2017 was a big year for queer cinema, framed by ‘Moonlight’ scooping up multiple awards in its opening months and ‘Call Me By Your Name’ receiving critical acclaim as the year came to a close. So, what’s in store for 2018 when it comes to LGBT+s on our cinema screens? Here’s our top 12 to look out for:

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Nathan is a young man who joins the ACT UP activist group in 1990s Paris. As he attends the weekly meetings, he learns about the clash between moderate and radical politics in the organisation, and he falls in love. Robin Campillo’s realist film was a huge hit in France, and it packs an unexpectedly emotional punch.

Release Date: 6th April 2018

A Fantastic Woman

The second feature from Chilean director, Sebastián Lelio is a beautiful and brilliant portrait of a trans woman whose mourning for a lost lover is obstructed at every turn by family and institutional prejudice. It has been nominated for the Best Foreign Film gong at this year’s Oscars.

Release Date: 2nd March 2018

A Kid Like Jake

Helmed by Silas Howard, one of the few trans directors in Hollywood, and adapted by Daniel Pearle from his 2013 stage play, this stars Claire Danes and The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons (in his first leading movie role) as a couple trying to find the right kindergarten for their child as they navigate questions about gender identity.

Release Date: Late 2018

Boy Erased

Joel Edgerton’s much-anticipated film about gay conversion therapy has a star-studded cast, including, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, director Xavier Dolan and singer Troye Sivan in his first break-out movie role. The film, based on Garrad Conley’s memoir, gets a late-year release in time for the 2019 awards season.

Release Date: September 2018

Lizzie

There’s a fraught romance between Chloe Sevigny and Kirsten Stewart in this retelling of the tale of Lizzie Borden (she who took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks). When Bridget (Stewart), a young maid, comes to work for the Borden family, unhappy Lizzie (Sevigny) finds a sympathetic and kindred spirit. What begins as innocent companionship eventually escalates into attraction, love and bloody vengeance. Killer lesbians, we haven’t had them on our screens for years!

Release Date: Late 2018

Love, Simon

Groundbreaking cinema doesn’t always come in the shape of a High School romance, but this is the first ever major studio release to feature a central teen gay character, and guess what? He doesn’t get punished in the final reel. Based on Becky Albertalli’s book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, this follows a high school kid (Nick Robinson) who develops an email romance with a fellow closeted student.

Release Date: 16th March 2018

The Death and Life of John F Donovan

The first English language feature from queer French-Canadian director, Xavier Dolan is an all-star affair, with turns from Jessica Chastain, Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, and Thandie Newton. When a correspondence between a Hollywood star (Kit Harrington) and an 11-year-old boy (Room’s Jacob Tremblay) is exposed, his career falls apart. Timely stuff.

Release Date: Late 2018

The Happy Prince

The last days of Oscar Wilde—and the ghosts haunting them—are brought to vivid life in Rupert Everett’s written and directorial debut. His body ailing, Wilde (played by Everett) lives in exile in Paris, depending on his legendary wit to barely eek out a living. On his deathbed, he revisits the glories of his heyday, before being imprisoned for indecency destroyed his life and career. Colin Firth and Emily Watson co-star.

Release Date: Late 2018

The Little Stranger

While this has no queer characters or plot, we’re including it because it’s based on the only non-gay novel by Sarah Waters, and the book itself had a very ambiguously queer sensibility. Having last taken on a novel by another mammoth lesbian writer (Emma Donoghue’s Room), Lenny Abrahams directs this horror about a dysfunctional family living in a decaying mansion and the doctor who becomes involved with them, to his detriment.

Release Date: Late 2018

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

After being caught having sex with her school’s prom queen, a girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy centre. Based on Emily Danforth’s acclaimed and controversial coming-of-age novel, this stars Chloë Grace Moretz, and American Honey breakout star, Sasha Lane. Conversion therapy is all the rage this year!

Release Date: Late 2018

Disobedience

A woman returns to her Orthodox Jewish home after the death of her rabbi father and stirs up controversy when she shows an interest in an old childhood friend. Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams star in this drama based on the novel by Naomi Alderman. Sebastián Lelio is back directing the second film on our list, he is leading the way in post-dictatorship Chilean cinema and is always seeking to portray women in new and compelling ways.

Release Date: 24th August 2018

The Wound

This feature from John Trengove won the Sutherland Award for the best debut feature. It looks at the fascinating world of closeted sexuality in the remote mountains of South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It follows the story of the Xhosa community and an ancient circumcision ritual. The Wound provides a unique insight into an underrepresented due to many of the cast being from the community.

Release Date: Late 2018