Australian actress Shabana Azeez might be best known to American audiences for playing the character Victoria Javadi on the medical drama “The Pitt,” but she’s been acting professionally on screen since 2018, when she appeared in the TV movie “F Off, We’re Full.” Azeez appeared in multiple Australian TV shows into the 2020s, including “Why Are You Like This?” and “Metro Sexual.” In addition to “The Pitt,” she has other Aussie TV shows lined up in 2026, including “The Airport Chaplain” and an appearance on the panel series “Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee.”

In 2025, though, Azeez appeared in one of the year’s best films, playing the lead role of Saira in the delightfully crass animated film “Lesbian Space Princess.” Directed by Emma Hough Hobbs and Leel Varghese, “Lesbian Space Princess” was animated in a bold, broad, colorful style, employing shining blue outlines in place of animation’s usual black. The characters are square-headed and kid-friendly, even if the film’s subject matter is decidedly NC-17-rated (in a John Waters kind of way). It’s one of the funniest, boldest, gayest movies of its year, and it was an utter delight. 

The title is no metaphor. Saira is a literal lesbian space princess, the daughter of her planet’s lesbian queens. Her planet’s name is Clitopolis, which is located in an area of the galaxy known as Gay Space. Life is safe for lesbians in Gay Space, and they rarely venture outside of it. Saira is nursing a broken heart after being dumped by her ultra-cool girlfriend Kiki (Bernie Van Tiel), who is way too cool for the gentle, wimpy Saira. 

Of course, Saira has to go on a quest to rescue Kiki after she is kidnapped by a species known as the Straight White Maliens. Yeah, this flick is a hoot.

The Straight White Maliens live outside of Gay Space and resemble rectangular pieces of paper. Saira has to take a Problematic Ship to rescue Kiki, and the Vessel, equipped with artificial intelligence, is itself a straight man (played by Richard Roxburgh) with no concept of queerness. Its bridge looks like a dingy bachelor’s apartment, and the ship has to be slowly introduced to the notion that some girls like girls. The ship wonders why Saira wants to fly a ship when she’d probably be happier at, I dunno, the nail salon or something. 

Lesbians in “Lesbian Space Princess” also have magical powers. When they reach a certain level of lesbian strength, they can mentally summon a magical two-bladed axe called a labrys. Those who know queer symbolism will instantly grok the labrys symbol, often seen on lesbian pride gear. The Straight White Malians intend to get Saira to summon her labrys to power their Chick Magnet, which will presumably make them attractive to women; their video game trivia skills aren’t doing the trick.

On the way to rescue Kiki, Saira makes a companion in Willow (Gemma Chua-Tran), a gentle, kind nonbinary pop star who was abandoned on a crystal planet. Through various adventures (including a drag queen performance), Willow and Saira begin finding themselves attracted to one another, and Saira begins to consider that Kiki was actually cruel to her from the start. It’s all very sweet, even as the crass jokes fly fast and furious. It’s a whimsical and friendly film, happy to be as queer as possible, and criticizing modern homophobia and misogyny with a surprising level of ease.

Based on 50 reviews, “Lesbian Space Princess” has a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Some critics noted that the cast was full of notable Australian queer celebrities, including Jordan Raskopoulos, Madeline Sami, Reuben Kaye, and Kween Kong. Many critics responded well to the film’s low-fi charm and queerpunk attitudes. Cassie Tongue, writing for the Guardian, loved the film’s wit, chuckling at all the deliberately dumb puns the screenwriters threw in: 

“For every gag that’ll make you groan or cringe (April is ‘Gaypril’; Saira lives in […] Clitopolis, which characters often remark is hard to find; there’s a literal dancing ‘royal p****’), there’s a stronger, stealthier joke coming up. The script indulges in wordplay (the old thespian/lesbian joke gets a great new runner here) and plays fast-and-loose with audience expectations (at one point, Saira consults the script to confirm a zany plot point is actually real).”

Carlos Aguilar, writing for Variety, was also tickled by “Princess,” noting that the story was pretty basic, but the earnest queer energy was infectious. He wrote:

“While this brand of offbeat, hyperaware comedy that engages with both pop culture and larger societal issues is far from uncharted territory, the queer lens through which every element is observed here reads like a strong statement on its own, even if some of its parts might feel superficially conceived.” 

“Lesbian Space Princess” has a pretty Tiffany Blu-ray release from Umbrella Entertainment, and can be rented on Prime Video and on Apple TV. It’s also available for free on Kanopy and Hoopla. You have no excuse for not watching this delightful flick. Happy Pride.