nuanced truths about life and art.
Director: Shirley Clarke | Stars: Jason Holliday, Shirley Clarke, Carl Lee
Votes: 946
28. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
18A | 125 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A man robs a bank to pay for his lover's operation, which turns into a hostage situation and a media circus.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Penelope Allen, Sully Boyar
Votes: 229,412 | Gross: $50.00M
29. Morte a Venezia (1971)
130 min | Drama
While recovering in Venice, sickly Composer Gustav von Aschenbach becomes dangerously fixated with teenager Tadzio.
Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Romolo Valli, Mark Burns, Nora Ricci
Votes: 18,058 | Gross: $0.15M
30. Pink Narcissus (1971)
65 min | Drama, Fantasy
An erotic poem set in the fantasies of a young male prostitute.
Director: James Bidgood | Stars: Don Brooks, Bobby Kendall, Charles Ludlam
Votes: 1,148 | Gross: $0.01M
31. Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
R | 110 min | Drama
The emotional intricacies of a polyamorous relationship between young artist Bob and his two lovers: a lonely male doctor and a frustrated female office worker.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, Murray Head, Peggy Ashcroft
Votes: 5,345 | Gross: $0.54M
32. Tomboy (2011)
82 min | Drama
A family moves into a new neighborhood, and a 10-year-old named Laure deliberately presents as a boy named Mikhael to the neighborhood children.
Director: Céline Sciamma | Stars: Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana, Jeanne Disson, Sophie Cattani
Votes: 17,614 | Gross: $0.13M
33. Bara no sôretsu (1969)
14A | 105 min | Drama
The trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.
Director: Toshio Matsumoto | Stars: Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshimi Jô, Koichi Nakamura
Votes: 4,329
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