Pandemic got you down? Feeling lonely and craving human touch after a year stuck inside? Well forget all that and get ready to sit in alone even longer as we run down some queer films to look out for in 2021.

Firebird

Hot actors? Check. Love triangle? Check. Intense historical and geopolitically sensitive background story involving the world’s largest superpowers at the height of the Cold War? Check. This film really has it all!

It follows the true story of Sergey and Roman in Soviet controlled Estonia during the 1970’s. Sergey is in the final weeks of his conscription and is in a relationship with a secretary called Luisa. When Roman arrives everything is thrown out of balance. A romance blossoms between the two but it must stay hidden under the threat of five years of hard labour. Will they risk everything in order to be together?

Boy Meets Boy

A classic tale of boy meets girl boy. Although this film has a different feel to the usual gay coming of age story. For a start they are both already of age.

Harry is a British doctor on holiday in Berlin (of course) where he meets Johannes, a dancer. The two spend the night together before Harry has to head back to the UK, but first he needs to find somewhere to print his boarding pass. Johannes volunteers and takes him on an intimate tour of Berlin where the two get to know each other and reflect on their lives and their identities as gay men (and presumably print that boarding pass!).

Supernova

Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci play an older couple who embark on a road trip as they come to terms with one of them being diagnosed with early onset dementia. They visit family and friends and try to make the most of the time they have left together.

A rare film following the lives of older gay men and one less to do with their sexuality and more with the difficulties and heartbreaks that follow such a diagnosis for any couple.

Single All The Way

Do we really want everything straight couples have? I’m thinking the release of a generic Christmas holiday movie might be that step too far.

In this recently announced Netflix rom-com, Peter (Michael Urie) is desperate to avoid his family’s judgment about his perpetual single status so he convinces his best friend Nick (Philemon Chambers) to join him for the holidays and pretend that they’re now in a relationship. But when Peter’s mother sets him up on a blind date with her handsome trainer James (Luke MacFarlane), the plan goes awry. And I’m sure hilarity ensues.

The World To Come

Finally on our list of Queer films 2021 is a lesbian love story set in 1850’s America that is earning rave reviews from critics.

Abigail (Katherine Waterson), a farmer’s wife, finds herself irretrievably drawn to her new neighbour, Tallie (Vanessa Kirby). The two slowly grow closer and fill a void in each other’s lives that their jealous and controlling husbands cannot. As one user commented on the trailer: “Ammonite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire and now this…is heartbroken yearning period lesbians becoming a genre?” The answer is ‘yes’.

Want to find more queer films from this year? Check out this other list.