Here are some international picks for your International Lesbian Day watchlist
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGES BY CAMERA FILM, NETFLIX AND LESFLICKS
In the past few decades we’ve had some phenomenal sapphic films. From But I’m A Cheerleader to The Favourite, there are so many gorgeous films to watch this International Lesbian Day, and if this year’s film festivals are anything to go by, we’ll be treated to many more in the coming months.
Just as long as Hollywood has been making films about lesbian relationships, so have the film industries around the world. Lesbian stories are beautiful in every language, so here are some of our picks for foreign language lesbian films to watch now.
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2020)
Any list of lesbian films to add to your watchlist has to include Celine Sciamma’s Portrait Of A Lady On Fire. In 2019, Sciamma became the first woman to win the Queer Palm at Cannes with this film and it is considered to be one of the best of its year.
Set on an isolated French island at the end of the 18th century, it tells the story of Marianne (Noémie Merlant), a painter who falls in love with a young woman of the gentry, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel).
Alice Júnior (2019)
Described by Autostraddle as a “trans Lady Bird”, this Brazilian film is a sweet coming-of-age drama, rare in how joyfully it depicts both the trans and sapphic experience.
Alice (Anne Celestino) is a young trans woman whose father moves her out to the countryside. She dreams of her first kiss and chooses Bruno (Matheus Moura). Everything changes when she ends up kissing his girlfriend Taísa (Surya Amitrano).
The Handmaiden (2017)
This South Korean film won an Oscar and The Guardian considers it one of the best films of the 21st century.
Based on Sarah Waters’ 2002 novel Fingersmith, Sook-Hee (Kim Tae-ri) is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee). She was recruited by a swindler to help him seduce the heiress but the plan goes wrong when Sook-Hee and Hideko become attracted to one another.
Rafiki (2018)
Rafiki was the first Kenyan film to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival. It is the story of a romance that grows between two young women, Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), despite the political pressures around LGBTQIA rights in Kenya.
A Song Sung Blue (2023)
Last year, China released A Song Sung Blue, a beautiful coming-of-age story about a lonely girl whose summer is turned upside down when she meets the enigmatic daughter of her father’s receptionist.
The film is an incredible visual experience, the camera drifting over a version of China western viewers don’t often see. It will have its UK premiere later this month at the Queer East Festival.
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