Lesbian films have a track record of being nominated for Oscars, but never winning.
But now a new Norwegian film Thelma – released this week – is looking like a potential candidate.
Directed by Joachim Trier, the movie tells the story of a college-aged girl who leaves her overprotective parents to go to university in Oslo.
As well as dealing with supernatural unexplained seizures, the film explores Thelma’s coming to terms with her attraction to women while trying to please her conservative Christian parents.
Thelma will be the first lesbian horror film to be nominated for an Oscar if Norway’s submission is successful.
It has already received praise from a number of critics, including Newsweek, which likened the film to the critically acclaimed It Follows.
The film has been described as a coming of age story, with The Verge going so far as to say it is a story about the “terror of growing up”.
Thelma’s conservative parents want to suppress her supernatural powers and fix her seizures, but when she feels attraction toward a fellow female student, her powers begin to grow stronger, with The Verge describing the film as having a “powerful sensuality”.
