Celebrate Pride with these 10 Thai queer movies

A chance meeting in Bangkok's Siam district reunites Tong and Mew, two childhood friends who have grown into near strangers. What follows is a journey into unspoken emotions and unresolved feelings they thought had been buried long ago.

Golden boy Tong has it all on paper: the look, the girl, the heartthrob lifestyle. Mew is deep in his music, a rising pop star still in his school uniform. Both boys are drowning in losses – a missing sister and a dead grandma. As they drift deeper into each other's orbit and the credits draw closer, we realise, along with Tong and Mew, that the innocent connection you thought you'd outgrown never really disappears. Sometimes the person who sees through your carefully constructed playing-grown-up walls is exactly who you have been running from all along.

This film marked a cultural shift in Thai cinema as one of the first mainstream films to centre a gay love story when LGBTQ+ narratives were mostly erased or heavily coded. It became a touchstone for a generation hungry for stories that felt honest. Queer, intimate and ahead of its time, the film found a second life as a cult favourite among young audiences in Thailand and beyond.

Thailand's 2015 Oscar submission takes its title from a checkers playbook, a visual allegory to two orphaned brothers playing their way through grief, strategy and survival on the board and in real life.

The film is a breath of fresh air. Older brother Ek's sexuality poses no threat. Being gay isn't a tortured subplot here – it just is. Told through the eyes of ten-year-old Oat, the younger brother, the real threat comes from Thailand's military draft lottery that could take his older brother away. The little Thai touches add warmth like releasing fish for good karma. Then there is Oat trying his first cheeseburger only for the processed cheese to send everything straight back up. There's a lot more to the story and that's your cue to press play.

As Thailand's official submission to the Oscars, the film brought international attention to Thai queer cinema and the realities of young men facing the country's controversial military draft. It humanises LGBTQ+ experiences without melodrama, fostering empathy and broadening global perspectives on Thai society.

Shane's journey from broken father to Buddhist monkhood. Pich races against his failing body, flamed by a terminal illness, pouring what little strength remains into crafting a Bai Sri, those intricate Buddhist ceremonial offerings that bridge the human and spiritual realms. The two connect deeply to religion and to each other.

This film is a meditation on how we metabolise loss when there's no instruction manual. Its hypnotic pacing mirrors Buddhist practice itself – patient, deliberate, prompting you to sit with discomfort instead of rushing to the fastest exit. Not a weekend popcorn viewing but the kind of film that burrows into your consciousness hard and long.

The film is celebrated for its sensitive portrayal of gay love intertwined with Thai spirituality and tradition, a rare and profound intersection in cinema. It brought Thai LGBTQ+ narratives into deeper artistic realms, highlighting acceptance, impermanence, and healing within cultural contexts.

Two tight-knit schoolgirls, Jane and Ann, live side by side in a cramped police housing flat. Things get shaky when new policeman Tong moves in, sparking jealousy that's less about him and more about the shifting undercurrents between the girls.

This gritty slice of Bangkok teen life skips the glossy high school clichés. The camera doesn't flinch from the rough edges of cramped flats and stark class divides, all on top of the messy confusion of figuring out who you love while still figuring out who you are.

By depicting real urban youth struggles, social inequality, and queer identity in contemporary Bangkok, this film contributes to a more honest and raw representation of Thai youth culture rarely seen in mainstream cinema. It captures modern social dynamics and the fluidity of teenage relationships against a realistic urban backdrop.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cannes Jury Prize winner is part rural queer romance, part jungle fever dream and it splits audiences right down the middle.

First half: soldier Keng quietly falls for local boy Tong in a tender countryside flirtation. Second half: a surreal tiger-man stalks the forest and reality melts into myth. Shot in long meditative takes, the film plays with old-school folktale structures, threading in modern queer love, human-beast duality and the blurred line between real and unreal.

