The 40th BFI Flare London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival has unveiled a slate of movies screening at this year’s March festival, including features with Emma Laird, Fionn Whitehead, Lux Pascal, Rupert Everett and Rain Spencer.
The fest will kick off with the world premiere of Jennifer Kroot’s Hunky Jesus, a documentary that follows the unique social justice movement, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, while interweaving a wildly popular, annual Easter Sunday tradition in San Francisco. The 2026 BFI Flare will close with Sandulela Asanda’s Black Burns Fast, a movie about the studious Luthando, on track for a normal academic year at the prestigious South African boarding school she attends on a scholarship, whose suppressed desires are ignited by the arrival of a new girl in her class.
For the BFI Flare Screen Talk, Doctor Who creator Russell T. Davies will discuss his acclaimed career and upcoming Channel 4 show Tip Toe. His credits also include Queer as Folk (1999), Cucumber (2015), Banana (2015) and the award-winning It’s a Sin (2021), which explored gay lives, relationships and the impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Also screening at the fest is Harry Lighton’s kinky BDSM romance Pillion, led by Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling and Alex Burunova’s Satisfaction, a study of the creative tension between two British composers with Laird and Whitehead. The Pascal-led Queen of Coal, a portrait of Patagonia’s first female coal miner, will also premiere.
Elsewhere, Everett stars alongside Bridgerton‘s Ruby Stokes and It’s a Sin‘s Callum Scott in Celyn Jones’ Madfabulous, getting its world premiere at the BFI Flare Film Fest. The quirky period drama is based on the life of Henry Cyril Paget, the dancing Marquess of Anglesey and a flamboyant peer whose behaviour and extravagance has modern echoes.
The Summer I Turned Pretty breakout Rain Spencer will lead Big Girls Don’t Cry from Ani Palmer, the first feature out of Jane Campion’s A Wave in the Ocean program. Also premiering is the Lena Dunham-produced short Notice Me, about a fired radio show host, Em, who moves to East London and instantly develops a crush on her hot neighbor, AJ.
World premieres include Hiroaki Matsuoka’s Beyond the Fire: The Life of Japan’s First Pride Parade Pioneer, Ethan Fuirst’s Can’t Go Over It, and Daniel Ribeiro’s I Am Going to Miss You, boasting an all-trans cast. Take a look at the rest of the lineup.
“As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we are delighted to present a programme full of cinematic gems and compelling events.” BFI Flare Programmers said. “For four decades, BFI Flare has championed bold storytelling and created a vital space for connection and visibility. We look forward to welcoming talent from the U.K. and around the world to the BFI Southbank, to share their films with our audiences. At a time when visibility and authentic representation remain as vital as ever, we are proud to continue providing a platform where our communities can see themselves reflected on screen unapologetically, truthfully, and with pride.”
The 40th BFI Flare London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival will run March 18-29 at the BFI Southbank.
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