BFI Flare 2026 announces full line-up, from Heartstopper to Russell T Davies
BFI Flare 2026 runs from 189 – 29 March at BFI Southbank
The UK’s dedicated LGBTQ film festival BFI Flare has announced its full line-up for 2026, the year in which the event celebrates its 40th birthday.
BFI Flare features world premieres of the latest LGBTQ cinema, as well as talks, events and workshops for queer people and their allies. It takes place at the BFI Southbank venue on the riverfront.
BFI Flare 2026: the films announced
Some of the films having their world premiere at this year’s BfI Flare 2026 include Madfabulous, Celyn Jones’ period drama about the life of Henry Cyril Paget, the “dancing” Marquess of Angelesy, starring Rupert Everett, and Isabel Daley’s Washed up, which follows a struggling artist in Cornwall who falls in love with a mythical selkie.
Jennifer Kroot’s social justice documentary Hunky Jesus opens the festival. The piece set in San Francisco follows the protest and street performance movement The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and the festival’s closing night film is Sandulela Asanda’s romance Black Burns Fast, following a South African boarding school student’s coming of age story.
Talks this year include one from It’s A Sin and Gay As Folk filmmaker Russell T Davies.
Films from 47 countries are premiering this year. They include Beyond The Fire: The Life of Japan’s First Pride Parade Pionner by Teishiro Minami, Ethan Fuirst’s Can’t Go Over It, in which the tensions between a friendship group are unearthed during an annual hiking trip, and Castration Movie Chapter iii. Junior Ghosts – Premorphic Frist, A Fragmentary Passage, billed as a “trans epic”. Two Ukrainian dancers seek artistic freedom following Russia’s invasion in Julian Lautenbacher’s To Dance Is To Resist.
Read more: This new LGBTQ film playing at BFI’s queer film festival ‘redefines’ the kiss
There will also be a celebration of the best queer films from across the past twelve months. Pillion is one of this year’s big LGBTQ hits that will play at the festival. It follows the story of a shy young biker who meets an older dominant leather-clad biker and stars Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling.
The six BFI Flare 2026 programmers said in a joint statement: “As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we are delighted to present a programme full of cinematic gems and compelling events. 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 UK 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.”
This year the festival presents 31 world premieres, including 65 feature films and 62 shorts. Tickets go on sale 24 February for BFI Members and general sale from 26 February via whatson.bfi.org.uk.
This year’s line-up includes a dedicated Heartstopper event called Heartstopper Forever, tracking the progress of the much-loved Netflix coming-of-age show from Alice Oseman’s books through to two successful series and the forthcoming film.
There will also be late-night parties with queer DJs, community stalls selling wares from LGBTQ businesses and a ‘Back to 86’ event charting the films and cultural events that took place during the year of the first festival. Between 1986 and 2013 the BFI Flare festival was called The London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.