These movies won the Queer Palm award at Cannes!
With the gay western by Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke strange way of life Making waves at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, this is the perfect time to look back at the incredible LGBTQ+ movies that have won the Queer Palm since its inception in 2010.
The Queer Palm is an independently sponsored award for LGBTQ+ films that are part of the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It is one of the most prestigious LGBTQ+ film awards along with the Teddy Award in Berlin and the Queer Lion in Venice.
So if you’ve ever scrolled through streaming services searching in vain for an awesome queer movie, PRIDE has you covered, because nine of the last 12 Queer Palm winners are available to rent or stream right now.
All movie descriptions are courtesy of their respective studios.
‘Kaboom’ (2010 winner)
Synopsis: A wild, witty, and sex-filled comedy-horror thriller, KABOOM tells the story of Smith, an ambisexual 18-year-old college freshman who stumbles upon a monstrous conspiracy in a seemingly idyllic Southern California beach town.
Where to look: Tubi, AMC+
‘Beauty’ (2011 winner)
Synopsis: Portrait of a closeted gay husband/father living a life of quiet middle-aged despair who becomes obsessed with a friend’s handsome college son, leading to an incident.
Where to look: Rent on Apple TV+
‘Laurence Anyway’ (2012 Winner)
Synopsis: The film follows Laurence Alia, a thirty-year-old high school English teacher and poet who, after much deliberation, discovers her girlfriend Fred as a trans woman in the late 1980s.
Where to look: Netflix
‘Stranger by the Lake’ (2013 winner)
Synopsis: This film tells what happens between men who sail along a beautiful lake in summer, somewhere in France. The story centers on a handsome young man who is attracted to a dangerous man, putting his life at risk.
Where to look: Kanopy and rental in VUDU
‘Pride’ (2014 winner)
Synopsis: Based on a true story, it shows a group of lesbian and gay activists raising money to help families affected by the British miners’ strike in 1984, at the start of what would become the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign.
Where to look: Showtime and Paramount+ with Showtime
‘Carol’ (2015 winner)
Synopsis: Set in New York City in the early 1950s, Carol tells the story of a forbidden affair between an aspiring photographer and an older woman going through a difficult divorce.
Where to look: Netflix
‘BPM (beats per minute)’ (2017 winner)
Synopsis: Members of the activist group ACT UP Paris demand that the government and pharmaceutical companies take action to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.
Where to look: Tubi and Pluto TV
‘Girl’ (2018 winner)
Synopsis: An up-and-coming teen ballerina enrolls in a prestigious ballet school while dealing with her gender dysphoria.
Where to look: Netflix
‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ (2019 winner)
Synopsis: On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the 18th century, a painter is forced to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Where to look: hulu
