BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival (March 19-30) has unveiled its full line-up, with 56 features across three strands, exploring subjects such as Kenya’s ballroom scene and the appeal of dating apps.
The programme has films and shorts from 41 countries, with six world premiere features. These include Kenyan filmmaker Njoroge Muthoni’s documentary How To Live, which explores Nairobi’s vibrant ballroom scene and celebrates queer African joy.
In Yu-jin Lee’s Manok, the owner of a South Korean lesbian bar must return to her small hometown after clashing with the city’s younger queer community.
Buenos Aires-set comedy drama Few Feet Away from Tadeo Pestaña Caro sees one man’s use of dating apps for casual hook-ups turn into a double-edged sword.
Where You Find Me examines the unlikely connection between a gynaecologist’s drug-fuelled escape and a trans club manager’s legal battle, directed and produced by a German collective of Willi Andrick, Juan Bermúdez, Isis Rampf and Anna Schröder.
Films coming to the festival after debuts further afield include Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Berlinale competition title Hot Milk, starring Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps. Esteban Arango’s Ponyboi comes to Flare after Sundance, in which a gender non-conforming sex worker tries to escape their pimp and some Italian gangsters.
As previously announced, Andrew Ahn’s Sundance world premiere, comedy of errors The Wedding Banquet starring Lily Gladstone, will open the festival. Closing night film is Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon’s Night Tales – an erotic Brazilian feature which world premiered at the Berlinale.
The BFI Flare 2025 programming team includes Grace Barber-Plentie, Diana Cipriano, Zorian Clayton, Jaye Hudson, Rhianna Ilube, Darren Jones and Wema Mumma.
The full industry programme line-up will be announced in the coming weeks.
BFI Flare 2025 line-up
*denotes world premiere
The Wedding Gala (US) – opening night
Dir. Andrew Ahn
Night Stage (Bra) – closing night
Dirs. Filipe Matzembacher, Marcio Reolon
Dreams In Nightmares (US-UK) – special presentation
Dir. Shatara Michelle Ford
Hearts strand
The Astronaut Lovers (Arg-Sp)
Dir. Marco Berger
Departures (UK)
Dirs. Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, Neil Ely
Drip Like Coffee (US)
Dir. Anaiis Cisco
Drive Back Home (Can)
Dir. Michael Clowater
Fatherhood (Nor-Ice-Ge)
Dirs. August B Hanssen, Even G Benestad
Four Mothers (Ire-UK)
Dir. Darren Thornton
High Tide (US)
Dir. Marco Calvani
Lakeview (Can)
Dir. Tara Thorne
Lucky, Apartment (S Kor)
Dir. Kangyu Garam
Manok* (S Kor)
Dir. Yu-jin Lee
A Night Like This* (US)
Dir. Liam Calvert
Sandbag Dam (Cro-Lithuania-Slovenia)
Dir. Čejen Černić Čanak
Summer’s Camera* (S Kor)
Dir. Divine Sung
To Our Friends (Sp-Port)
Dir. Adrián Orr
We Are Faheem & Karun (India)
Dir. Onir
Winter Kept Us Warm (Can)
Dir. David Secter
Bodies strand
Cherub (Can)
Dir. Devin Shears
A Few Feet Away* (Arg)
Dir. Tadeo Pestaña Caro
Hot Milk (UK-Greece)
Dir. Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Memorabilia (US)
Dirs. Charles Lum, Todd Verow
Onda Nova (Bra)
Dirs. Ícaro (Francisco C) Martins, José Antonio Garcia
The Pleasure Is Mine (Arg-Bra-Fr)
Dir. Sacha Amaral
Ponyboi (US)
Dir. Esteban Arango
Really Happy Someday (Can)
Dir. J Stevens
Rent Free (US)
Dir. Fernando Andrés
The Silence Of My Hands (Mex)
Dir. Fernando Andrés
Some Nights I Feel Like Walking (Phil-Sing-It)
Dir. Petersen Vargas
Trans Memoria (Swe-Fr)
Dir. Victoria Verseau
Truth Or Dare (Ger)
Dir. Maja Classen
Where You Find Me* (Ger)
Dirs. Willi Andrick, Juan Bermúdez, Isis Rampf, Anna Schröder
Minds strand
After The Snowmelt (Tai-Japan)
Dir. Yi-Shan Lo
Assembly (US)
Dirs. Johnny Symons, Rashaad Newsome
Black Fruit (Ger) – series
Dirs, Elisha Smith-Leverock, David Ụzọchukwu
Enigma (US-Fr-Sp-UK)
Dir. Zackary Drucker
Heightened Scrutiny (US)
Dir. Sam Feder
How To Live* (Kenya)
Dir. Njoroge Muthoni
If I Die, It’ll Be of Joy (Fr)
Dir. Alexis Taillant
I’m Your Venus (US)
Dir. Hansen Bursic
Mea Culpa (Belg)
Dir. Patrick Tass
A Mother Apart (Can)
Dir. Laurie Townshend
The Muleteer (Mex)
Dir. Isabel Cristina Fregoso
Outerlands (US)
Dir. Elena Oxman
Peaches Goes Bananas (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Marie Losier
Queens Of Drama (Fr-Belg)
Dir. Alexis Langlois
Sad Jokes (Ger)
Dir. Fabian Stumm
Sally! (US)
Dirs. Deborah Craig, Jörg Fockele, Ondine Rarey
Viêt and Nam (Phil-Fr-Sing-Neth)
Dir. Trương Minh Quý
The World According to Allee Willis (US)
Dir. Alexis Manya Spraic
No comments yet