Pride month is underway, and many local organizations and communities are celebrating with parades, events, fundraisers and other festivities. But if that’s not your speed, there is another way you can celebrate: By checking out LGBTQ+ stories on the silver screen.

Film critic and writer Sarah G. Vincent, whose work appears on Boston Movie News, Awards Watch and at SarahGVincentViews.com, gathered some of her favorite movies and documentaries made by and about trans people.

These movies, Vincent said, are especially important in light of worldwide violence against trans people, which scholars and activists have called a trans genocide.

“One way to fight genocide is through the visibility and existence of trans people,” Vincent said. “And that step is being taken every time someone makes a movie or watches a movie and embraces that part of our culture — and it’s our culture as well, right? It’s American. These are Americans who are part of our everyday life.”

And there’s joy in these movies, she said.

“The good news is that we’re moving away from sheer survival and also, embracing the reality of the joy of finally being yourself,” she said.

Here are some of her recommendations. Streaming and theatrical release information is up-to-date as of early June 2024.

“Paris is Burning” (1990)

Streaming on Max and The Criterion Channel

The iconic documentary explores the ballroom scene in 1980s New York City, focusing on Black and Latino people who built it.

The movie features both cisgender and transgender drag performers.

“But as you know, time passes, and there are now more movies that just focus on trans people, without the interesting, sort of flashy [drag culture],” Vincent said.

Read Vincent’s full review of “Paris is Burning” here.

“Framing Agnes” (2022)

Streaming on Kanopy (free access to many library card holders)

What was life like in 1950s and ’60s America for trans people? “Framing Agnes,” a blend of documentary film and dramatic reenactments by an all-trans cast, digs into the archives of UCLA gender clinic.

“It tells the story of a trans woman who basically triumphs against the medical industry and is able to get the surgery that she needs,” Vincent said. “It’s a very complex documentary, not very easy to understand and take some digestion, but if you’re up for a challenge, I’d definitely check it out.”

Read Vincent’s full review of “Framing Agnes” here.

“I Saw the TV Glow” (2024)

In theaters

Writer and director Jane Schoenbrun’s film is among the movies Vincent said she’s really excited about this year — “selections that have gained a mainstream audience but are not mainstream movies,” she said.

The movie follows two friends growing up in the suburbs who are drawn to a supernatural TV show called “The Pink Opaque.”

“It’s kind of questionable whether the characters are actually part of the show and their suburban life is fake, or their suburban life is real, and the TV show has just consumed them, and they’re slowly becoming mad,” Vincent said.

Schoenbrun, who is nonbinary, received the Coolidge Breakthrough Artist Award last month.

“It was an amazing movie about these two people who aren’t overtly trans,” Vincent said. “It’s a riveting movie that is primarily about the subjective trans experience, told in a metaphor about using television, and it’s sort of like has horror tones in it. But it’s a very heartfelt movie and it’s beautiful. It’s actually gorgeous.”

Read Vincent’s full review of “I Saw the TV Glow” here.

“The People’s Joker” (2024)

In theaters

Director, writer, editor and actor Vera Drew’s movie has “an entry point for people who are really into DC comics,” Vincent said.

“She uses DC comics as a way to tell her life story as a trans woman,” Vincent said.

In the film’s world, comedy is outlawed. Those who become comedians anyway fit into a binary: Either a Joker (think Joaquin Phoenix) or a Harlequin (a la Margot Robbie.)

Drew plays Joker the Harlequin.

“It kind of morphs into a unique figure. It’s not derivative at all. It sounds derivative, but it’s actually really fresh and maybe one of the better DC comic films — unauthorized, of course,” Vincent said.

Even people who don’t love comic book movies can enjoy it, Vincent said.

“She crowdsourced the visuals for her film, it has a very, like underground, collage feeling to it, but it doesn’t feel amateur. It feels really rich,” Vincent said. “And I have a feeling that decades from now, people are going to analyze this movie and realize, it’s really clever, but it’s also just like a good DC comics film.”

Read Vincent’s full review of “The People’s Joker” here.