Pride Month may be over, but dancing at the gay club is a year-round activity. Nothing compares to that energy on a dance floor surrounded by other queer people with music flowing through you. And sometimes lesbian and queer movies succeed at capturing that feeling!

Personally, I think we need way more gay club scenes in sapphic cinema. I love a quiet talking moment at a gay bar as much as the next person but it’s not the same. That’s why I’ve gathered this list of my ten favorite night club scenes — many at queer clubs, some at straight clubs where queer people make them gay. So inhale those poppers, grind on your crush, and dive in!

Bonus: The entire movie Shakedown

This is a documentary about a club rather than one scene from a narrative film, but how could we talk about night club scenes without at least mentioning Shakedown?? If you haven’t seen this film chronicling the Black lesbian strip club Shakedown from 2002 to when it was shut down in 2004, you should change that immediately.

10. “Fantasy Crush” from Girltrash: All Night Long

I do not believe in guilty pleasures so I will not apologize for this inclusion. While this musical adaptation of a popular web series was disowned by co-creator Angela Robinson, its most charming moment takes place at a lesbian club. Seasoned lesbian Misty is crushing on the fuckboi of the group while newbie lesbian Colby is crushing on Misty and the two sing a duet about their fantasy crushes. Misty and Colby are played by the leads of South of Nowhere which means nothing to me but possibly meant/means a lot to some of you. I just like musicals!

9. The opening of Holy Camp!

Yes, another musical! Originally based on a play, I love the decision to open the movie adaptation with the two leads escaping their summer camp to attend a concert and dance at a club. It opens up the world for the characters and lets us see the night out that makes the next day’s hangover worth it. A film as sincere as it is blasphemous, this sequence sets a town that brings the energy of a night out to the dance numbers and holy romances of its more modest setting.

8. Bad coping mechanisms in The Wedding Banquet (2025)

Not to generalize about our diverse lesbian community, but there’s a reason the next two entries find a queer woman out with their gay guy bestie. Sometimes your lesbian friends are home in bed or busy with a game night and thank God you have a gay male friend to drink too much and go dancing with you! While Andrew Ahn’s reimagining of The Wedding Banquet has many moments of affection across the queer community, my favorite is Chris and Angela going to club to avoid dealing with their separate partner conflicts.

7. Night club day dream from Nina’s Heavenly Delights

From coping with an old relationship to dreaming about a new one, this scene captures that common lesbian experience of standing at a night club, watching your crush dance, and wishing it was you touching her. Nina’s gone to the gay club with her gay best friend and run into Lisa. Amid the swirls of music, alcohol, and a performance from The Chutney Queens, Nina imagines touching Lisa in a heavenly glow. Like many a disappointing night at the club, it won’t happen quite yet, but the thought sure is pretty.

6. Super spy make out from Atomic Blonde

Like many spy movies, the plot of Atomic Blonde is fairly unimportant. What is important is the fight sequences and this steamy make out. Charlize Theron and Sofia Boutella kiss at the bar of a club and then excuse themselves to somewhere more private. But things are never simple for someone in this profession so pretty soon Theron’s character pulls out a gun. But, hey, let’s be honest: This only makes it hotter.

5. Alyssa explores in Where the Wind Comes From

This was my favorite movie I saw at Sundance this year and I’m so excited for it to get released and more people to watch it! One reason is for the incredible club scene in the middle of the movie. Director Amel Guellaty does such a great job creating the magical vibe of the club and that’s before the sequence and the movie even get gay. I don’t want to say too much about this sequence since the movie isn’t out yet but lets just say it combines strangers bonding in a bathroom, a hot femme helping someone with her makeup, flirting via sharing a cigarette, a dash of magical realism, bold formal choices, and a club make out. A perfect moment in a perfect film!

4. Good girl gone bad in Black Swan

Can a white swan become a black swan? What if she does molly at the club? This sequence that largely takes place in the dark with flashes of dance floor shenanigans is equal parts erotic and frightening. It captures that feeling of being out of control at a club which can to lead to some of the best nights and certainly some of the worst. Lucky for Nina as played by Natalie Portman, she makes it home ready for a lezzy wet dream.

