BFI Flare 2025: 6 great film screenings that you can still get tickets for

Queers, film buffs, and queer film buffs rejoice! BFI Flare is back next week. A major fixture in the capital’s cultural calendar, the UK’s largest queer film festival takes over the BFI Southbank for twelve days from Wednesday 19 March, showcasing the very best in LGBTQ+ cinema from across the globe via a packed programme of screenings, talks, workshops and after-hours events. 

With over 130 films from 31 countries on this year’s Flare programme, choosing which events are worth your precious time and hard-earned cash can be a little overwhelming, so to help you make your mind up on what to see at this year’s festival, we spoke to Flare Programmer Diana Cipriano. The second edition of Flare that Diana has worked on has been ‘a very harmonious and collaborative effort.’

‘When you get to the end of it, there’s always a crunchy period, but this year felt very smooth,’ she shares. ‘We found themes for the festival very easily this year. It was a rewarding process, and I hope that shines through to the audiences when they come in and watch the shorts programmes and the features that we’ve curated.’

Diana also shared a few of her top picks for the festival, all of which you can still nab tickets for if you’re quick!

‘The World According to Allee Willis’

‘This documentary is an absolute gem, and I think people will have a great time watching it. Allee Willis is not famous by any stretch of the imagination, but she was one of writers on ‘September’ and ‘Boogie Wonderland’ by Earth, Wind and Fire, the Friends theme song and the songbook for Broadway’s The Color Purple musical. And not only  that, but she was a multidisciplinary artist; she made all these funky 80s title cards for MTV, she worked on an early version of The Sims and other things. And the documentary is this fun, joyous film about this incredible artist with a boundless creative spirit, and it’s told by an array of very famous close friends including Lily Tomlin, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Feig, Pee-wee Herman. So that would be my top recommendation in terms of underrated gems.’

Tuesday March 25, 6pm and Wednesday March 26, 6.25pm. 

‘Sally!’

‘This is another great documentary, about this incredible woman called Sally Gearhart, who was an academic in San Francisco in the 1970s who fought alongside Harvey Milk for equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community. She was really instrumental in this, but during a time when the different parts of the queer community were a bit more separatist. Sally imagined this utopian world that was inhabited by only women, and she tried to bring that to life. The film touches on what a brilliant speaker and mind she was, without mincing words on how that separatist attitude can be a two-edged sword. It’s a really punk and rock and roll, and it really captures her spirit while getting you to think about who makes history, who is remembered and who is forgotten.’

Sunday March 23, 3.40pm and Monday March 24, 6.20pm.

‘Queens of Drama’

‘This French film, which also screened at LFF, is in some ways a different variation on that same topic. It’s both an incredible, tumultuous love story and a tribute to stan culture. It tells the story of this whirlwind romance between a pop princess and a punk singer who meet on this Pop Idol type show, and whose tempestuous romance evolves and shapes their careers as the years go by. It’s all told from the perspective of a YouTuber in the year 2050, who is reminiscing about this pop diva he used to love in the early aughts. It’s really funny, camp, and trashy, and it has all these earworm songs that get stuck in your head. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s up for a good time and wants to leave the cinema singing.’

Friday March 21, 8.30pm and Wednesday March 26, 3pm. 

‘Four Mothers’

‘This very sweet film was the winner of the Audience Award at London Film Festival last year. It’s a remake of an Italian film from 2008 called Mid-August Lunch, and it’s about this Irish young adult novelist on the cusp of breaking through. He’s juggling press commitments with caring for his elderly mother who can’t speak because she’s had a stroke, and then his three best friends decide to do an impromptu trip to Gran Canaria Pride and dump their three mothers at his doorstep. Over one very eventful weekend, he has to juggle all these women who have very different temperaments, while also trying to speak to his mother about a trip to the US for work commitments. And it’s very serendipitous that the last Sunday of Flare is Mother’s Day, and this would be quite a sweet film to take your mother to.’