HypeFresh is celebrating Pride this year with movies. Looking for some great flicks starring LGBTQ+ actors or centering queer stories? Look no further!
Fire Island
Fire Island is most certainly this summer’s hottest LGBTQ+ film. Written by and starring Joel Kim Booster, this queer adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice is so dreamy. SNL’s Bowen Yang is the cutest in his brilliant performance as Booster’s best friend. What makes this movie special is that the friendships are just as if not more important than the romances. A movie about a Summer vacation with your best friends? Sign us up! Fire Island is currently available on Hulu.
Looking for LGBTQ+ Stories of Young Love?
Anything’s Possible
Billy Porter directs this coming-of-age rom com. In his directorial debut, Porter centers the character of Kelsa. According to Deadline, Kelsa is “a confident high school girl who is trans, as she navigates through senior year.” Anything’s Possible, which will be released on July 22, features the young love of Kelsa and her classmate Khal. The cast stars Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali, and Renée Elise Goldsberry.
The Prom
In the mood for a musical? This delightful stage to screen adaptation of the Broadway musical The Prom is a joyful celebration of LGBTQ youth. It features a young lgbt couple in Indiana who, despite all odds, just want to dance together at their high school prom. Cue Heart Melting Directed by Ryan Murphy and starring Ariana DeBose, Meryl Streep, Keegan-Michael Key, among other A-Listers, The Prom will have you dancing along from beginning to end. Find it on Netflix!
Here for the Queer Dramas
The Boys in the Band
Another stage to screen adaptation, but a drama rather. Directed by Joe Mantello, the 2020 film stars exclusively openly gay actors. Zachary Quinto from Star Trek and Robin De Jesús from tick, tick… BOOM! and Broadway’s In The Heights are among some of the boys in the band. It is based on Mart Crowley’s play from 1968, but the themes remain relevant even in 2022. This one is currently available on Netflix.
Moonlight
If you haven’t seen Moonlight yet in 2022, here is your annual reminder. This film made history at the Oscars in 2017 for being the first film featuring an LGBTQ+ story to win Best Picture. It is also the first Best Picture winner to feature exclusively Black actors. This film, based on a play by Tarrell Alvin McCraney, is a beautiful and painful coming of age story. It centers on a young Black man and his exploration of “his sexuality, manhood, and the abuse he suffered at the hands of bullies and a single mother addicted to drugs,” according to Out online.
Audiences Want LGBTQ+ Stories
Most popular streaming services now feature an LGBTQ+ category. Unfortunately, populating a list of current and critically acclaimed LGBTQ+ films is not an easy feat, even in 2022. So keep watching these queer films and the smaller budget, independent films that feature LGBTQ+ stories. Let’s show the streaming services that there is an audience for these stories. Quite honestly, we can’t wait for new queer movies to drop!
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