In partnership with BFI Flare, our annual online programme of short films is back! Watch the films online for free between 18-29 March.   

This year’s programme brings you five powerful stories of love, courage, secrets and betrayal by filmmakers from around the world. These stories remind us that no matter where – or who – we are, the need for love and self-expression is universal.  

2026 Films  

I HATE HELEN 
Director Katie Lambert, UK 

Priya hates Helen. She hates her in the canteen. Hates her in science. Especially hates her at swimming. Mostly, Priya hates the way Helen makes her feel. A short film about the tidal wave of lust some girls feel in school and letting those feelings just wash over you.

RAG DOLLS  
Director Amy Adler, USA / Mexico

Married couple Rosalinda (born with spina bifida) and Diana (who has cerebral palsy) navigate life in Puebla, Mexico, where disability intersects with discrimination and poverty. Abandoned by family, underserved by government support systems, and facing persistent homophobia, the women have built a life centred on mutual care and protection. Observing a single ordinary day, the film follows their routines, a romantic date, and moments of reflection on their enduring love.

ROOM 206 
Dir. Laurie Bisceglia, France 

After undergoing gender-affirming surgery, Clair no longer cares what the world thinks. Reclaiming his body becomes a path toward self-recognition for the first time in his life. This documentary accompanies him not only through physical change, but towards emotional renewal and a new beginning.

SWEAT (Mồ Hôi) 
Director Edward Nguyen, Vietnam

On the eve of leaving rural Vietnam, farm worker Hung prepares to illegally cross the border in search of refuge abroad. Defined by routine and labour, his final day with Hoang, a fellow worker, reshapes his understanding of desire, intimacy and selfhood. 

THEO
Director Monica Palazzo & Joana Galvão, Brazil

Brazil, 1986. During the World Cup, seven-year-old Theo quietly navigates school life while defying rigid gender expectations. Between silence and rebellion, they begin inventing their own way of existing.

Find out below about the 2026 Directors

Katie Lambert is an English woman interested in behaving badly, making mistakes and trying to make them look beautiful. Sometimes those interests coincide with film making. She runs MrMr Films with Martha McGuirk.  

Amy Adler is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She has had solo exhibitions at museums and galleries worldwide, including the Hammer Museum and MOCA Los Angeles. Her short film Tear Jerker (2016) screened internationally and won the Audience Award at Tampa Bay International LGBT Film Festival. Adler is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, a 2024 Sundance Screenwriters Intensive Fellow, and Professor of Visual Arts at UC San Diego.  

Laurie Bisceglia is a French director and photographer living in Paris. Her studies initially led her to work as an assistant director, which enabled her to work on many film sets. Over time, her vision of the world sharpened and a visceral need to expose its flaws emerged. She initially decided to do this through photography, in which she was self-taught, and later through the moving image. From 2020 onwards, she became involved with associations fighting for women’s rights, shooting portraits of inspirational women and reports on demonstrations and related events. At the same time, she developed her personal projects. In 2024, she completed the photographic series Chambre 206, selected as part of the Off des Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles for the Prix Révélation de la SAIF. 

Edward Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American writer-director based between New York and Austin. His work centres around cross-cultural queerness, displacement, and urban isolationism. Inspired by queer and slow cinema auteurs, his works seek to challenge traditional structural powers and question how we construct a sense of “self” in the present. A recent Yale University graduate and the director of Mồ Hôi (Sweat), he is a semi-finalist of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s How We Heal Shot Films Lab and is currently working on a short film revolving around a Vietnamese construction worker’s journey through cruising.  

Jo Galvv studied professional communication on a full athletic scholarship in West Virginia, USA. She later pursued psychology and neuroscience (BA and MSc) in Germany, followed by a PhD in cognitive innovation (UK and Australia) through a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship funded by the European Commission. She also completed a BA in Literature at the University of São Paulo (USP), including a semester abroad supported by the Canadian government’s Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP). A Berlinale Talents alumna and Bravo Film Lab Fellow, she now develops independent creative projects in literature and film.  

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