Last year, 2020, was full of a LOT… a year that will not be forgotten for ages to come. But there were some good things – such as all of the Queer Christmas films that broke new ground!
Hallmark finally released a film with a gay storyline with The Christmas House, Lifetime progressed from the gay sub-story to a true gay Christmas storyline with “The Christmas Setup”, and we had a few other films that seemingly sprung from the nether into fruition. Happiest Season was the main film here, however my personal favourite was Paramount’s Dashing in December. However, I already had my queer Christmas film reviews sorted so I wasn’t able to include reviews of last year’s films – but a couple are on my list this year. Stay tuned!
But before I start publishing 2021’s Queer Christmas Film and Queer Christmas Short reviews, we get to look at something even more exciting:
The NEW releases for the 2021 Christmas season!
This year we have even MORE LGBTQ Christmas & Holiday films to enjoy, expanding the quickly growing niche. I’m actually quite excited for a couple, although one or two have me reserving judgement. Read on to find out what we know of each film, and when they each premiere.
8 NEW Queer Christmas Films Coming In 2021!
3.5
All cards are on the table when a queer Pakistani Muslim woman brings her Puerto Rican girlfriend home for the first time on the family’s annual game night.
The first film to keep your eye out for is not only a queer short film, but it actually has already had it’s premiere. Unfortunately, the few film festivals “The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night” took part in have already concluded, and I cannot find any information about a way to actually watch or stream it! Thankfully, I was able to catch it at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival this month. Even though it’s new for 2021, it’s actually one of the shorts for my “Christmas Short Films for 2021” post next month! So stay tuned – at least you can find out why it’s such a cute lesbian Christmas short!
“The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night” is not available to watch/buy online.
An action figure from a young gay man’s Christmas Past comes to life to help him find the courage he needs to live his true life. ‘Christmas Coming Out’ is a heartfelt story mixing drama, comedy, romance and fantasy.
The second Queer Christmas short film on this list, “Christmas Coming Out” is also the first film this season to be publicly available to watch. (Although it did premiere earlier this fall in a short film festival.) The trailer is rather cute, which has me quite excited for this short’s release. While they do kinda give away the ending, I’m already captivated due to the comedic & fantastical twist on what is otherwise a boring storyline of having to hide your true identity when home for the holidays – or be pressured into coming out.
Watch “Christmas Coming Out” on GayBingeTV.
4.5
When Haley Hollis returns to her family ranch to try and save it from closure, she wasn’t banking on spending so much time with ranch hand Kate – or falling for her. Starring Lindsay Wagner, Amanda Righetti, Laur Allen and Archie Kao.
Back in 2018, Tello ran a pitch contest for lesbian/queer Christmas film storylines. After producing “Season of Love” and “I Hate New Year’s”, Julie Anton’s submission, “Christmas at the Ranch” is the third entry from that contest. The plot appears to follow many of the usual Christmas film tropes, just with a lesbian main couple. Even the trailer is quite enjoyable to watch. However, I was not a huge fan of last year’s “I Hate New Year’s” and while I reserve judgement for “Christmas at the Ranch”, I anticipate it will garner a similar reaction unless they’ve amped up their game. It’s certainly great to see more lesbian films – especially when they are brought to life by a female dominated team.
Watch “Christmas At The Ranch” on Prime Video, DIVA Box Office, and Peacock TV.
A workaholic big-city fashion journalist who is sent to a Christmas-obsessed small town to dig up a story. While there in the town, the journalist she finds herself in the middle of cut-throat housewives, a high-stakes “Winter Ball” competition, and a plot to destroy Christmas “fore-evah.”
I’m rather excited for this entry. Not because it stars twenty drag queens from Drag Race, judges, and even Mother Ru herself, but because I actually enjoyed RuPaul’s performance in “AJ and the Queen” earlier this year. With plenty of her iconic sass paired with some good heartfelt moments we saw as AJ, I feel this will be something truly enjoyable. At worst, it’ll be campy as hell with plenty of drag queens to keep us entertained! Either way – I can’t wait!
Watch “The Bitch Who Stole Christmas” on WOW Presents and VH1.
