Sydney Film Festival is officially returning for its 73rd year, once again taking over the city with red carpets, filmmaker talks, afterparties and a stacked lineup of films.
From June 3 to 14 the festival will be running across the iconic State Theatre, plus cinemas throughout the CBD, Newtown, Cremorne and Randwick
The festival has built a reputation for championing bold, boundary-pushing cinema from around the globe.
And this year? Queer film lovers are absolutely eating.
From horny thrillers and queer horror to AIDS-era dramas, camp satire and tender love stories, here are some of the standout LGBTQIA+ films on the 2026 lineup.
I Want Your Sex
Directed by queer cinema icon Gregg Araki, I Want Your Sex stars Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Mason Gooding, Daveed Diggs and Charli XCX in a twisted erotic thriller about obsession, manipulation and murder.
The film follows Elliot, a young assistant who becomes entangled with provocative artist Erika Tracy after becoming her sexual muse.
Araki is a foundational figure in New Queer Cinema, previously winning Cannes’ first-ever Queer Palm for Kaboom.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is “slick, provocative and deeply unserious in exactly the right ways.”
Image: Sydney Film Festival
The Man I Love
Set in the late 1980s New York, The Man I Love is the kind of emotionally devastating prestige drama likely to leave audiences quietly staring into the middle distance afterwards.
Directed by acclaimed queer filmmaker Ira Sachs, the film stars Rami Malek as Jimmy George, a theatre icon confronting mortality during the AIDS crisis while pouring himself into one final performance.
Sachs is already beloved for films like Keep the Lights On, which won the Berlinale Teddy Award.
The film’s queer lens is deeply baked in.
From its historical setting to Sachs’ own legacy as one of America’s most celebrated gay independent filmmakers.
Image: Sydney Film Festival
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Yes, that title is real.
Directed by cult favourite Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), this psychosexual horror follows a queer filmmaker spiralling into obsession while rebooting a fictional slasher franchise.
Starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson, it sounds deeply unhinged in the most appealing possible way.
Schoenbrun has quickly become one of the most exciting filmmakers exploring queer, trans and internet identity on screen, making this an instant must-watch for anyone who likes their cinema weird and emotionally destabilising.
Image: Sydney Film Festival
Leviticus
One of the most talked-about Australian queer titles on the lineup, Leviticus blends supernatural horror with direct social commentary.
Set in regional Victoria, the film follows two queer teenage boys subjected to a Christian conversion ritual after being outed, while a terrifying entity takes the form of their deepest desires.
Directed by Australian filmmaker Adrian Chiarella, the film premiered at Sundance to strong buzz.
The Guardian described it as “an unnerving and timely queer horror.”
Image: Sydney Film Festival
Body Blow
Shot partly at Sydney’s iconic Stonewall Hotel, Body Blow feels especially local.
The Australian thriller follows undercover cop Aiden as he enters Sydney’s queer nightlife scene investigating criminal activity.
Only to spiral into conspiracy, desire and danger after meeting a seductive bartender and sex worker.
Featuring Tim Pocock and a special appearance from Kween Kong, the film is steeped in queer nightlife aesthetics and local LGBTQIA+ history.
A dark, sweaty Sydney thriller? We know the audience for this.
Image: Sydney Film Festival
The Blood Countess
If your ideal cinema experience includes vampires, decadence and Isabelle Huppert being deeply unsettling, The Blood Countess is the one for you.
Directed by legendary German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger, the film follows Countess Báthory as she awakens in present-day Vienna after centuries of slumber.
She begins searching for a mysterious red elixir, all while evading vampirologists, police and various people threatening the vampire world.
Ottinger has long been regarded as a major queer auteur, with much of her work exploring gender, identity and outsider culture through surrealist, avant-garde filmmaking.
Image: Sydney Film Festival
Maddie’s Secret
A satirical drama marking the directorial debut of comedian and actor John Early, an openly gay comedian with a devoted queer following.
Early also stars as Maddie, a rising vegetarian food influencer desperately trying to maintain an impossibly curated online persona while quietly battling an eating disorder.
The film premiered at TIFF and has already generated buzz for its stylised, melodramatic take on internet identity, perfectionism and self-destruction.
Variety praised the film’s sharp tone, while The Hollywood Reporter highlighted its satirical bite.
Image: Sydney Film Festival
There’s plenty more queer gems to discover
Other queer titles worth adding to your watchlist include:
On The Road — a Queer Lion winning Mexican erotic road drama
Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava — a deeply personal documentary from queer Vietnamese filmmaker Quang Nhật Nông
Julian — follows a couple marrying in every country where same-sex marriage is legal
Joy Boy: A Tribute to Julius Eastman — exploring the life, music and activism of legendary gay Black composer Julius Eastman
The Mutation — a Black Korean man joins a queer woman on her search for her missing partner
Strawberries — based on the modern exploitation of strawberry pickers in Spain
Honestly, Sydney Film Festival may have just built a queer lineup so stacked it should come with emotional support afterwards.
For more information on the festival and the full program visit the Sydney Film Festival website.
Image: Sydney Film Festival
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