3. The opening of Pariah

An Audre Lorde quote, brief shots of people getting into a club, and then… all you ladies pop your pussy like this, shake your body don’t stop don’t miss. A woman slides down a pole upside down to “My Neck, My Back” and then the camera spins around on baby stud Alike’s overwhelmed face. Throughout the film Alike will face challenges of first love and familial homophobia, but the euphoria of queerness felt in moments like this opening are what makes the film so special. It’s a reminder that someday Alike will grow up, return to a club like this, and find a place of total belonging.

2. Separate parties in Eva + Candela

This is arguably the lesbian breakup movie and this sequence is among its best. With distance building, both literal and emotional, Candela and Eva find themselves having separate nights out. At different times, they both try to call the other with no success, but otherwise they actually find joy elsewhere. It’s a bittersweet moment as they both realize they don’t actually need or maybe even want their partner. At this point, they’re better with new people. They’re better on their own.

1. The kiss from Mars One

Okay, you got me. Every lesbian film list I make is just an excuse to try and get more people to watch my favorite queer movie of the last five years: Mars One. From number four on the lesbian movie make out list to number one on the night club list, I’m once again here to write about this perfectly choreographed club kiss. May this scene inspire you to go to the club this summer and actually make a move. The days of lesbian longing are over. There’s no time! Eye contact is fun, but kissing is better. The clubs are waiting. Dance! Kiss! Live!

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You might be wondering, “What best lesbian movies are on Hulu? I bet some of the best lesbian movies are all over Hulu!” More specifically: “Where can I see two women stare longingly into each other’s eyeballs?????” Well good news! we have you covered.

Our Top 10 Picks For Lesbian, Trans and Queer Women Focused Movies on Hulu:

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

#4 on our list of the Best Queer Movies of 2023

Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning meditation on crime and justice in the snow stars Sandra Hüller as a bisexual German writer living in France who is charged with murder after her husband is found dead, having descended from the top floor of their house into the snow. ” The two-and-a-half hour runtime clips along with the excitement one might expect from the crime genre,” writes Drew. “And yet, the film’s greatest strength is how severely it rebukes that genre and its sibling genre: the courtroom drama.”

Blue Jean (2023)

#17 on our list of the Best Queer Movies of 2023

In 1980s Ireland, Jean is a high school PE teacher and netball coach who dodges lesbian rumors at work while enjoying a robust queer community at home and a radical dyke girlfriend, Viv. As homophobic politicians fight to root lesbians out of education altogether, Jean’s worlds begin to collide when she runs into a new student, Lois, at the gay bar. “The triumph ofBlue Jean is that it takes time showing the queer lives at stake,” writes Drew in her review of Blue Jean. “This is not a dour film. It has hot lesbian sex, sweaty snapshots of queer bars, and, ultimately, portrays the power of community. This makes the constricting environment of the school all the more painful.”

Carol (2015)

#5 on The 100 Best Lesbian Movies

Perhaps you’ve heard of Carol? There is this fancy woman Carol Aird, and she meets a younger woman, Therese, at a department store. She leaves her gloves and then they have lunch. Then they have an entire affair! It takes place in the 1950s.

Crush (2022)

#62 on The 100 Best Lesbian Movies

This delightful teen rom-com is a lesbian movie on Hulu full of queer actors playing queer characters. Paige is an aspiring artist who joins the track team to beef up her college resume, hoping to get closer to her eternal crush, Gabby — but ends up finding herself drawn to somebody unexpected! “From the extremely winsome leads to the easy story beats and quick humor, it’s darn cute and wholly queer,” wrote Analyssa in her review. “By about 20 minutes in, I had adapted to all the Gen Z speak and was fully along for the ride.”

How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023)

Drew called this movie, a “critique of non-violence in climate activism, a suggestion that destruction of property in pursuit of sabotage is not only morally justified but morally urgent,” a “radical masterpiece.” Sasha Lane plays Theo, a young woman dying from a rare cancer caused by pollution, and Jaume Lawson plays her Theo’s girlfriend, Alisha.

Sally (2025)

Comes out June 17, 2025

The documentary of the first American woman to go to space — remained closeted throughout her life, but gave her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy the go-ahead to attribute herself accurately in her obituary. Tam is the “true star” of this stirring film about Sally’s life and her relationship, wrote Drew, “delightfully blunt, funny and charming, and matter-of-fact.”

Fantatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara (2024)

For over fifteen years, a rogue fan has posed as Tegan Quin, building relationships with other fans and even connecting with Tegan’s real-life friends and associates online, hacking into her computer and quietly terrorizing her life. This is about her mission to find her catfisher, but it’s also about so much more — a specific moment in queer online pop culture history when stars like Tegan & Sara made themselves available to fans who were looking for community and accessibility, and how that vulnerability ended up cutting both ways. Autostraddle readers overlapped a lot with Tegan & Sara fandom, so I was personally just so, so very captivated by it.

Happiest Season (2020)

This hit holiday lesbian movie by Hulu is a rom-com co-written and directed by Clea Duvall. It stars the one and only Kristen Stewart as Abby, who’s meeting her girlfriend Harper’s (Mackenzie Davis) family for the first time. But, big surprise! They don’t know that Harper is gay! Also, Aubrey Plaza plays Harper’s ex-girlfriend, Riley.

In the Summers (2024)

Queer director Alesandra Lacorazza Samudio’s directorial debut is a semi-autobiographical film about two sisters, girly Eva and tomboy Victoria, who live in California and spend fraught summers with their father in New Mexico. ”The greatest strength of In the Summers are these well-written, realistic, complicated characters and watching how the change — or don’t — and how their relationships change — or don’t — over time,” wrote Drew.

Portrait of a Lady On Fire (2019)

#4 on our list of Best Lesbian Movies of All Time

“The invention of lesbian cinema is a project as old as cinema itself,” wrote Drew Gregory in her review. “But every once in a while there is a work of art so specific, so complex, so new in its oldness and old in its newness, that it moves the craft, our craft, to another level of seeing.”

Other Lesbian and Queer Films On Hulu:

Adam (2019)

Based on a controversial graphic novel, Rhys Ernst’s Adam follows a teenage boy who spends the summer of 2006 embedded in his older sister’s vibrant queer community under false pretenses. Read this oral history and give it another chance.

The Almond and the Seahorse (2022)

Based on a play, this “stubbornly lifeless” drama finds Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg playing Sarah and Toni, respectively, two women struggling to manage their lives with partners suffering from traumatic brain injuries — Toni’s partner Gwen and Sarah’s husband Joe. Toni and Sarah’s connection eventually grows romantic and sexual as they search for comfort in this cold world.

Anaïs in Love (2022)

“Throughout the film, Anaïs’ interest in the married man pivots to a much greater interest in the man’s wife,” writes Drew of this lesbian film on Hulu about a chaotic thirty-something who finds herself entangled with the wife of a publisher she’s having an affair with. “But it’s not the film’s queerness that separates it from its subgenre — although I’m grateful for the steamy sex scene. What Anaïs in Love does differently is it lets its protagonist get away with everything.”

Bendetta (2021)

Our “sacrilegious lesbian nun movie” is based on the true story of a 17th-century nun who finds herself entangled in a lesbian affair with a novice and has visions that threaten the Church’s very foundation. Drew was underwhelmed, however, by its alleged scandalousness, noting, “Verhoeven’s offering ends up feeling like a relic of a bygone era — one where the only people allowed to film lesbian sex were straight cis dudes ignorant to the most exciting ways we fuck.”

Boys on the Side (1995)

A deeply beloved 90s classic in which Whoopi Goldberg plays a lesbian musician on a post-crime road trip with Mary Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore. The Indigo Girls! Nineties lipstick! Southwestern landscapes! There is so much processing and bonding in this movie, it’s almost like it’ll never end (just like a real lesbian relationship!).

Boy Meets Girl (2014)

“Eric Schaeffer’s romcom is the sweet — and messy — love story we deserve. Michelle Hendley is an absolute star as Ricky Jones, a small town girl with a YouTube following and a desire for love. It takes a dalliance with the engaged Francesca to reveal the love she has for her male best friend — and what a dalliance it is!” writes Drew. “Ricky’s sex scene with Francesca is hot and tender, and while some of us may have been rooting for the two of them to end up together, the whole thing is so sweet you probably won’t mind that she ends up with the friend. And Hendley is just so good — she’s such a pleasure to watch on screen.”

