BFI Flare interview series to include Andrew Ahn and James Schamus, Onir, Rebecca Lenkiewicz and Marco Berger

The 39th BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival is pleased to announce the return of The Makers. Open to both industry delegates and the public, this popular series will include interviews with The Wedding Banquet’s Andrew Ahn and James Schamus, acclaimed Indian director Onir, renowned playwright and screenwriter/director Rebecca Lenkiewicz and award-winning Argentinian director Marco Berger. The festival, which is the largest LGBTQIA+ film festival in Europe, will take place from 19 to 30 March at BFI Southbank. 

Korean American filmmaker Andrew Ahn has established himself as one of the most prominent chroniclers of queer Asian-American life in the last few years with films including coming-of-age drama Spa Night, Driveways and romcom Fire Island, a queer retelling of Pride and Prejudice. James Schamus is an award-winning screenwriter (The Ice Storm), producer (Brokeback Mountain) and director (Indignation). As the co-founder and former CEO of Focus Features, he shepherded films such as Moonrise Kingdom, Milk, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Recent productions include Kitty Green’s The Assistant and the Mexican limited television series Somos. Schamus is also a professor of film theory and history at Columbia University. The duo joins us to discuss their careers and the making of The Wedding Banquet, their big-hearted reimagining of Ang Lee’s Oscar-nominated 1993 classic.  

One of the foremost LGBTQIA+ voices in India, Onir is an out and proud Award-winning Indian director, screenwriter, editor and producer. He started out in the film industry as an editor before making his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed drama film My Brother…Nikhil, one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships. Significant film credits as a director include Bas Ek Pal, Sorry Bhai, I Am Shab and Pine Cone which premiered at BFI Flare 2024. Onir returns to this year’s festival to discuss his prolific career and his new film We Are Faheem & Karun. 

Award-winning writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz was the first living female playwright to have her work produced on the Olivier Stage at the Royal National Theatre in 2008. Her screenplay for Ida, co-written with Pawel Pawlikowksi, won Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Academy and BAFTA Awards. Lenkiewicz’s screenplay credits include Wash Westmoreland’s Colette, Sebastian Lelio’s Disobedience as well as She Said which was BAFTA and Oscar nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Lenkiewicz joins us to discuss her career as an award-winning playwright and screenwriter and the making of her directorial debut Hot Milk. 

Known for his well observed stories of masculinity, masculine desires, and connections between men, the films of Argentine film director and screenwriter Marco Berger openly explores male desire and present male bodies as objects of desire. The award-winning filmmaker expertly amplifies the homoerotic undercurrents of male friendships – exploring his characters’ toned physiques as much as their inner thoughts. Berger’s films include Plan B, the Teddy award-winning Absent, Hawaii, Butterfly, The Young Hunter, Taekwondo (BFI Flare 2017) and Horseplay (BFI Flare 2023). Berger returns to Flare to discuss his new film The Astronaut Lovers and his extraordinary career.  

Andrew Ahn and James Schamus 
Wednesday 19 March, 15.00 to 16.00 – BFI Southbank, NFT 3 

Onir
Friday 21 March, 15.00 to 16.00 – BFI Southbank, NFT 4 

Rebecca Lenkiewicz 
Tuesday 25 March, 16.00 to 17.00 – BFI Southbank, NFT 4 

Marco Berger 
Thursday 27 March, 16.00 to 17.00 – BFI Southbank, NFT 4