Lesbian goths, vampiric trade and San Francisco’s hottest holy figures: these are the films to see from this year’s BFI Flare: London’s LGBTQIA+ Film Festival.

March 2026 marked a milestone birthday at the BFI Southbank. Celebrating 40 years of the best new queer cinema from around the world, BFI Flare – London’s leading LGBTQIA+ film festival– invited friends old and new to join in joyous reflection over the past four decades.

This year’s edition was, unsurprisingly, jam-packed with special industry events, including a dozen illustrated talks, an exhibition of festival artwork at Queer Britain, and a conversation with TV writer, producer, and champion of LGBTQIA+ representation Russell T Davies. 4K restorations of queer classics Pink Narcissus and Mysterious Skin. A Special Presentation in Paloma Schneideman’s Big Girls Don’t Cry, ‘dom-com’ Pillion in Best of Year show. Coinciding with her album release, even a free DJ night spinning Robyn’s Sexistential.

Starting life in 1986 as a seven-day season of films called Gays’ Own Pictures, today, BFI Flare is a site of community and culture, welcoming a breadth of fresh feature film screenings and short film programmes to its yearly itinerary.

Here, Wonderland rounds up eight absorbing features from this spring’s BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, coming soon to a cinema near you. Keep scrolling…

Satisfaction by Alex Burunova

A profoundly affecting directorial debut from Alex Burunova, Satisfaction slowly unravels the complexities of a deteriorating relationship between two British composers on crystal blue Greek waters. Emma Laird (28 Years Later: The Bone Temple) stars as the secluded Lola, her once-perfect romance with Philip, played by Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk), now measured by uncomfortable silence and unspoken feelings. Connecting on a nudist beach, Lola meets the enigmatic Elena (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), causing tensions to rise, which force Lola to confront her buried past.

Made independently on a small budget with an intimate cast and crew, striking cinematography and an elegant score add to the mystique of this nuanced psychological drama about female empowerment, healing, and the courage it takes to reclaim one’s voice.

Hunky Jesus by Jennifer M. Kroot

BFI Flare 2026’s Opening Night Film, this zany documentary chronicles the history and holy glow of oil-torsoed American Easter pageantry. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – a social justice order of queer and trans nuns – are behind the annual tradition, scouting the sexiest Christ and ‘Foxy Mary’ lookalikes in a unique show of LGBTQIA+ activism. Founded in 1979 to counter religious conservatism and the rise of evangelical preachers in the queer mecca that is San Francisco, the Sisters have been on the frontline of the AIDS crisis, even anchoring a 1987 exorcism of Pope John Paul II in protest of his anti-LGBT stances.

Through talking heads with long-serving members, including Sister Roma and RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Honey Mahogany, Hunky Jesus provides purposeful commentary to reveal the deeper mission behind park shenanigans. Challenging religious guilt, it is a healing watch that teeters on the line between satire and sacred teaching.

Madfabulous by Celyn Jones

Based on the life of Henry Cyril Paget, the dancing Marquess of Anglesey, Celyn Jones’ whimsical period drama balances mischief and theatricality with a bittersweet undercurrent of melancholy. Capturing a rebellious, almost childlike spirit, Madfabulous’ vibrant energy reverberates in the larger-than-life design and presentation of Parisian fashions, lavish parties, and theatre productions.

It’s A Sin’s Callum Scott Howells revels in the role of the flamboyant aristocrat who goes against societal norms. Supported by his cousin Lily (Ruby Stokes) and a small circle of allies, Lord Paget scoffs at the stiff upper lip of a backwards, polite society. Howells also shines in moments of welcome earnestness. Underneath all the royal plum feathers and frills of his fortune inheritance, there is a deeper yearning for acceptance, paternal love, and purpose.

On the Sea by Helen Walsh

A quiet and emotionally devastating feature, On the Sea tells a powerful story of repression and longing set within a tight-knit coastal community in North Wales. The film follows local mussel raker Jack (Barry Ward), who finds himself drawn to deckhand outsider Daniel (Lorne MacFadyen), sparking a scandalous affair that awakens long-buried desires. This impossible attraction, as pervasive as it is passionate, rocks Jack’s routine and slowly tears at his family bonds.

Helen Walsh crafts a beautifully tragic drama that captures the cost of living a life of regret, cold and harsh, at times just like the brooding backdrop of her seascape. Full of heart, at the core of this morality tale is true identity, and the ability to confront a person’s authentic self despite all the surrounding stigmas.

The Serpent’s Skin by Alice Maio Mackay

An Australian punk, queer horror spectacle, trans teen Anna (Alexandra McVicker) flees her hostile hometown in a surreal search for self. A new lease of life quickly spirals into supernatural mayhem, no less enabled by a romantic bond with goth tattoo artist Gen (Avalon Fast). They both share unexplainable powers, Sissy Spacek’s Carrie if she had only discovered lesbianism, and must fight to stop the growing evil of a demon unleashed by stick-n-poke uroborus.

After securing an acting gig in 2024’s Castration Movie, Alice Maio Mackay’s latest project possesses an absurd premise. Be that as it may, it is executed with absolute conviction and a camp sense of humour guaranteed to thrill audiences. Bewitching and bewildering, this offbeat caper of a motion picture will make you think twice about getting that next flash sheet.

10s Across The Borders by Sze-Wei Chan

Tracing the rise of New York’s legendary black and Latino ball culture across Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, this comprehensive documentary does more than just highlight dynamic performance and the impact of voguing. It underscores the political urgency of a historic movement. Centring personal testimonies, conversations around chosen family, creative expression, and ballroom as survival for queer Southeast Asians are the speciality.

Always honouring their roots, Teddy, Xyza and Sun are three charismatic subjects spearheading a resilient kind of show craft, risking safety amid surprise police raids to claim their own spaces of solidarity. From underground balls in post-COVID Kuala Lumpur, to an emotional stateside expedition, Sze-Wei Chan’s deep dive traverses difficult terrain with the strength of an entire ‘House’.

Low Rider by Campbell X

It’s been 14 years since transgender filmmaker Campbell X released his queer inner-city romance Stud Life, voted by the Guardian as one of the top 10 Black British feature films ever made. Now, he returns with Low Rider, his long-awaited second feature, looking at queer memory and Blackness across the African diaspora.

Following her mother’s passing, debauched London millennial of mixed heritage Quinn (Emma McDonald) crosses boundaries and borders all the way to South Africa, in search of her estranged father. At a sultry club night, she finds unexpected company in charming Harley (Thishiwe Ziqubu), where sex and alcohol soon follow suit. Together, the pair embark on quite the eventful Thelma & Louise-esque road trip across Cape Town, facing a dangerous underbelly of external threats, and combating deep-seated internal prejudices. Project X marks the spot, if you will.

Jaripeo by Efraín Mojica & Rebecca Zweig

Fresh from Sundance and Berlinale, Jaripeo draws on director Mojica’s youth in the rural Mexican state of Michoacán. Illuminating the cornfields of Penjamillo, it is a dreamlike depiction of Mexican rodeos shot on Super 8, and a revealing documentation of machismo culture through the eyes of queer rancheros.

Contrasting the bravado of bull riding with the secret lives of men navigating rigid expectations of hyper masculinity, Jaripeo utilises a blend of intimate conversation and stylised montage to bring to the surface a bubbling tension between desire and tradition. This feature provides an exclusive peek into the domestic environments of multiple tequila-drinking citizens, with the observer playing fly on the wall to stimulate opinions on effeminacy, assimilation, and a guild of closeted gay townsfolk.

Words – Douglas Jardim