Before I start recommending lesbian films to you, let’s get something straight (pun intended)—lesbian erasure extends to the silver screen too. It doesn’t matter if you’re queer and not a cinephile, or vice versa; you know this, I know this, we all know this. Half the time, the sapphics on-screen are “just gal pals”, and the other half, they die before the credits roll. It’s like they said, “Let’s give them representation… and then take it back, all in 120 minutes.”

Queer media that doesn’t fetishize lesbians or adopt the Bury Your Gays trope is not impossible to find, but when you start looking through year-end lists of queer films and media—and I mean REALLY looking through these lists—one thing becomes glaringly obvious: these lists are often dominated by cis male gay relationships, with very few films involving lesbian, nonbinary and trans folx.

Also read: Poem: Lesbian Movies

Of course, things start to look different once you step outside mainstream English-language productions and the Western film industry. If you’re more into series than films—and you know your way around region-locked content (IYKYK)—there’s a whole world of sapphic storylines out there. The Thai GL scene is thriving right now, and Japanese Yuri anime is very much a thing too.

But back to those disappointing year-end lists—we’re here to talk about films that actually center lesbian stories. That could mean a sapphic relationship between queer women or simply strong lesbian characters. I’ve also tried to include films from different countries that you might not find on every “LGBTQ films to watch in 2025” list. Let’s go!

Also read: 5 Brilliant WLW Short Films on GagaOOLala That You Need to Watch Today

Kaadhal Enbadhu Podhu Udamai (Tamizh, India)

Written and directed by Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan, the film follows a young girl, Sam, who tells her mother, Lakshmi, that she’s in love. Lakshmi is thrilled at first, assuming Sam’s talking about a boy—but that excitement fades fast when she learns Sam’s partner is a woman.

Kaadhal Enbathu Podhu Udamai was screened at the 54th International Film Festival of India in November 2023, and hit theatres on 14 February 2025.

Flat Girls (Thai, Thailand)

Written and directed by Jirassaya Wongsutin, Flat Girls follows Jane and Ann, teenage daughters of two police officers living in the same police housing complex. The two share an unbreakable bond—until life puts it to the test. It’s a coming-of-age story about friendship, queer love, and growing up. The film was released in Thailand on 6 February 2025.

Also read: Trad Wives, Polygamy, and Lesbian Romance of “Sister Wives”

The Wedding Banquet (English, USA)

The Wedding Banquet is an American romantic comedy film directed by Andrew Ahn and co-written by James Schamus. The premise is simple: A gay man makes a deal with his lesbian friend—a green-card marriage for him, in exchange for in vitro fertilization treatments for her, and chaos ensues.

The film is a remake of a 1993 release of the same name, but with a lesbian couple added to the mix, and also, the queer characters now have the legal right to get married in America. The Wedding Banquet premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, followed by a theatrical release in the US on 18 April, 2025.

Blind Love (Chinese, Taiwan)

Directed by Julian Chou, Blind Love premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on 4 February 2025. The film follows Shu-yi, an unhappy mother who maintains the appearance of a perfect family for the outside world. But when her first love—a woman from her high school days—re-enters her life, the cracks in her marriage and that carefully curated facade begin to show.

According to critics, Blind Love explores themes of queerness, cultural expectations, and abuse with subtlety and tenderness.

MANOK (Korean, South Korea)

MANOK, directed by Yujin Lee, is a South Korean comedy that premiered at the BFI Flare London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival in March 2025. The film follows Manok, a lesbian elder who returns to her rural hometown after a falling out with younger queer folks in Seoul—and ends up facing her ex-husband, now the town’s mayor.