15 Transgender Movies and Documentaries to Watch Right Now

Historically, the transgender community has been underrepresented in pop culture, including in film and on television. Over the past few years, popular shows starring trans actors, like Pose and Euphoria, have begun to correct that imbalance, but there's still a long way to go.

Movies and documentaries that accurately and sensitively depict the trans, nonbinary, gender non-conforming and LGBTQ+ experience are essential for anyone undergoing their own transition or self-discovery journey, since seeing the success of other trans people can be life-affirming. But transgender movies are also immeasurably valuable to our culture at large, especially for those who don't know any trans, nonbinary or gender non-conforming people in their own lives. Seeing the LGBTQ+ community just being regular people onscreen makes us seem less exotic and by association, less scary. "We’re inspired by the trans people we see on screen," Laverne Cox told Deadline while promoting her film Disclosure. "We’re very much interested in bettering the lives of trans people in real life ... The relationship between the representations of trans people and violence against us — we have to change those narratives."

Just like everybody else's, the trans experience isn't a monolith. And many films, even beloved ones, sometimes use cisgender characters to portray trans people, or fall short of accurately portraying the whole story. The film industry still has a long way to go. But if you're looking for a great film to share with a friend, child or loved one who needs to see themselves onscreen, these movies are a good start.