There's been some great additions to queer cinema over the past year, and it looks like 2019 is going to keep the ball rolling with the upcoming biopic Mapplethorpe.

Matt Smith (The Crown) stars as famous gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe who died of complication from AIDS in the late 1980s. The film follows Mapplethorpe's relationship with fellow up-and-coming artist Patti Smith (Marianne Rendon) which was described in great detail in Smith's critically acclaimed 2010 memoir, Just Kids.

Much of the late photographer's work mirrored themes of his own sexual liberation and his rise to fame that coincided with the rise of the AIDS epidemic.

“In Church I found God, and now Polaroid led me to the Devil,” the artist says in the trailer as he shoots some of his now-famous provocative nudes.

Judging from the trailer, it doesn't look like it holds back with the punches and will definitely make great viewing for fans or the artist.

Mapplethorpe is set to be released in the US on March 21, with an Australia release date still to be confirmed.