Every year, we engage with queer art in so many different mediums and spaces, and not everything ends up on our official End of Year Lists for one reason or another. So Drew and I thought we’d start a new tradition of collaborating on a list of the oddball, under-the-radar, and underrated queer art we loved from the year — things like shorts and films we saw at festivals that haven’t received distribution yet, small press books, songs by indie artists, etc. We’d love to hear about the art YOU loved from this year that you think deserves a shout out!
Fifteen-Love
This is the most mainstream thing I’m including on this list, as it wasn’t exactly on an obscure platform; it was literally on AMC. But so few people I’ve talked to have watched the tennis thriller — even in my circles of tennis friends! — that I feel like it warrants inclusion here despite also making Autostraddle’s best TV shows of the year list (which was largely due to my influence). This is my last ditch effort to try to get anyone who will listen to watch this show! It’s streaming on AMC+! Get a free trial if you need to! I wrote some of why I love the series into my review. Challengers obviously dominated the year in terms of tennis pop culture, and while it’s tonally very different, Fifteen-Love is actually the piece of 2024 tennis art that is way more about tennis. It’s also about sexual assault, abuse of power, and the fucked up pressures and transgressions that happen in elite sports. As I wrote in my review, it plays out a bit like a sporty psychological thriller akin to The Novice, with shades of Dare Me, Big Little Lies, and The Affair. — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
Challengers edits
I’m staying with tennis to shout out the Challengers edits and memes made by the internet. People are so talented and creative! This list is all about underground art but one of the pleasures of loving something beloved by others is celebrating that love in inventive ways. As the internet falls victim to AI, it’s nice to remember the possibilities of people. I’m linking two of my favorites: Olivia Rodrigo’s “Obsessed” by Ariel Vaale and Katharine Hepburn plays tennis to the Challengers score by Candy Kane.
The Herricanes
This documentary film about the first women’s full tackle football league in the 1970s made the festival rounds this year, and I was lucky to have a chance to see it at the Florida Film Festival. The Herricanes was made by Olivia Kuan, the daughter of one of the players on the Houston Herricanes, the focal point team in the doc. It’s one of the best sports documentaries I’ve ever seen, touching on class, sexism, family, friendship, community, and queerness in nuanced and beautiful ways. The queer stuff is particularly interesting because while some characters use clear labels, others do not, yielding narratives that go beyond your typical “coming out” style arc. I cried a lot! And laughed! It made me want to play football! This documentary deserves distribution! — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
Thigh Rise (dir. Maz Murray)
One of the best parts of screening my short at festivals was being programmed alongside so many other trans filmmakers. This led me to a lot of great films, but the one I loved most was this short about a trans guy who realizes he lives inside the boot of a giant trans woman. It’s so funny and weird and lovingly crafted and according to Maz’s website you can request a link…
Cecilia by K-Ming Chang
Out from Coffee House Press, K-Ming Chang’s scrumptious and sexy novella Cecilia is a tightly wound story of obsession — one of my absolute favorite literary themes. K-Ming has the kind of writing career I aspire to, putting out books with bigger, more mainstream publishers while continuing to do more underground releases of novellas and chapbooks with small presses. I love short books, and this was the best one I read this year.
“Cherry Cola” by Devon Again
Devon Again’s “Suburbia” went triple platinum on my phone a couple summers ago when I was having a fling with a closeted married woman, but this up-and-coming pop favorite has outdone herself. “Cherry Cola” is such a delicious ear worm!!
Places I’ve Called My Own
I had the privilege of seeing this Hindi-language queer short at the South Asian Film Festival at the Enzian Theater in Orlando and was blown away by the complex storytelling about grief, family, fertility, and queer love it tells in its tight timespan. Sometimes queer narratives have a tendency to oversimplify the concepts of being in/out of the closet, but it’s not always a binary, and this short captures well the realities of some queer people especially outside of the West who exist in a more complicated space with their queerness, not totally out but not fully in either. — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
Doll/Girl
It was such a pleasure writing this profile of the new musical Doll/Girl by Lisa Stephen Friday and Joseph W. Ritsch. I really hope it gets a full production soon, because the music is so good and I want more people to see the work of these talented artists and to learn more about Greer Lankton!
“A Girl Who Likes Girls” by Meredith Shock
My sister’s girlfriend — singer-songwriter Meredith Shock — put out a new super sweet gay song for Pride this year! It’s sort of framed like a message for her younger self, yielding a sentimental and joyful song of self-celebration even as it’s vulnerable and honest about insecurities from her past. I’m biased, but Meredith is a great vocalist, and I can’t wait to see her perform this live some day!
One More Time
Sorry to be a wife guy/husband gal, but my partner Elise Bauman was on a Canadian sitcom called One More Time that aired this year — and then was canceled because the Canadian industry is even worse than the American one. BUT the good news is all thirteen episodes of the series are now available on YouTube and it’s so good! It’s really special to watch someone you love get to be fully themself in their art and I just think Elise’s performance on this show is so special and the show in general is so funny. If you’re looking for a quick, delightful binge watch this!
