What to Watch? Check Out These Queer+ Indie Films Headed Your Way

So much media focus is showered on studio releases and major star-wattage streamer debuts that we tend to overlook the fine independent movies being made and released, either in theaters or directly to a streaming platform. Sure, it's grand to see Ashton Kutcher in tight black shorts still looking like he's 30 ("Your Place or Mine" on Netflix). And there's nothing better than watching four iconic film legends (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sally Field, and Rita Moreno in the delightful "80 for Brady") prove they're still in the game, jostling the over-50 crowd back to theaters. But creativity doesn't stop with big budgets or star power.

A slew of fascinating, relatable indie films have either been released or are coming out that are queer-specific, queer-themed, or queer-adjacent. These are movies we queer folk love for aesthetic reasons, hot guys/cute gals, or because it stars a queer-beloved icon or two.

We compiled a list of the most recent awesome Queer-positive Indies as well as some coming soon to a streaming platform, VOD or theater near you.

'Of an Age'

"Of an Age" is currently playing in theaters.

'The Blue Caftan'

Morocco is to be commended for submitting Maryam Touzani's exquisite meditation on love, "The Blue Caftan," as that country's International Oscar submission. (It made the shortlist, but not the final five.) The film explores same-sex desire in a place where it's not just seen as wrong but could mean prison – even death – for anyone caught. The central story involves middle-aged Halim (Salem Bakri), a master tailor and devoted husband to his ailing wife, Mina (Lubna Azabal), who has tried to suppress his yearning for men (although he occasionally gets fucked at the local bathhouse). The couple hire Youssef (Ayoub Missioui), a hot young apprentice, and feelings develop between the two men. Touzani has woven together a graceful, touching work about repression, connection, and acceptance. In Arabic with English subtitles.

"The Blue Caftan" is currently playing in theaters in NY & LA with more cities to follow.

'Seriously Red'

Destined to become a queer-beloved cult classic along the lines of "Priscilla" and "Muriel's Wedding," Aussie director Grace Otto's delightfully dizzy "Seriously Red" has one hell of a lead at its center. Krew Boylan, who also wrote the film, plays Dolly Parton fanatic Raylene Delaney, a woman who gets fired for touching too many crotches at her dull 9-to-5 job. Before you can say, "Jolene," she's become a rising Dolly impersonator. Drag artists pepper the film, and the soundtrack is off-the-charts awesome. Boylan is a star ready to be born. Scorching Daniel Webber (Craig Boreham's "Teenage Kicks") delivers a nuanced turn as Kenny (Rogers, that is). Bobby Cannavale rocks his Neil Diamond. And Rose Byrne (a producer and friend of Boylan) is Burning-Love hot as "Elvis." The unapologetic blend of camp, sentiment and wackiness will be off-putting for some. Fuck 'em. The film's message is to figure out who you are and be proud of that person. How can you piss on that?

"Seriously Red" is currently in theaters and on PVOD.

'Lonesome'

Craig Boreham's intense, super-sexy queer film "Lonesome" reveals more interpretive character layers with repeated viewings. The Australian-set story of a damaged gay cowboy, Casey (Josh Lavery, in a stunning feature debut), escaping to the big city of Sydney and navigating a world of sexual intoxication and excruciating loneliness, works so well, in large part, because of the camera's love affair with Lavery – his walk, his body, his gestures and, most extraordinary, his expressive face. The film also, refreshingly presents queer sex in an authentic, explicit manner: No towels covering junk, fucking under sheets, or camera's panning away here. "Lonesome" also keenly challenges learned notions of shame and desire.

"Lonesome" will be released in LA & NY, Feb 17, 2023; VOD Release, March 7, 2023

'Punch'

From gay cowboys to gay boxers. Small town homophobia is attacked head-on in writer-director Welby Ings's feature debut, "Punch," set in New Zealand. Jim (a dynamic and twinkish Jordan Oosterhof) is a teenage boxer being trained by his pushy alcoholic father (Tim Roth). He's also quite popular among his fellow students. But when he befriends the town pariah, Whetu (Conan Hayes, amazing), they must both deal with the inherent hatred from the townsfolk and come to terms with their own sexually percolating feelings. "Punch" is best when it focuses solely on the boys. The narrative tends to go off the rails sometimes, and a particularly gruesome plot deviation felt unnecessary. But Oosterhof and Hayes keep the viewer continuously absorbed and... hopeful.

"Punch" will be released in theaters, on Digital and On Demand, March 10, 2023.

'The Forger'

German Hottie Louis Hofmann has delighted queer fans, portraying two major gay screen characters: A queer teen falling for a mysterious classmate in "Center of My World" (2016) and as Rudolph Nureyev's lover in the bio-drama "The White Crow," directed by Ralph Fiennes (2018). Hofmann did not shy away from nudity in either role. In Maggie Peren's compelling film, "The Forger" he excels as Cioma Schönhaus, a young Jewish man living in Berlin who survived the Holocaust by hiding in plain sight as a forger; the film is based on Schönhaus's remarkable true story. The actor shoulders the film as a brash and cocky survivor, seemingly unafraid to take risks. Hofmann's scenes with the extraordinary Nina Gummich as his landlady, Frau Peters, are especially riveting and Isherwood-esque.

