For a long time, it felt like films that followed the lives of queer people were squarely set the same supposedly-liberal nations. But that’s never really been true: even in secret, filmmakers across the globe have used whatever tools they had to tell the stories that were important to them. It was just trickier for those films to find audiences.
Every year, BFI Flare, one of the most significant LGBTQIA+ festivals in the world, taking place in the legendary theatres of the British Film Institute on London’s Southbank, plays host to queer films from around the world. A mix of fiction and documentary, world premieres and retrospective screenings, features and shorts, for nearly two weeks, the festival captures the feeling of tomorrow’s queerness. Its expansiveness is a symbol of the breadth of stories there are to tell.
It also is one of the few festivals that makes a conscious effort to look beyond its own borders (if there’s anything lacking in this year’s line-up, it’s exciting-sounding features from the UK). And so here, in alphabetical order, is a kind of queer cinematic world map: a selection of films that summarize the mood and feel of modern LGBTQ+ moviemaking from just about every corner of the globe.
Argentina
The Astronaut Lovers
Lines between friendship and romance are toed in this film from Marco Berger. After some time apart, two childhood best friends––the fun, queer and flamboyant Pedro and the loose and sweet straight guy Maxi–– reunite on vacation. But a plot to make Maxi’s ex-girlfriend jealous, that posits the pair as a new couple, takes an unexpected turn.
A Few Feet Away
Part-drama, part-screwball comedy, Tadeo Pestaña Caro’s film follows a 20-year-old man in Buenos Aires searching for any connection at all, engaging in quick fucks and tender talks with the men he finds on dating apps.
Brazil
The Pleasure is Mine
In Sacha Amaral’s debut feature, young man named Antonio spends his days hustling, stealing cash from his hook-ups and arguing with his mother. But he discovers a new, unexpected kind of intimacy in a chance encounter that catches him off guard.
Croatia
Sandbag Dam
Deeply bleak in subject matter, Čejen Černić Čanak’s film places us in a rural, conservative Croatian town, which a young man returns to after his father’s death. When he gets there, the man resurrects an old kinship he had with a friend in town. Feelings come to the fore that risk ruining everything.
India
We Are Faheem and Karun
A sensitively formed story of love in less-welcoming settings, this Indian drama directed by the mononymous filmmaker Onir follows a security guard, Karun, that has been posted in a rural town in Kashmir. There, he meets and falls for a local named Faheem, and the boundless energy of their love clashes with the world around them.
Ireland
Four Mothers
After his mother has a stroke, a budding novelist is forced to postpone his plans for a book tour to look after her, in Darren Thornton’s latest. film. But when the novelist’s friends plan a trip to Pride in Gran Canaria, he winds up spending a weekend in the company of their elderly mothers too.
Kenya
How to Live
The burgeoning ball scene in Nairobi takes centre stage in this documentary. Director Njoroge Muthoni focusses on the figures making the city’s queer scene shine from the shadows, from new talent to the ones who’ve built its foundations for years, like the visual artist and musician Jim Chuchu.
Mexico
The Silence of My Hands
In contemporary Guadalajara, a young woman named Rosa is making history as the city’s first deaf law student. Her girlfriend, Saira is also deaf. She lives in California and is dealing with strange feeling of being so far from home. This documentary-cum-love story from Manuel Acuña charts the transgressive nature of two women’s love for each other, told through the beauty of Mexican Sign Language, and how they touch.
Norway
Fatherhood
This documentary from Even Benestad and August Baugstø Hanssen deals with the undoing of history. For decades, between 1979 and 2016, trans people undergoing medical transition in Norway were forcibly sterilised as part of the process. Today, that’s no longer the case: Fatherhood follows three gay men in a romantic relationship together–– Sindre and David two cisgender men, Kris a trans man––as they prepare for the birth of the baby Kris is carrying.
Philippines
Some Nights I Feel Like Walking
Petersen Vargas’s film is set in nighttime Manila, following a group of gay hustlers gather to honour their friend who’s died of a drug overdose. In a final act of respect, they set out on a journey to return his body to his family in a rural town.
South Korea
Summer’s Camera
The directorial debut from Divine Sung, this coming-of-age film follows a teenage girl who’s inherited her late father’s film camera. She refuses to finish his incomplete roll until she can pluck up the courage to speak to the star of her school’s all-girl football team, Yeonwoo.
Lucky, Apartment
In Kangyu Garam’s seventh feature, Seonwoo and Heeseo, a lesbian couple, have formed a stable, loving home for themselves, moving into a small flat together. But when Seonwoo loses her job, she starts to notice a foul, impossible-to-identify odour that permeates their space.
USA
I’m Your Venus
Known best as the savvy and charismatic jewel at the heart of Paris is Burning, Venus Xtravaganza lived a short but brilliant life. She was murdered in 1988 at the age of 23. This new documentary from Kimberly Reed chronicles her family’s search for the answer to her still-unsolved murder, while still remembering her status as a truly brilliant artist.
Ponyboi
Set over the course of one intense Valentine’s night, this Sundance-premiering film debut from writer and lead star River Gallo follows an intersex sex worker and the dangerous figures he encounters. A gripping neo-noir with hype behind it, expect supporting performances from actors like Dylan O’Brien and Indya Moore.
The Wedding Banquet
A big hit at 2025’s Sundance Film Festival, Flare’s opening film is this remake of Ang Lee’s sweet 90s dramedy. Given a modern touch by director Andrew Ahn (Fire Island), and starring Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone alongside Bowen Yang, this new version take sees two couples who live together reckon with issues of identity, immigration and family, as they come together in an effort to solve each other’s problems. It’s a remarkably assured and touching film––an exemplary entry into the contemporary queer cinema canon.
A Body to Live In
Fakir Musafar made a life out of fucking with the boundaries of acceptability. A new documentary by Angelo Madsen, chronicling the late artist’s life, brings his under-told story to the fore, giving us a deeper look at how he used gender play, extreme piercing, BDSM and kink to express himself.
Vietnam
Viet and Nam
The worlds of slow cinema and queer storytelling intersect in this startlingly impressive, erotic new film from director Trương Minh Quý. In northern Vietnam, two miners embark on a secret love affair they confine mostly to the glistening dark depths of the mine they work at, the sweat on their skin barely lit and beautiful. But as Nam reckons with the life he has lived, yearning for a freedom elsewhere, he’s bound to his town by the man he loves, Viet. Meditative and close to being a masterpiece, it’s a profound film about the sacrifices we make for the ones we can’t stop thinking about.
BFI Flare kicks runs from 19-30 March 2025. Buy your tickets here.