Elena Undone (2010)

As Erin eloquently wrote in her review I Watched Lesbian Classic ‘Elena Undone’ and I’m Sorry What, “rather than grade it to be a “good” or “bad” or “really not very good” or “garbagio” movie, I will simply ask a neutral question, which is: I’m sorry what.” The wife of a pastor embarks on an affair with a writer.

Fire lsland (2022)

This heartwarming film about a group of gay friends looking for love and sex and community on Fire Island isn’t a lesbian movie, but it’s so hilarious and heartwarming and fantastic that any queer person who believes in queer community would enjoy it. Plus,Margaret Cho gives a delightful performance as “career brunch server, age unknown, lesbian scam queen” Erin. “I lovedFire Island because it was real. It’s real to be erased and undesirable in white queer spaces as a fat person of color,” wrote Carmen in her review. “It’s real to be gay and thirst after Christine Baranski or laugh until your sides hurt over Marissa Tomei. It’s real to want to escape for seven days and never once see a straight person.”

Jagged Mind (2023)

“…my favorite works of queer horror aren’t so easily bound by genre descriptions,” wrote Kayla of this time-looping lesbian erotic thriller, “and Jagged Mind views to me much like a haunted house story — without the actual haunted house. The haunted house, instead, is a relationship.”

Loving Annabelle (2006)

This is one of those formative lesbian films that holds a special place in every millennial’s heart, despite its problematic elements. Annabelle is sent to a Catholic girl’s boarding school after being expelled from the two schools before that — and once there, she falls for her teacher, Simone.

Moving On (2023)

Two friends, Claire (Jane Fonda) and Evie (Lily Tomlin), reunite at the funeral of a third friend with whom, in college, they were an inseparable trio. The group drifted apart afterwards — Evie towards living an out gay life and her cello career, Joyce marrying a terrible man, Claire getting re-married, having kids, getting a corgi. Both arrive at the funeral with ulterior motives — Claire, for one, wants to kill Joyce’s husband. “Watching Fonda and Tomlin perform is like watching an Olympic athlete or a world-renowned ballerina,” writes Drew. “They are masters of their craft and it’s awe-inspiring to witness — even if the material doesn’t always live up to their skill.”

A Perfect Ending (2012)

As Nicole Conn movies go, this one is on the more bearable end — a rich, blonde, middle-aged wife in an unhappy marriage confides in her lesbian friends that she’s never had an orgasm and she rarely has sex with her husband, so they hire a high-class escort (Jessica Clark) to show her the ropes of herself.

Prom Dates (2024)

“In Prom Dates, best friends Jess and Hannah (played by Antonia Gentry and Julia Lester respectively) hope to fulfill the pact they made when they were 13 to have the best prom ever. But now, it’s the day before, and both girls find themselves without dates. Determined to get things back on track, Jess and Hannah set out to find new dates, Hannah comes out to Jess as a lesbian, and chaos ensues. Prom Datesis not a bad movie, but it’s also not a good movie.” — Sai, Hulu’s Prom Dates Tries to be Superbad for Queer Girls

Scream (2022)

coming June 8

Scream V introduces us to Jasmin Savoy Brown’s Mindy, the queer niece of Randy Meeks who shares her deceased uncle’s vast knowledge of horror tropes. The story didn’t blow us away, but it is what it is and we appreciate that.

Tell it to The Bees (2018)

This romantic drama film set in the 1950s stars Anna Paquin as Jean, a new doctor in a small town who makes a connection with Lydia (Hollilday Grainger), whose young son bonds with Jean over their shared interest in bee colonies. But Jean and Lydia’s relationship, believe it or not, is a scandal!

Thirteen (2003)

Queer actor Evan Rachel Wood’s iconic coming-of-age movie finds her playing Tracy, a good kid who lives with her mom (Holly Hunter) who is transformed by her friendship with her school’s resident bad girl, Evie (Nikki Reed), a friendship that trips Tracy into a spiral of drugs, sex and self-harm. “Thirteen, for better or worse, belongs in the canon of lesbian cinema,” writes Drew. “Its tale of queer girl coming-of-age goes deeper than a kiss — even a French one.”

