LGBTQIA+ cinema is more essential than ever, offering visibility, promoting empathy, and challenging societies. It provides a space for storytelling that reflects diverse identities and experiences, creating a sense of belonging for marginalised communities. Festivals like BFI Flare play a crucial role in strengthening these voices, ensuring that queer narratives – whether exploring love, family, or cultural identity – reach a wider audience.

The 39th edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival (19th–30th March) will open with the international premiere of Andrew Ahn’s heartfelt dramedy The Wedding Banquet. Ahn is expected to attend the Opening Night Gala at BFI Southbank on Wednesday, 19th March.

A joyful comedy of errors, The Wedding Banquet follows a chosen family as they grapple with the difficulties of cultural expectations, queerness, and love.

Angela and her partner Lee are struggling to afford another round of IVF, while their friend Min, the closeted heir to a corporate empire, faces an expiring student visa. After his boyfriend rejects a marriage proposal, Min offers Angela a green card marriage in exchange for funding Lee’s IVF. However, their plan for a quiet elopement unravels when Min’s skeptical grandmother arrives from Korea, demanding an extravagant wedding.

Andrew Ahn is a filmmaker we’ve long admired, and we’re thrilled to welcome him to London to open our 2025 festival with this joyous and heartfelt ode to love and community – BFI Flare Programmers

With a superb cast featuring Bowen Yang, Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Joan Chen, and Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-Jung, this heartfelt revival of Ang Lee’s beloved film mixes humor and heart, reminding us that family is about both acceptance and forgiveness.

Co-written by Andrew Ahn and James Schamus, co-writer of the original film, the BFI Flare Opening Gala follows the film’s world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is produced by Anita Gou, Joe Pirro, Caroline Clark, and James Schamus.

I’m incredibly excited for The Wedding Banquet to have its international premiere at BFI Flare, a festival that celebrates and cultivates queer talent. I’m honored to be part of a cinema legacy that includes filmmakers like Amrou Al-Kadhi and Hong Khaou. I’ve fallen in love with London on previous visits, so it feels fitting to bring this love story to the city – Andrew Ahn, director of “The Wedding Banquet”

The full programme for BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival will be revealed on Tuesday, 18th February at 11 AM.

Featured image courtesy of Luka Cyprian Bleecker Street

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