Every year, the Library of Congress selects 25 films for preservation in the National Film Registry — movies deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” to American cinema. While the registry has made meaningful strides in recent years to include more diverse voices, LGBTQ+ stories remain underrepresented in its nearly 900-title collection. These four films changed the way queer lives are portrayed on screen, found audiences that desperately needed them, and left a lasting mark on cinema history. It’s time they got their flowers.
Desert Hearts (1985)
This Donna Deitch directed adaptation of Jane Rule’s beloved novel, “Desert of the Heart” celebrated the 40th anniversary of its theatrical release this March. The film starred Helen Shaver as Vivian and Patricia Charbonneau as Cay, unlikely lovers who meet when Shaver’s character lands in Reno, Nevada in 1959, seeking a quick divorce from her husband. The film was funded partially by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and several individual funders.
At the time, playing gay was a huge risk to actors and many turned down the audition altogether. While the film received mixed reviews upon wide release, it has become one of the most revered LGBTQ+ films ever made, and was digitally restored in 2017 and included in the Criterion Collection.
Desert Hearts was one of the first films to feature lesbian leading characters who defy the tropes that LGBTQ+ characters often faced at that time, including experiencing misery due to their sexuality and ultimately death. The hopeful ending for Vivienne and Cay make it a beloved film for generations of queer women and beyond.
You can watch Desert Hearts on HBO Max
And the Band Played On (1993)
Based on gay journalist Randy Shilts’ 1987 non-fiction book, “And the Band Played On” brought the story of the early days of the AIDS crisis to the masses. Aired on HBO and starring a huge ensemble cast that included Matthew Modine, Richard Gere and Angelica Houston, the film follows American epidemiologist Don Francis (Modine) as he learns of the mysterious and quickly growing number of deaths in gay male populations in big cities across the U.S.
Now working for the World Health Organization, Francis and his team work against the clock to find out the origins of this new and deadly disease, facing bureaucratic roadblocks, funding issues, fear and homophobia.
The film was critically acclaimed upon release and won several awards in 1994 including the Emmy for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, and six acting nominations for its ensemble.
You can watch And the Band Played On on HBO Max
The Celluloid Closet (1996)
This star-studded documentary is inspired by Vito Russo’s 1981 book “The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies.” Featuring interviews with some of the ’90s biggest stars including Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg and Susan Sarandon, and narrated by Lily Tomlin the documentary examines the history of queer cinema from the 1910s to the 1990s.
The Celluloid Closet includes clips from over 100 films, and heavily addresses policies like the Hollywood Production Code, also known as the Hays Code. The code imposed a set of guidelines on the film industry from 1934 to 1968, and remained largely in place for decades even after its dissolution. Included on the lists of “don’ts” included nudity, drug use, excessive violence, interracial romance, and the one that affected the LGBTQ+ community the most due to its designation at the time, “sexual perversion.”
Upon its release, the film garnered several awards including a GLAAD Award, a Peabody and Sundance Film Festival’s Freedom of Expression award. Despite being three decades old, The Celluloid Closet holds up in its candidness and dutiful exploration of LGBTQ+ lives on film, as did Russo’s source material.
You can watch The Celluloid Closet on Tubi
Moonlight (2016)
The most recent of the films on this list will celebrate a decade of release this September. Winner of 2017’s Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali) and Best Adapted Screenplay, Moonlight has secured its spot in the pantheon of LGBTQ+ film greats.
Taking place over the course of two decades and three acts, Moonlight follows Chiron, a young bullied boy growing up in Miami, whose mother is addicted to crack. Chiron is taken under the wing of Juan (Ali), a drug dealer and his girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monáe). We follow Chiron through his teenage years of discovery, including falling for his best friend Kevin. A target of bullies still, Chiron finds himself on the receiving end of even Kevin’s attacks. The third and final act brings Chiron and Kevin together once again as adults, to reckon with their pasts.
A film that won the night’s top prize, yet still somehow feels underseen, Moonlight deserves a permanent home in the registry not just as an LGBTQ+ landmark, but as one of the greatest American films ever made. If the National Film Registry is meant to preserve the movies that matter most, Moonlight belongs there.
You can watch Moonlight on HBO Max