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6 New Queer Films You Need To Watch
BFI Flare Festival 2025
Every March, the British Film Institute hosts its annual Flare Festival, celebrating queer films and filmmakers, with two weeks of queer film screenings, seminars and galas. Here are just some of the highlights, in no particular order:
A Body to Live in
I always try to watch at least one documentary at Flare, preferably about someone or a subject matter I’m not familiar with. So when looking through the festival programme, Angelo Madsen Minax’s A Body To Live In stood out to me and I wrote its name down on my spreadsheet.
A Body To Live In documents the life and career of Fakir Musafar, the famous pioneer of the body modification movement, through archive footage and interviews with his closest friends, partners and collaborators. We learn about how the Modern Primitives movement came about, how far it has come and how influential Musafar was. A bold pioneer whose life work and legacy is still under-appreciated.
Dreams in Nightmares
Probably my favorite film of this year’s festival, Shatara Michelle Ford’s indie gem follows three friends, played by Denee Benton, Dezi Bing and Sasha Compere, who go on a road trip searching for their friend who has seemingly gone off grid.
