About
BFI Flare is the UK's longest-running and most celebrated LGBTQIA+ film festival, presented annually by the British Film Institute at BFI Southbank. First staged in 1986 as the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, it has grown into one of the world's most important showcases for queer cinema — featuring premieres, archive restorations, shorts programmes, and filmmaker conversations across almost four decades.
The festival champions bold, diverse storytelling from LGBTQIA+ filmmakers around the globe, spanning narrative features, documentaries, experimental work, and episodic content. Beyond the screenings, BFI Flare offers industry events, panel discussions, and social gatherings that make it as much a community celebration as a film programme.
