An award-winning Australian animated comedy about a lesbian space princess is suddenly the most argued-about indie film on the internet, and its fandom is answering the pile-on with one weapon: the Just This Once meme.
What the film is
Lesbian Space Princess follows sheltered Princess Sariah as she blasts off to rescue her girlfriend from the Straight White Maliens, a satire that won the Teddy Award for best LGBTQ+ film at the 2025 Berlinale, per The Hollywood Reporter. Directed by Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese, it reached Philippine screens through the 2026 QCinema Pride Film Festival lineup, per Vogue Philippines.
| Film file | Detail |
|---|---|
| Title | Lesbian Space Princess (2024, Australia) |
| Directors | Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese |
| Big award | Teddy Award winner, Berlinale 2025 |
| Premise | Shy princess rescues her girlfriend from the Straight White Maliens |
| PH screening | 2026 QCinema Pride Film Festival |
The backlash, and the counter-meme
Per Primetimer, the film is drawing online backlash aimed at its storyline and characters, the kind of coordinated grumbling that greets several high-profile queer titles each year. The fandom’s response has been to flood timelines with the film’s own Just This Once line as a meme, turning the criticism into free marketing and a badge of belonging.
Why award-winners get review-bombed
There is a pattern: festival darlings with queer leads attract disproportionate review-bombing before most people have even seen them, and the Berlinale seal makes this film a bigger target. The counter-effect is equally documented, as meme-driven fandoms have rescued underdog titles before by making loving the movie an identity.
Quick answers
What is the controversy about? Online backlash targeting the film’s storyline and characters, per Primetimer, with fans countering via the Just This Once meme wave.
Did it win awards? Yes, the Teddy Award for best LGBTQ+ film at the 2025 Berlinale.
Can Filipinos watch it? It screened at the 2026 QCinema Pride Film Festival, with a streaming release expected to follow its international run.
The bottom line
A Teddy-winning comedy is trending for the messiest reasons, and both sides are winning: critics get their culture-war moment, the fandom gets a meme era, and the film gets the only currency indies crave, attention. For more festival-to-philippines stories, see Marvel’s D23 slate and Disney+’s Kingdom Hearts anime.
