7 Queer Oscar-Worthy Performances & Movies From 2023

These queer movies deserve Academy Awards!

Images: IFC Films; Netflix

As we get closer and closer to the Oscar nominations, other awards are starting to be handed out as well, and that means Awards Season is officially fully in swing.

Voters are fully immersed in screeners right now, watching every movie they can to find the best performances, art, craft, and movies from the year. In 2023, that means they’re going to have to watch a lot of great queer films, and hopefully, that means that some of them will get some much-deserved attention when it comes time to announce the Oscar nominees on January 23.

We hope to see at least a couple of queer nominees each year, and these seven films, actors, directors, and songs are the ones we think most deserve it!

Best Actress- Trace Lysette in 'Monica'

Image: IFC Films

Every year at the Oscars there’s a “little film that could,” and this year it should be Monica, Andrea Pallaoro’s moving and potent tale of a family reconnecting. The film stars the luminous Trace Lysette as a trans woman returning home to help care for her ailing mother who had kicked her out for being trans decades ago. Lysette’s performance demands that you see her character for who she is and tells a trans story unlike we’ve seen in a major movie. In Monica, she showed that she can deliver a performance worthy of an Oscar, and she should get recognized for it.

Best Actor - Colman Domingo in 'Rustin'

Image: Netflix

Domingo has always been one of the preeminent acting talents of his generation, but in the past decade he’s really come into his own as one of the greatest working actors. He continues to show that there’s nothing he can’t do starring as gay civil rights legend Bayard Rustin in the new Netflix biopic. Domingo embodies the historical figure, bringing him back to life.

Best Supporting Actress - Jodi Foster in 'Nyad'

Image: Kimberley French/Netflix

Another Netflix biopic that serves as an acting showcase is Nyad, about the famous open water swimmer Diana Nyad. While star Annette Bening is brilliant, it’s Jodie Foster as Nyad’s lifelong best friend and partner Bonnie Stoll who deserves the Oscar love this year. Foster is a natural at playing a sixty-something lesbian and swimming coach, creating one of our favorite lesbian characters in recent memory.

Best Director - Todd Haynes for 'May December'

Image: Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Netflix

Haynes already has several awards for directing this film about an actress who travels to Georgia to study a woman she’s going to play in a movie – a woman who became infamous for beginning a relationship with a 13-year-old when she was 36 and then later marrying him. He’s one of the best directors in the world, and May December shows off why.

Best Animated Film - 'Nimona'

Image: Netflix

Nimona wasn’t just the best animated film of 2023, it’s one of the best films of the year, period. While other major studios fumble stories about queer characters or completely ignore them, Nimona came out blazing with a heart full of rainbows and rebellion. It’s hard to make a movie with as powerful and urgent a message as Nimona and still make it beautiful, creative, and original, but that’s exactly what the Nimona team did.

Best Original Song - "Camp Isn't Home" from 'Theater Camp'

Image: Searchlight Pictures

Theater Camp was one of the quiet hits of the summer, and this song from the musical within the musical deserves to be recognized at this year’s Academy Awards. A song that perfectly balances humor and heart, “Camp Isn’t Home” perfectly sums up our feelings about special places like theater camps, and we’d love to see it get some awards recognition.

Best Animated Short - 'Pete'

Image: Bret Parker/Artfarm Productions

We fell absolutely in love with this short film about a gender-nonconforming kid who just wants to play baseball and be themself. It’s everything that’s good about animated shorts and it sends a vital message.