3.0
5.0
Desperate to avoid his family’s judgment about his perpetual single status, Peter (Michael Urie) convinces his best friend Nick (Philemon Chambers) to join him for the holidays and pretend that they’re now in a relationship. But when Peter’s mother (Kathy Najimy) sets him up on a blind date with her handsome trainer James (Luke Macfarlane) the plan goes awry.
Just from the synopsis alone, I feel that this will be up there with some of the other great queer Christmas films. With an incredible cast including Kathy Najimy and Jennifer Coolidge, I have high hopes for a quality film. However, it’s the trailer that really gets me excited! Unlike most Christmas films where the single guy gets set up with the man of his dreams while home for the holidays, “Single All The Way” provides a bit of a twist: what if it’s your best friend, only you just haven’t seen it yet? No matter which direction the romance takes, I feel that this will be a great film to watch this season.
Watch “Single All The Way” on Netflix.
Each of the five episodes, set during a different holiday throughout the year follows Lily (Emeraude Toubia) on her transition from being newly single to caught in a love triangle with two sexy suitors (Desmond Chiam, Rome Flynn). Brother to Lily, Jorge Jr. (Mark Indelicato) introduces his new boyfriend Henry (Vincent Rodriguez III) to the family for the first time on Christmas Eve/Nochebuena, and the Diaz’s cousin, Sol Perez (Isis King), balances a potential blossoming relationship with their coworker Dr. Miles Murphy (Todd Grinnell). The patriarchs of the family, Beatriz (Constance Marie) and Jorge Sr. (Benito Martinez) also deal with their own relationship challenges in finding new ways to keep the spark alive in their 50’s.
I very nearly missed the announcement of this 5-episode series over on Amazon Prime! However, that’s probably because we don’t really know that much about the show yet – or at least not enough to know the details of the main plot, let alone any sub-plots. We do know that trans icon Isis King will be portraying Sol Perez, their trans-non-binary cousin, and that gay actor Vincent Rodriguez III is Jorge’s new boyfriend, Henry. So it is a queer series. Yet it seems that the Christmas holiday itself will only be a small role in this series, making me question whether it’ll actually be a queer Christmas series – or just a queer series. We’ll have to wait and see what unfolds.
Watch “With Love” on Prime Video.
3.5
The Mitchell brothers, Mike (Robert Buckley) and Brandon (Jonathan Bennett), compete to see who can create the best Christmas House.
Yup – that’s all that we know about the sequel to last year’s rather divisive “The Christmas House”, which cause QUITE a stir for Hallmark and the religious right. Initially omitted from their Christmas lineup when first announced, Hallmark dragged us along before finally caving and promising to deliver the first “prominent LGBTQ storyline” in one of their channel’s films. Some folks loved it. Others hated the fact the film even saw air time on Hallmark. As for me well, let’s just say that the film had some problems; the biggest one being that the “prominent” storyline ended up being more a side story that had to share screen time with the “straight” brother’s side story. And from the very little that we know of its sequel, I’m not holding any hope that will be any better.
Watch “The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls” on Amazon, Prime Video, and Hallmark Movies Now.
Marketing whiz Alma Beltran (Elise Bauman) and Christmas tree whisperer Charlie Freemont (Tattiawna Jones) cross paths when Charlie finds the perfect tree for the Maine Governor’s Holiday Celebration – right in Alma’s back yard. While they initially spar, romantic sparks soon begin to fly between the two women as the enchanting tree and some Christmas fairy dust from the town’s pâtissière extraordinaire (Ricki Lake) bring out the best in them and spark each other to take leaps of faith and fight for love and Christmas magic.
I’m intrigued for “Under The Christmas Tree” – and pleasantly surprised that Lifetime opted to push out a lesbian Christmas film this season after their success with “The Christmas Setup” last year. The trailer and synopsis probably give away the gist of the story, which appears to fall along the lines of most Lifetime/Hallmark/Holiday film plots. Yet I’m hopeful this lesbian Christmas film can hold rank with the abundance of gay Christmas films out there.
Watch “Under The Christmas Tree” on Prime Video and Lifetime.
Are you intrigued as much as I am about these 8 NEW Queer Christmas Films coming this 2021 holiday season? (Yes, that’s EIGHT new queer holiday films – WOW!) Which one are you the MOST excited for? Let me know in the comments below!
