Author: The Reviews Hub - Film

Writer and Director: Ethan Fuirst Should Ethan Fuirst ever quit making movies, then he would have a very successful career as a stand-up comedian, as evidenced by his pre- and post-screening talks at this year’s BFI Flare, at which Fuirst’s film Can’t Go Over It receives its world premiere. He has the audience in stitches before the film begins, explaining how his low-budget camping movie was made by a crew of six and two actors who also camped while filming. Surprisingly, considering his exuberance, his film about a gay man going trekking with one of his oldest female friends is…

Writer: Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim Director: Pamela Adie Threatened with prosecution for hoping to distribute the film badged as Nigeria’s first lesbian drama in 2020, filmmaker Pamela Adie and screenwriter Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim return to their subject matter with a sequel which has its world premiere at BFI Flare 2026. The soapy plot and extended running time – almost 2 hours – leaves surprisingly little time for character development but sometimes the significance of a film can far outweigh its story and structure, or even its qualities as a movie and ìfé: (The Sequel) is one of those times, a celebration of freedom…

Writer and Director: Nick Butler In astrology a Lunar Sway represents a character’s inherent personality, perspective on life, and how they interact with the world, being either optimistic and active or sceptical and calculating. In Nick Butler’s movie Lunar Sway the actions and motivations of the characters are so erratic and opaque they may well be determined by astrological direction. Cliff (Noah Parker) resides with his adoptive parents in a run-down desert town called Mooncrest. He has a lover and few apparent concerns other than the acne on his back. Cliff earns a living by, and gets some artistic satisfaction from,…

Writers: Cecilia Verheyden and Vincent Vanneste Director: Cecilia Verheyden The pain of first love is central to LGTBQIA+ stories and while there is usually hope for the young adults who transgress boundaries to find self-acceptance Cecilia Verheyden and Vincent Vanneste take their protagonist Malou on a far rougher journey, symbolised by the lone-person rowing vessel of the title. Skiff is sensitive about the isolation teenagers feel, of a body changing in ways that perhaps you don’t want it to change and the complexity of parental relationships but it is the relentless loneliness of not fitting in and the broken promise…

Writers: Nuria Dunjó, Sara Fantova and Nuria Martín Esteban Director: Sara Fantova A summer fling at the Bilbao fiesta is the backdrop for Sara Fantova’s new film Jone, Sometimes co-written by Nuria Dunjó, Sara Fantova and Nuria Martín Esteban, screening at BFI Flare 2026, but at its heart is the story of Jone who, along with her father, must learn to accept his early on-set Parkinson’s Disease while taking care of her younger pre-teen sister. With a strong Andrea Arnold influence in particular in its focus on a young working-class woman forced to act beyond her years, Fantova’s film puts…

Writer and Director: Marco Berger BFI Flare wouldn’t be the same without a film by Argentinian director Marco Berger. But his new film Perro Perro feels very different from his recent interrogations of homoeroticism within groups of young men, often straight young men. Shot strikingly in crisp black-and-white, Perro Perro’s story of a dog-like man is more allegorical, although it’s intriguingly unclear what point, if any, Berger is trying to make. It begins with a series of shots of flowers and plants that grow in the dense jungle-like interiors of waterlocked islands, some hours from Buenos Aires. The images are…

Writers: Victoria Linares Villegas and Carlos Marranzini Director: Victoria Linares Villegas  This body horror from the Dominican Republic is a smart way to discuss homophobia, but it’s neither scary nor funny enough to really hit hard. Set within a group of university students, Don’t Come Out is influenced by teen horrors such as Scream, but it’s a little long, and the scares too repetitive. When Liz and Wendy are caught making out in a car by the police, Liz decides to end their relationship. She won’t come out after all. When, perhaps, to change her mind, she returns to Wendy’s…

Writers: Angelo Tijssens and Cato Kusters  Director: Cato Kusters Based on the memoir by Fleur Pierets, Julian charts the attempt by two Belgian women to marry in each of the countries where same-sex marriage is legal. In the year 2017, when this film begins, the number of countries which permitted such marriages was 22. Fleur and Julian’s challenge was called Project 22. But when Cato Kusters’ film flashes forward to 2019, it’s clear that something has happened to Julian. Fleur is alone as she prepares for a talk in New York, and there’s blurry footage on Fleur’s laptop of her…