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As we gear up for an awards season ripe with many quality queer films, it’s important to remember smaller successes who may get lost in the shuffle. Lgbt-themed film festivals Outfest and Frameline kicked off the summer, while New York’s own NewFest wrapped up last week. It’s always thrilling to see a gay film get awards attention, like the kind lavished on Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” and foreign language contender “Bpm (Beats Per Minute).” But it’s been a banner year for nuanced queer films across the board, and especially ones from queer-identified filmmakers.

From up-and-comers making splashy debuts, to longtime favorites who have stepped up their game, the filmmakers on this list represent a varied swath of not only the Lgbt spectrum, but vastly different artistic styles. That means they have the potential to reach different audiences — and open up perspectives across demographics.

“Susanne Bartsch picked up where [Andy] Warhol left off,” RuPaul Charles says of his friend, the woman he says set him down the path to become Supermodel of the World. He’s not the only one: Performance artist Joey Arias credits Bartsch with encouraging him to try drag, transgender pioneer Flawless Sabrina speaks of her in the same breath as Warhol, and fashion historians trace London style’s expansion to New York and Tokyo in the ’80s to Bartsch.

As for the woman herself, she’s still throwing parties.

While dressing for one of her fabled Tuesday night parties at Meatpacking district club Le Bain, Bartsch was fretting over the colors for one of her outstanding looks: “It’s not really pink,” she says. “I mean, I know it’s pink, but it’s not a pink that I feel pink in.”

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