4 queer indie films you can stream right now

We all know that the LGBTQ+ offerings on the big streaming platforms can be both underwhelming and numbingly predictable — the same few classic films interspersed with a lot of dubious indies. Luckily, we’ve got some new cinematic content coming our way. Several worthwhile recent queer indie films are now available to stream!

Without the comparatively massive marketing push of more high-profile films like Bros and Fire Island, these movies maybe have initially escaped your notice. And if you don’t live in a major market, it’s possible you couldn’t even see them when they were released in theaters. But you can now queue up a pair of thorny romances, a closely observed characters study, and a ridiculously delightful horror-comedy.

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Chrissy Judy

Ostensibly the story of the dissolution of a gay friendship, this closely observed black-and-white film from writer/director/star Todd Flaherty is most affecting when it zeroes in on Judy (Flaherty), a somewhat feckless, occasionally self-sabotaging 30-year-old drag queen, struggling to make a name for himself in and around New York City.

We see Judy alienate those closest to him, sleep with the wrong guys, and generally flounder as those around him grow up, age out, and move on from their devil-may-care youth. The working artist narrative is a familiar one, but it has rarely, if ever, been applied to the world of drag, and Flaherty imbues this melancholy little character study with a lived-in authenticity that will leave you rooting for Judy, even as you shake your head in bemused recognition at his foibles.

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Available to stream on demand.

Of An Age

The specter of Weekend looms large over Macedonian-Australian director Goran Stolevski’s Of An Age. Like Andrew Haigh’s 2011 masterpiece, Stolevski’s follow-up to his 2022 folk-horror stunner You Won’t Be Alone focuses on a brief encounter that profoundly impacts the emotional lives of two young gay men.

A minor crisis throws 18-year-old Kol (Elias Anton) together with his best friend’s gay older brother Adam (Thom Green) during the summer of 1999. Over the course of the day, the two fall improbably in love, only to be separated when Adam leaves for South America the following day. Years later, they meet up again, forcing both men to reexamine their lives and confront all the longing and regret resulting from their fleeting romance.

Now streaming on Peacock.

Summoning Sylvia

This campy, cheesy, surprisingly clever horror comedy stars Frankie Grande, Travis Coles, Noah Ricketts, and Troy Iwata as four BFFs who rent a creeky old haunted house in the country for a weekend getaway. Things go off the rails after the foursome hold a séance to summon the spirit of the supposedly murderous woman who died in the house 100 years ago. Plus, there’s a glowering straight brother-in-law (Nicholas Logan) to deal with.

With a budget that was likely comparable to an Are You Afraid of the Dark episode, the film is light on scares and its ramshackle plot never really comes together. But that’s all beside the point, because Summoning Sylvia is really just a vehicle for the confidently hilarious performances of its four utterly delightful leads.

Available to stream on demand.

Lonesome

Casey (Josh Lavery), a handsome drifter in a cowboy hat, breezes into Sydney with little more than a knapsack and a ton of emotional baggage. He soon becomes involved with Tib (Daniel Gabriel) after the two hook up via Grindr, but their mutual issues complicate what seems to be a budding romance.

Australian director Craig Boreham hangs this under-developed story on a sturdy scaffolding of arresting cinematography and explicit sex scenes. In fact, Lonesome is largely propelled by sex, but those scenes are so skillfully rendered, they don’t feel gratuitous. Boreham manages to capture the various sexual scenarios in his film in every shade, from intimate to coldly alienating, communicating where his characters are emotionally. It’s a rare feat that more than makes up for the story’s shortcomings.

Available to stream on demand.