When one thinks of LGBTQ+ movies, one will often draw upon the big American and European movies that have graced the genre. WhileLGBTQ+ cinema has been aroundsince the birth of film and television, it was not until recently that the mainstream industry tentatively began to accept more diversity in terms of the identities they were representing on the screen. There is still a long way to go in regard to equity in the industry, but some of themost underrated LGBTQ+movies have come out of Latin America in the past couple of decades.
In the Spanish-speaking world, movies have had a long tradition of implying relationships between the same gender. While queer subjects were not openly discussed and directly brought into the fold, they still were woven in through the themes presented in arthouse and independent movies in the past. However, after the 1980s, and especially in the 2000s, there was an explosion ofLatin American moviesthat represented LGBTQ+ relationships and characters, although many did not make it into the consciousness of those not immersed in Spanish-language cinema. These are the best LGBTQ+ movies out of Latin America so far.
6A Year Without Love
The Argentine filmA Year Without Lovewas released in 2005 and was a hit among the LGBTQ+ film festivals globally upon its release. It adapts an autobiographical story of writer Pablo Pérez, who wrote a novel about this experience. A young man named Pablo lives in the city of Buenos Aires. He is a writer, but, at the same time, he is lonely and suffering from AIDS. In desperate need of relationships, he places ads in a gay magazine in search of love and redemption. A tender film about identity,A Year Without Loveis heavily underrated in the larger context of LGBTQ+ filmography.
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5Brief Story from the Green Planet
Brief Story from the Green Planetcame out in 2019. The science fiction adventure movie tells the story of Tania, a transgender woman going through a recent loss. Not too long after her grandmother’s death, she accidentally finds out that her beloved grandmother was hosting an alien. She wants to take the alien back to where it belongs and decides that it is time to try and help it go back home. With the aid of two of her friends, they are planning to get this mysterious creature to the next step of its journey.
4The Firefly
Dubbed Colombia’s first-ever movie about lesbians,The Fireflyis not one to be missed. This romance, fantasy, and drama film are loosely based on real events that happened in the director’s life. The main character of the movie is married to a banker, but does not feel happy in her marriage. One day, she gets a message saying that her brother has passed away in a car accident — and on his wedding day, too, of all days. While visiting his grieving fiancée, they strike up a bond that will soon turn romantic as they sort through their collective grief.
Released in 2007,XXYmight be one of the most well-known LGBTQ+ films to come out of Latin America. It had a hit domestic run in its native country of Argentina and took home a plethora of awards at international film festivals focused on this subject matter. InXXY, a 15-year-old intersex person struggles with how society forces individuals into specific gender identities and boxes to fit the standard. She lives and presents herself as female, but as she decides to stop taking the medicine that suppresses her masculine features, her parents begin to struggle, too, with their child’s identity.
Related:8 Best International LGBTQ+ Movies to Watch
2Y tu mamá también
A Mexican road film,Y tu mamá tambiénis a joy to watch. It is directed by fameddirector Alfonso Cuarónandstars Diego Lunaand Gael García Bernal. Set in 1999, the movie tracks two teenage boys that decide to take a trip through Mexico with a woman almost a decade older than them. As things get more complicated romantically between the group and shared past histories come to light, the movie takes a spin towards bisexuality as the two main characters, previously described just as best friends, seemingly accidentally end up with each other one night.
1A Fantastic Woman
A Fantastic Womanis one of the more high-profile movies to come out of this region, and that is for a good reason. The movie, which comes out of Chile, tells the story of a transgender woman named Marina living in the city of Santiago. She works as a singer and waitress and has a boyfriend, so he decides to surprise her with tickets to a resort. Things do not go as planned, and he dies the next morning. Marina is faced with suspicion because of the fact she is transgender; many people, including the police, do not see their relationship as valid. As she struggles with her grief, she also is forced to confront the blatant discrimination she must now face due to her identity.A Fantastic Womanwas the winner ofBest International Featureat the Oscars.
