Blue Is the Warmest Color, a 2013 romantic drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche can be added to the list. The film follows Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos), a French teenager who discovers desire and freedom as an aspiring painter after Emma (Lea Seydoux) enters her life. Kechiche’s vision makes it a political film in the deepest sense; its harsh physicality fights for an impartial but well-defined civic space where people aren’t threatened. At the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, the film unanimously won the Palme d’Or. (Add to the list of prominent LGBTQIA+ film-makers whose films uplift their community... June 19)

Dyutiman Bhattacharya

LGBTQ+ directors have made invaluable contributions to the shape of cinema as a whole. It is thus important to add the names of Jamie Babbit and Cheryl Dunye to the list of well-established directors from the LGBTQIA+ spectrum who have diversified cinema and garnered acclaim. Jamie Babbit is perhaps best known for her debut feature, But I’m a Cheerleader, the queer classic that tells the story of two teenage girls who fall in love at a gay conversion therapy camp. When released in 1999, this was a film that upset a lot of people who felt it was too forward. However, it has turned out to be a cult classic in the LGBTQIA+ community. Throughout her career, Babbit has been a steadfast and trustworthy voice for comedy, excelling with unique relationships, gender roles and characters. Babbit has directed over 60 different series including queer and queer-run shows like Nip/Tuck, The L Word, Looking and Russian Doll, as well as classics like Gilmore Girls, Rizzoli & Isles, and The Middle.

Another monumental figure from the aforementioned New Queer Cinema wave was Cheryl Dunye who marked her presence with her magnum opus The Watermelon Woman. The film also stars Dunye as a woman balancing her video store job with her attempts at making a film about a dark-skinned actress who was subjected to stereotypical roles in the 1930s. Reputed for its satirical overtones, The Watermelon Woman holds the distinction of being the first feature film to be directed by a lesbian woman of colour. Dunye is also associated with several short films exploring socio-political themes around race and gender, along with directing episodes for shows like Dear White People and Lovecraft County.

Roshni Ojha

Desiree Akhavan is an LGBTQIA+ activist in the American film industry. As a director, writer and actor, her work mainly focuses on queer stories about women. She is an American by birth but since her family is originally from Iran, her culture, body image and standards made her become a victim of odd behaviour and loneliness while she was growing up. Her directorial debut Appropriate Behaviour was about the feelings and relationships of a bisexual Persian American woman. It was not a biography but somehow connected with her stories to some extent.

Another successful work by her is The Miseducation of Cameron Post. It is a story of a teenage girl whose attraction to the same sex is viewed as sinful by her family and by society. In various interviews, Akhavan has always spoken about sexual independence, especially for women. She also acted in her lesbian-themed web series The Slope. Akhavan strongly believes in the inclusion of queer themes into mainstream television shows and commercial movies. Currently, she is working on a collection of personal essays called Late Bloomer.

Sarbani Banerjee

In Pride Month, it’s wonderful to read the t2 piece on a few prominent LGBTQIA+ film-makers whose cinema is aimed at uplifting voices within their community. I want to add the name of American film director Andrew Fleming, who made a gay romantic comedy named Ideal Home, which is based on his own life as a gay parent.

Sourish Misra