Under the Christmas Tree (2021)

Under the Christmas Treeis famously Lifetime’s first-ever lesbian Christmas movie! Elise Bauman is marketing whiz Alma Beltran, who crosses paths with a Christmas Tree Salesperson (?) Charlie while on the hunt for the prefect tree for the Maine Governor’s Holiday Celebration right in Alma’s backyard. What begins with sparring leads to sparking and romance with the help of Ricki Lake, the town’s pâtissière extraordinaire, who is an inspirational figure to all.

Other movies on Hulu with a minimal amount of Lesbian / Bisexual content:

All Fun and Games (2023)

A horror movie about a group of teens in Salem who find a cursed knife from the 17th century that turns children’s games into horrorshows. Laurel Marsden is Sophie, a lesbian on her way to Smith College and the best friend of Billie, one of two protagonists.

Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar (2021)

There’s some homoerotic themes and one ill-conceived threesome, but Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar is a delight despite how mostly straight it is. “It’s nonsensical and preposterous and silly and and senseless,” wrote Heather in her review. “It’s like spending 90 minutes inside a fever dream a Kristin Wiig ’80s sketch character might have if she got high inside some kind of Mars Cheese Castle/Dylan’s Candy Bar co-op. And I loved it.”

Black Swan (2010)

It’s genuinely difficult to decide which of the three categories on this list Black Swan fits into! Anyhow, devoted balerina (Natalie Portman) is consumed by her ambitions and brought to the brink of madness.

Death on the Nile (2022)

This adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic novel finds Hercule Poirot aboard a Karnak traversing the river Nile, attempting to solve some murders! Unlike the original novel, this version features Mrs. Bowers and Marie Van Schuyler as members of a secret lesbian relationship with each other.

The Donor Party (2023)

Fresh out of a messy divorce and unfruitful online dating experiments, recently single Jaclyn has decided to get pregnant and live her dream of being a Mom by any means necessary, enlisting her friends to pull off “the ultimate sperm heist.” Her friend Molly invites “three good prospects” for Jaclyn to seduce to a birthday party for her husband Geoff.According to Movieweb, “naughtiness abounds” when “Amandine (Bria Henderson), a lesbian with eyes on Geoff’s sister, encourages Jaclyn to get down and dirty.”

The Drop (2023)

Set at a lesbian destination wedding, this comedy is focused on a straight couple who arrives and immediately drops a baby.Read Kayla’s review of “The Drop.”

Fresh (2022)

This horror movie finds a girl on an endless bad date with a seemingly perfect man who turns out to be a cannibal. Her bisexual best friend bi best friend Mollie (played by Jojo T. Gibbs of Twenties!) ends up having to save her ass.Read Kayla’s review of Fresh.

Mack & Rita(2022)

A comedy that wastes a lot of talented actors in which twentysomething Mack Martin, who feels like an old lady on the inside, becomes one (Diane Keaton) through an age-regression pod, while visiting Palm Springs with her lesbian best friend Carla (Taylour Paige).

Spencer (2021)

Kristen Stewart has a stunning turn as Princess Diana of Wales in this biopic focused entirely on Diana’s Christmas at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate while rumors of an impending divorce stirred about. Stewart’s Diana is gorgeously nervous, manic, unsettled, haunted. Her royal dresser, Maggie, is a lesbian, Diana’s closest friend and most treasured confidant.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021)

This biopic telling the story of Billie Holiday is “heavy on trauma and light on queerness,” going so far as to include a kiss between Billie and Tallulah Bankhead (Natasha Lyonne) in the trailer that was cut from the film! Read our review of The United States vs. Billie Holiday.

Whitney: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2022)

“Whitney and Robyn moments are sprinkled throughout the film,” writes Amari, “with brief portrayals of Robyn cheering on Whitney’s televised performances from home, acting as her creative director on the sidelines, and begging Whitney to leave Bobby Brown, but they are passing moments — and they certainly do not capture the confirmed emotionally intimate nor romantic elements of their relationship.”

So there you have it, all the lesbian movies on Hulu that we could find! And we searched high and low! Which are you most excited to dust off and revisit, or watch for the first time?

Want more streaming lesbian movies?

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!