This film put Thai arthouse cinema on the global map, winning prestigious awards and inspiring filmmakers worldwide. Its experimental narrative style challenged conventional storytelling and brought Thai myths and queer themes into international art cinema, elevating Apichatpong as one of Thailand's and the world's most acclaimed directors.

Two outcasts. One haunted pool. And a love story that slips into the supernatural. Tam keeps his head down. Phum stays in the shadows. Two blue loners, drawn to this one abandoned pool.

What starts as swimming past each other turns skin-on-skin when Tam learns Phum's family land was taken. Together, they dream of taking it back. But something else lives in the water. And it won't let go. With a blue so deep it aches, this was the Thai standout at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival.

The film received critical acclaim for its blend of queer romance and supernatural horror, contributing to a growing niche of Thai cinema that explores LGBTQ+ themes beyond mainstream narratives. It also reflects societal tensions around land rights and marginalisation in urban Thailand, using genre to tell complex stories.

A biopic of Nong Toom, a Thai transgender Muay Thai fighter. A warrior battling on two fronts: smashing opponents in the ring while facing Thailand's suffocating gender norms and grinding rural poverty.

Asanee Suwan owns the lead role, nabbing Best Actor trophies across the festival circuit as he brings Nong Toom's kickboxing skills and quiet revolution to life, rocking full makeup while destroying opponents. What makes this film truly special is how it dared to centre a transgender story in Asian cinema when almost nobody else would. This one's for anyone who loves stories about fighting, both literally and for your identity.

As one of the first major Thai films to focus on a transgender protagonist, Beautiful Boxer broke significant cultural barriers. It raised awareness of transgender issues in Thailand and Asia, inspiring dialogue on gender identity and acceptance while spotlighting Muay Thai as a symbol of strength and resilience.

Nursing a broken heart, Toey escapes to Japan's snowy Higashikawa town where he bumps into Oat who's on his final fling before marriage. Though their Japanese getaway clock ticks down, neither's in a rush to swap ramen runs and leg it back to real life.

They give us the clumsy thrill of crashing into connection right when you're convinced you've got nothing left to give. The title's Present Perfect but the film stays fully in present tense, telling it simply and easily.

This film is notable for its quiet, heartfelt depiction of gay relationships across cultures, bridging Thai and Japanese perspectives. It highlights themes of healing and chance connections with subtlety, gaining recognition for its sensitive portrayal of LGBTQ+ lives outside the usual urban settings.

Felix trades a German Christmas winter for Phuket heat. He chooses sand over snow, Singha over mulled wine. Then he meets Fai.

Fai's pure Patong, a trans woman who gives him a new perspective on life that makes departure day feel all wrong. His gut screams louder than the airport announcements. So he bins the flight. Extends the stay. One more week to figure out what's pulling him back. Sometimes the best plans are the ones you never make.

Patong Girl shines a light on transgender lives in Thailand through a popular romantic comedy lens, making transgender representation accessible and relatable. It helped normalise queer relationships in popular Thai cinema and contributed to a broader social conversation about gender identity and acceptance in tourist hubs like Phuket.

A Thai reimagining of the cult Taiwanese film Marry My Dead Body, this version spins a supernatural comedy where the groom's spirit will not rest, and the man he is tethered to is very much alive.

Menn inadvertently becomes entangled in a ghost marriage when he picks up a red envelope, an ancient ritual that binds him to Titi, a deceased man with unfinished business. Titi is dead, dramatic and determined not to rest in peace. It is a laugh-out-loud ride, and the afterlife has never looked this alive.

Rooted in Taiwan and Thailand’s rich supernatural traditions, this genre-blending narrative where the living and the dead are bound in an unusual and thrilling way adds to the growing visibility of LGBTQ+ stories in Thai cinema. Winning the Audience Choice Award at the 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival and earning over B100 million at the Thai box office, the film demonstrates how modern queer stories can thrive both commercially and culturally in Thailand, inspiring new confidence and creativity across Southeast Asian cinema.