The festival will return from the 19th to the 30th March.
The full programme for the 2025 festival has now been confirmed when it returns to the BFI Southbank next month. As well as screenings, there will also be special events and DJ nights during the festival.
Now in its 11th year, in partnership with the British Council, Five Films For Freedom presents five shorts selected from the festival line-up to audiences globally for the duration of the festival. Five Films For Freedom is promoted across the British Council’s global digital networks as well as on BFI Player for UK-wide audiences.
Divided into three thematic programme strands: HEARTS, BODIES and MINDS, this year’s festival will present 34 World Premieres (across features and shorts) with 56 features, one series and 81 shorts from 41 countries.
This year’s Flare Festival will open with the International Premiere of THE WEDDING BANQUET, Andrew Ahn’s joyful comedy of errors which recently had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Meanwhile, it will close the UK premiere of multi award-winning writer-directors Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon’s NIGHT STAGE. This tale follows an actor and a politician who begin a secret affair and discover they both have a fetish for having sex in public places. However, the closer they get to their dream of fame, the more they feel the urge to put themselves at risk.
World Premieres to feature include: Divine Sung’s coming-of-age drama SUMMER’S CAMERA following a teenage girl experiencing her first crush and uncovering revelations about her recently deceased father. A gynecologist’s drug-fuelled escape and a trans club manager’s legal battles merge into an unlikely alliance against society’s control of women’s bodies in WHERE YOU FIND ME by Willi Andrick, Juan Bermúdez, Isis Rampf and Anna Schröder. Two seemingly mismatched men form an unexpected connection over the course of one cold London night, in Liam Calvert’s warm-hearted debut A NIGHT LIKE THIS starring Alexander Lincoln (Emmerdale, Doctors), Jack Brett Anderson and David Bradley (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones). In his heartwarming documentary feature debut HOW TO LIVE, Kenyan filmmaker Njoroge Muthoni explores Nairobi’s vibrant ballroom scene and celebrates queer African joy. The pull of hook-up apps becomes a double-edged sword for a young man looking for connection in captivating Buenos Aires-set comedy-drama A FEW FEET AWAY by Tadeo Pestaña Caro. In Yu-jin Lee’s moving comedy MANOK the owner of a South Korean lesbian bar must return to her small hometown after clashing with the city’s younger queer community.
DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES – the second feature from award-winning writer-director Shatara Michelle Ford – screens at the festival as a Special Presentation. Starring Denée Benton (UnREAL, The Gilded Age) and Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), the film follows three Black queer femmes in their mid 30s as they take a road trip across the Midwestern United States in search of their friend who has seemingly disappeared off the grid.
Alongside DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES, the programme features a variety of queer Black stories across genres. In Laurie Townshend’s intimate documentary A MOTHER APART, Jamaican poet Staceyann Chin begins a journey to find the mother who abandoned her whilst solo-parenting her own nine-year old daughter. BLACK FRUIT is a hilarious, heartbreaking web series created by and starring Lamin Leroy Gibba about two queer Afro-German friends who are forced to confront tensions at the heart of their friendship after the death of a parent. From artist Rashaad Newsome and filmmaker and professor Jonny Symons comes ASSEMBLY, an immersive, multimedia documentary that pays tribute to vogueing and Black queer culture. A gorgeous depiction of Black queer women’s love, DRIP LIKE COFFEE is the feature debut of Anaiis Cisco in which two New York baristas embark on a sensual love affair.
The BFI Flare programme includes a wide range of global perspectives including a number of East Asian titles. Trương Minh Quý’s Un Certain Regard nominated VIET AND NAM, which also featured at the BFI London Film Festival, is the hypnotic tale of two star-crossed Vietnamese miners. The stable life of a lesbian couple is rocked when a mysterious odour emerges from the flat below in Kangyu Garam’s compelling portrayal of Korean residential politics LUCKY, APARTMENT. Exploring grief, life and legacy, documentary filmmaker Yi Shan’s AFTER THE SNOWMELT follows her investigation into her best friend’s death, taking her on a journey into Nepal’s misty mountains.
Other highlights include Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s directorial debut HOT MILK – an atmospheric adaptation of Deborah Levy’s Booker Prize-nominated novel, starring Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps. A gripping, queer twist on the crime thriller PONYBOI directed by Esteban Arango and written by River Gallo who also stars alongside Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner trilogy) and Victoria Pedretti (The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, You). Based on actual events, must-see northern comedy drama DEPARTURES dissects a toxic relationship from all angles by Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely and starring Eyre-Morgan, David Tag (Hollyoaks, Emmerdale), Liam Boyle (Coronation Street, Emmerdale) and Bafta nominated stars Kerry Howard (Him & Her) and Lorraine Stanley (London to Brighton, Eastenders).
BFI Flare Programmers said: “Flare is a place for community, thought and discussion through film and this year we have an abundance of cinematic riches and events to spark endless conversation. We can’t wait to welcome talents from the UK and across the globe to share these incredible stories with audiences this March.”
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