The first Pride was a riot. Heading towards the fifty-fifth anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riot gives us the opportunity to reflect on how far queer rights have come, and what’s left to achieve. It’s all intersectional with gender equity, a quiet revolution we fight at The Future of Film is Female, and so it’s an honor to present a selection of three essential, truly independent queer films from the past ten years in celebration of this month and the ongoing movement.

Two of the films we’ve programmed, Lyle and Knocking, utilize the horror genre (best when with socio-political undertones). Stewart Thorndike’s debut feature, Lyle, tackles the legacy of Rosemary’s Baby with the story of those closest to you being the real danger but with a queer lens. Knocking, the 2021 Swedish thriller directed by Frida Kempff is a quiet unraveling of a woman, alone in a new apartment, battling insanity after losing her wife. It’s a real contender for the “house of psychotic women” subgenre where what she believes to hear just may, if fact, not be in her mind.

The third film, Celia Rowlson Hall’s 2015 debut film MA (no, not that other Ma) is an otherworldly exploration that nearly defies explanation. Her dialogue free film in which she stars, directs, and choreographs follows a young woman making a pilgrimage to Las Vegas to give birth to our savior. Maybe these films will save us too. –Caryn Coleman, film programmer and founder of The Future of Film is Female