Mia Bays

Source: Screen file

Mia Bays

BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival’s 2025 industry programme, running from March 21-23 at BFI Southbank, will include Film4, BFI Filmmaking Fund and Doc Society execs, as well as a spotlight on German LGBTQIA+ filmmaking.

The ‘Show me the money’ panel will explore goals, preferences and criteria for supporting film projects from a range of film financiers, including the BFI Filmmaking Fund’s Mia Bays; Max Park, Film4 development and production executive; Hannah Bush Bailey, Doc Society film and production executive; and BBC Film development exeuctive, Alice Ojha. 

Also on the line-up is an exploration of first-person documentary filmmaking with Mea Culpa director Patrick Tass and Trans Memoria filmmaker Victoria Verseau.

A spotlight on queer filmmaking in Germany will feature a range of filmmakers with titles in the festival, including Truth Or Dare’s Maja Classen; the collective behind Where You Find Me, Anna Schröder, Isis Rampf, Juan Bermúdez and Willi Andrick; and Black Fruit series creator Lamin Leroy Gibba.

Layla, Hoard and Scrapper music supervisor Phil Canning will join a panel unpacking what exactly music supervisors do, while Lilting writer-director Hong Khaou and script editor Jack Casey advise on the screenwriting process; and the programmers from a range of LGBTQIA+ film festivals share their curatorial processes. 

Industry networking sessions run throughout the festival dates. BFI Flare runs from March 19-30 at BFI Southbank.