5 Creatives On The Movie That Gave Them Pride In Their Identity

“Paris Is Burning is a film that really stays with you. It’s unapologetically honest about the Black queer experience – something that’s still underrepresented. It reminded me of the power of creating your own space when the world won’t give you one. I think universally, all people want is to feel seen and heard. That’s why I write the way I do – to help others feel less alone. Paris Is Burning did that for me.”

“Selena was the first film I ever became obsessed with. I begged my grandmother to buy me the VHS for Christmas. That tape got played and rewound hundreds of times. Selena tells a tragic story, yet it shines bright with the love and dedication of a Mexican-American family pursuing dreams bigger than what the world told them they were entitled to. It is a masterpiece, and there are not enough words to convey how monumental it was for someone like me to see a piece of myself reflected within a masterpiece. Selena made me proud to be a Mexican-American. What I love most about the film is that it never divorces Selena from her personhood – her family, her vulnerability, her whole heart. All her scenes with Chris [Pérez, Selena’s husband] still make me tear up just thinking about them. She was loved, in big and small ways. As the gender-nonconforming little queerling child that I was, it made me believe that I could be too.”

“Campbell X’s work will be deeply embedded in queer British culture for generations to come. Their iconic film, Stud Life (2012), is a classic, so I could think of no better film to make my pick. Campbell’s seminal work paved the way for books like my debut novel, Rosewater, to exist. The representation of Black queer love on screen is few and far between – often relegated to side characters and under-explored or stereotypical storylines, usually directed by straight men – but that isn’t the case with Stud Life. We follow JJ (a Black lesbian stud), as she navigates life, love and friendship – more challenging themes include unflinching explorations of homophobia. It’s a piece of work that is bursting with energy and heart and, in many ways, explores the many different manifestations of love. This Pride season, I want to say thank you to Campbell X for being a trailblazer.”

“Watching Céline Sciamma’s exquisite Portrait of a Lady on Fire was a revelatory experience. I love the film’s depiction of Marianne and Héloïse, two women who, for a little while, escape the strictures of an 18th-century society that won’t otherwise let them be their full selves. For a brief spell, as if protected by magic, they stretch and unfurl toward love. I thought often about these two, and the freedom they find in each other, while working on my novel Exhibit, which also brings together two pent-up women who discover spaciousness in each other’s regard. Watching Marianne observe, paint and draw Héloïse brings to mind a gorgeous line from the French philosopher Simone Weil – one I think about often – that attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. May we all be attended to so generously.”

“I remember first watching the film Beautiful Thing on video with my best friend, Will. It was 1996 or ’97 and we were about 15. Will had come out as gay earlier in that school year, and I was questioning my sexuality too. Watching this tender-hearted film about two 17-year-old boys in a South London council estate, falling in love, was a watershed moment for Will. And as he embraced his queer identity, I felt so proud of him – and like he’d opened the door to this fabulous gay Narnia that I would later follow him into. We bought the soundtrack on cassette (which was almost entirely songs by The Mamas & the Papas) and would listen to it in his room, dreaming of our future. ‘Make your own kind of music. Even if nobody else sings along.’ That lyric defined our young queer lives.”