"The Forger" opens in NY on March 3, 2023, in LA on March 17, 2023, with additional cities to follow.

'Emily'

I am a sucker for a period piece. Toss in sumptuous locales, fab camerawork, good-looking guys, a tinge of Gothic horror (look for the mask), and a wondrous, moving central performance by future gay icon Emma Mackey ("Sex Education"), and I'm hooked. Such is the case with "Emily," Frances O'Connor's absorbing chronicle of the life of Emily Brontë. O'Connor, herself a wonderful actor ("Love and Other Catastrophes," "Mansfield Park"), makes her directorial debut here, and while "Emily" plays fast and loose with actual known facts (as so many bio dramas do, alas) it's also a lush, well-acted work with terrific supporting performances by hotties Fionn Whitehead as her brother Branwell and Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Emily's lover (who probably never existed). "I should take from my life the ordinary, and make it extraordinary," Branwell says to Emily. Words to live by.

"Emily" will be released on February 17, 2023, in NY/LA theaters; February 24, 2023, in theaters across the country.

'Body Parts'

If Kristy Guevara-Flanagan's revealing doc "Body Parts" has one major flaw, it's that it deserves to be at least double its current running time. It ambitiously takes on a sprawling amount of subject matter about onscreen sex via the female perspective – its history and evolution, and where it may be going – emphasizing the tremendous changes brought on by Time's Up and the #MeToo movement. One of the many interviewees is Jane Fonda, whose career is representative of the repressed '50s, which birthed a more progressive '60s/'70s. Fonda discusses how she felt manipulated into filming scenes nude (by her own director husband Roger Vadim) and how today, on "Grace and Frankie," the female POV is finally being honored. The doc is loaded with fascinating facts and important triumphs – but in snippet form. Give us more, please.

"Body Parts" is currently playing in theaters and on VOD.

'The Five Devils'

"Blue is the Warmest Color" star Adèle Exarchopoulos plays another type of lesbian in Léa Mysius bewitching thriller "The Five Devils," which unfolds in deliciously non-linear fashion and blends horror, fable, family secrets, bizarre scents, and sizzling queer romance. Joanne (Exarchopoulos) is troubled. Her 8-year-old daughter, Vicky (talented newcomer Sally Dramé), seems to have a few strange supernatural gifts (one having to do with smells). Joanne is in an unhappy marriage, and when her husband's sister Julia (Swala Emati) shows up, she is at first disturbed but then begins to rekindle the once-passionate relationship they shared. The film is an entertaining bit of mindfuckery. In French with English subtitles.

"The Five Devils" opens in theaters on March 24, 2023.

'A Little White Lie'

Michael Maren's "A Little White Lie," based on Chris Belsen's novel, is "Being There" meets "My Salinger Year" and other films about authors and imposters. It's also a wholly entertaining treat. Michael Shannon, always excellent, plays a one-book-wonder author, Shriver; or, possibly, he's a fraud posing as said celebrated author, who has been out of the limelight for 20 years (and, even then, was quite elusive). Kate Hudson, experiencing a much-deserved career renaissance of late ("Glass Onion"), is the English professor/author who lures Shriver to a college literary festival, where all hell is about to break loose. Da'Vine Joy Randolph steals all her scenes in a supporting role. This enchanting film only suffers from a lackluster ending.

"A Little White Lie" is in theaters and on digital on March 3, 2023.

'What We Do Next'

One of the best of the early indie releases of 2023 is the riveting three-hander "What We Do Next." The anxiety-inducing narrative focuses on a young woman (Michelle Veintimilla) who goes to prison for 16 years for murdering her father. A liberal NYC councilwoman (Karen Pittman) and a corporate attorney (sexy Corey Stoll) were involved, and the woman has just been released from prison. In only 77 minutes the film explores heady questions of political corruptness, systemic racism, and class biases. Writer-director Stephen Belber ("Tape") is predominately a playwright, so his films are dialogue heavy, but he uses the camera to force his audience into each scene as if we're complicit somehow, so we never feel we're watching anything stagey – just three people trying desperately to do what's right, or what's right for themselves. The film soars because of the three actors delivering committed and courageous performance.

"What We Do Next" opens exclusively in theaters on March 3, 2023.

And Three More:

If you're into gripping and gruesome survival horror where a woman is hunted for 88 minutes but finds ways to brutally kill her hunters, Greg Swinson & Ryan Thiessen's reductive but enjoyable "Hunt Her, Kill Her" might be your cup of tea. Opens: March 3, 2023.

To watch a quartet of amazing actors (Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, William H. Macy) shine in material not up to their talents, but still worth a look, Michael Jacobs' "Maybe I Do" will pass the time nicely (although someone needs to pen a Keaton/Gere reunion on par with "Looking for Mr. Goodbar," pronto!). "Maybe" is currently in theaters.

To see Academy Award Nominee Charlotte Rampling ("45 Years") clash and then bond with her self-destructive, but yummy, grandson (George Ferrier), "Juniper" is the way to go. Rampling, at age 77, delivers another towering turn. The film opens in theaters on February 24, 2023.