Diana Cipriano, interview with a programmer at BFI Flare 2025

Ahead of the 39th edition of BFI Flare, Fred FM got the lowdown on this year's lineup from one of the festival's programmers, Diana Cipriano. Cipriano shared some of the highlights for this year, particularly some of the trends and key themes arising across the selection and how they reflect the current landscape for LGBTQIA+ film, for instance, parenthood in all its iterations in opening night title "The Wedding Banquet", Rebecca Lenkiewicz's "Hot Milk" and "Outerlands", about a non-binary nanny tackling trauma. The programmer gave some of her own personal recommendations of movies that spoke to her, such as "Queens of Drama", told in flashback, which is "funny, camp, trashy and full of earworm songs", and "Night Stage", offering a queer take on the erotic thriller genre, plus those that she expects to make a splash during the 10-day event at London's BFI, like the restoration of 1983 Brazilian cult comedy movie "Onda Nova". We also discussed the broader landscape for queer cinema and the continuing importance of the festival as a platform for films and filmmakers in the LGBTQIA+ sphere, particularly for providing a safe space for connections to be made and conversations to be prompted.