The Stonewall riots were a turning point in queer history, sparking the foundation of the modern Gay Liberation Movement. This book explores LGBTQ+ representation in film through 100 features and shorts released in or before 1969, in the pre-Stonewall era. Despite prevalent hostile attitudes towards queer people in this time, queer representation nonetheless flourished in the first 75 years of cinema. This book explores a selection pathbreaking works, including Mädchen in Uniform (1931, Germany), Victim (1961, UK) and Portrait of Jason (1967, USA), People in the Summer Night (1947, Finland), It's All Because of a Katoey (1954, Thailand) and Diferente (1962, Spain). Looking beyond anglophone cinema, films from Africa, Asia, Continental Europe, Oceania and South America are also spotlighted.

100 Queer Films before Stonewall demonstrates that LGBTQ+ characters have been part of global cinema history from its birth, sometimes hidden in plain sight, in mainstream Hollywood films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940, USA) as well as underground cult classics and bold experimental art films such as Andy Warhol's Blow Job (1964). The book examines how queer characters are portrayed and sometimes coded, visible on screen even at times of severe film censorship and repressive legislation against LGBTQ+ people, challenging the received canon of great queer films and opening a new selection of world cinema greats for audiences to discover.