I’m not a huge fan of analogies, but there’s one that comes to mind while I searched for all of the new queer Christmas films premiering this holiday season. It involves a river, a dam, and climate change.
For decades, the unique Christmas film niche greatly lacked any queerness; like a river that was damned, letting a small trickle through with the occasional independent queer Christmas film making its way through. In 2020, the dam cracked and all of a sudden it seemed everyone was premiering groundbreaking queer films. Hallmark gave us The Christmas House, Lifetime gave us The Christmas Setup, and we even had the theatrical release of Happiest Season.
Then last year, the dam completely broke and out gushed an abundance of queer Christmas films. I counted EIGHT films premiering in last year’s roundup – and I still ended up missing one or two! They weren’t all great, mind you. But frankly, it was hard to keep track of and watch all the new films last holiday season.
But as I was searching for the new queer Christmas films due to premier this holiday season, I found myself coming up rather dry – just like all of the lakes and rivers who keep having record-breaking low tides. (See – the climate change analogy DOES make sense!) When I started my search at the beginning of the month, I honestly could only find TWO new queer Christmas films. Thankfully I did a bit more digging around and found one more. But unless I’ve missed an independent studio’s film, I fear that these three queer Christmas films are all that we are getting.
There is a silver lining here – two of the three new films look quite good! The trailer for the third looks promising, however I’ve reviewed one of the director’s other films and it wasn’t favorable… So keep reading to discover which of these three queer Christmas films I’m most looking forward too – and when all of these films are premiering.
3 NEW Queer Christmas Films for 2022
After leaving her small-town home behind to pursue big dreams, actress Becca (Dia Frampton) found success in a hit musical and fell in love with her life on the stage, while her high school sweetheart, Sam (Andi René Christensen), stayed behind in Nashville, bar-tending and trying to med a broken heart. Now, returning home for Christmas years later, Becca has no idea that her love life is about to take center stage. Sensing an opportunity to bring a perfect couple back together, the pair’s meddling families scheme to get the love birds back together, hatching an elaborate plan that soon spirals out of control. While Becca may be ready to reconnect, Sam is not so ready to give their heart away again…
After watching the trailer for this new queer Christmas film, I’m intrigued! Following along the lines of Hallmark-esque Christmas romance films, this is the fourth lesbian Christmas film by director Christin Baker (who also helped create the Tello network). However, I also am a bit reserved – which seems to be sage advice given some of the early reviews are mixed. I still haven’t seen all of her films, just I Hate New Year’s which I reviewed for Christmas 2020. Unfortunately I was not a fan due to weak writing, poor chemistry between the actors, and while the film’s cinematography looked great for an independent film, the style was rather unique and left me wanting more. So forgive my reservations. We’ll all have to wait till this queer Christmas film premieres!
Watch “Merry & Gay” on the brand new lesbian & queer streaming service, DIVA Box Office TV.
The passing of beloved Ms. Marley reunites six estranged friends for one final hometown holiday treasure hunt. As the search unfolds and fond childhood memories are relived, sparks fly between Austin Craig (Taylor Frey) and his former best friend Everett Matthews (Kyle Dean Massey). The gang find the hidden treasure before the city has the chance to turn the Marley house into a holiday resort but the blossoming holiday romance between Austin and Everett may turn out to be the greatest Christmastime treasure of all.
I’m really excited for this queer Christmas film! Yes, it features an ensemble cast. However the focus still appears to be on our two leads as circumstances and even their friends thrust them together. But I feel like that’s actually part of the charm; it’s different from the usual Hallmark-esque storylines! Heck, from the trailer alone there appears to be amazing chemistry between Taylor Frey and Kyle Dean Massey – especially considering they’re married in real life! It worked amazingly for The Christmas Setup, so I’m sure it’ll give A Christmas To Treasure that extra oomph to make this queer Christmas film special.
Watch “A Christmas To Treasure” on Lifetime.
Sam (Jonathan Bennett) babysits his niece and nephew before the holidays, and when he recruits help from their handsome neighbor Jason (George Krissa), he finds himself in an unexpected romance.
In 2020, Hallmark cause QUITE the drama when they promised they would finally create a gay Christmas film for their network – and then “forgot” to include it when they announced their listing. In the end they gave us The Christmas House, following up with a sequel last year. But it was hard to overlook the fact that while both films featured a gay couple, they were minor characters – or at best, part of an ensemble cast! For 2022, they’re promising to give us a Hallmark holiday movie featuring an LGBTQ couple. And while we don’t know too much yet, it looks like they might actually follow through! If anything, it should be an interesting queer holiday film as it stars Jonathan Bennett!
Watch “The House Sitter” on Hallmark.
I do have to call out something I’ve noticed this year, everyone seems to be promoting Hallmark’s 2022 film The Holiday Sitter the channel’s “first gay Christmas rom-com” – umm, excuse me? Have we forgotten all the drama of 2020 and “The Christmas House”, what they promised at the time to be the first gay Christmas Hallmark film? I certainly haven’t! However, I must give Hallmark some props – at least they’ve acknowledged that it’s their first “Leading Gay Couple in a Hallmark Christmas movie.”
