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Andrew Ahn’s latest feature The Wedding Banquet opens this year’s BFI Flare Film Festival, which runs from March 19 – 30 at the BFI Southbank in London.

It’s a big-ticket title, arriving in London following a debut bow at Sundance with a red-hot cast including Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, and serves as a sign of the festival’s continued relevance and mainstream appeal.

Currently the UK’s largest queer film event, Flare is also one of the world’s longest-running queer film festivals. It turns 40 next year. The BFI is already planning a series of celebrations to mark the milestone. Highlights from this year’s lineup, however, include screenings of Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Berlinale title Hot Milk starring Emma Mackey and Vicky Krieps, Lamin Leroy Gibba’s buzzy German series Black Fruit, and Truong Minh Quy’s beloved Cannes title Viet and Nam. The festival will close...

Berlin-based world sales company M-Appeal has secured additional international distribution agreements for three of its Berlin Film Festival titles.

Among the latest sales, “Dreams,” which premieres today in Berlinale Competition, has been acquired by Films4You for Portugal, Swallow Wings for Taiwan and Beta Films for Bulgaria.

“Dreams” is Norwegian writer director Dag Johan Haugerud’s latest title, completing his “Sex Love Dreams” trilogy, with the previous titles having premiered at Berlinale and Venice last year. The film follows a young woman named Johanne, who’s intimate writings about her first love creates friction within her family, prompting her mother and grandmother to re-examine their own realities and dreams. Swallow Wings also bought all rights to “Sex” and “Love.”

Golden Bear contender “Living the Land,” directed by Huo Meng, has also found distribution in Bulgaria with Beta Films. The distributor, which will release the film theatrically, adds it to its recent lineup,...

Starry sessions with Robert Pattinson and Jacob Elordi enlivened the Berlin Film Festival Saturday as the actors made waves with high-profile new titles “Mickey 17” and “The Narrow Road to the Deep North.”

Saturday’s premiere of sci-fi adventure film “Mickey 17” was one of the biggest events of the Berlinale so far, as all eyes in the film biz have been on director Bong Joon Ho and his followup to the Oscar-winning 2019 drama “Parasite.” Variety‘s Ramin Setoodeh and Elsa Keslassy captured the buzz in the room as Berlin fest director Tricia Tuttle had to cut the standing ovation short in order to bring the director and star on stage for a Q&a.

“Pattinson, who attended the premiere giving off Batman vibes (in an all-black ensemble that included a leather coat), arrived early in the night — signing autographs and taking many selfies on his way inside the theater.

“Night Stage,” the gay erotic thriller by Brazil’s Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon, has been acquired by German distributor Salzgeber, which will release the film in Germany and Austria. The film will world premiere in Berlinale’s Panorama sidebar next week.

M-Appeal is handling international sales for the film, and has released the international trailer.

“We have followed the careers of filmmakers Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon since their first feature, ‘Seashore,’ premiered at the Berlinale in 2015,” Jakob Kijas from Salzgeber said. “In 2017, we released their miniseries ‘The Nest’ in Germany. Now we are delighted to welcome ‘Night Stage’ in our program – a bold and beautiful drama about love, sex, performances and politics, that takes risks and fully delivers.”

Salzgeber plans to release ‘Night Stage’ theatrically in autumn this year. The film joins the distributor’s upcoming slate alongside “Misericordia” by Alain Guiraudie, “Baby” by Marcelo Caetano (also represented...

The BFI Flare: London Lgbtqia+ Film Festival (March 19-30) will close with the UK premiere of Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon’s erotic thriller Night Stage.

The Brazilian feature, which has its world premiere at the Berlinale, centres around an affair between an actor and a politician whose sexual desires lead them into escalating circumstances. The directors previously won the jury award at Berlinale Panorama in 2018, and the Teddy award for best LGBTQ feature film in the festival, for debut Hard Paint.

Also arriving at BFI Flare after a Berlin premiere is Shatara Michelle Ford’s Dreams In Nightmares which...