The European premiere of Amrou Al-Kadhi’s Layla will open the 38th BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival on March 13.
Al-Kadhi’s drag queen drama made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this month.
The world premiere of Luke Willis’ docu-fiction hybrid Lady Like as the Closing Night Gala on Sunday, March 24.
Written and directed by 2018 Screen Star of Tomorrow Al-Kadhi, Layla tells the story of a struggling Arab drag queen who catches the eye of a marketing executive, starting a romance in which both must face uncomfortable truths.
Bilal Hasna, a 2023 Screen Star, leads the cast, which also includes Louis Greatorex, Safiyya Ingar, Terique Jarrett and Sarah Agha.
Layla is produced by Savannah James-Bayly, was developed and backed by Film4 and the BFI, and is sold by Independent Entertainment. It had its world premiere in January at Sundance Film Festival.
“BFI Flare has been utterly instrumental to my career,” said Al-Kadhi. “The fantastic BFI Flare x Bafta mentorship programme was where I met Savannah James-Bayly, my now forever producer and best-friend, with whom I went on to make 4 shorts, almost all of which screened at the festival.”
“Layla is a film dedicated to the creative resilience of the queer community, and a love- letter to queer joy.”
Lady Like is US filmmaker Willis’ feature debut, and follows London-born, San Francisco-based drag queen Lady Camden as she is catapulted into the spotlight of season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Having previously made shorts including Pool Boy and The Summer House, Willis produced Lady Like with Cookie Walukas.
The full BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival programme will be unveiled on Tuesday, February 13.
No comments yet