2 - 17 May 2026
Queer East is a cross-disciplinary festival that showcases boundary-pushing LGBTQ+ cinema, live arts, and moving image work from East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities that returns to our cinema for its 2026 edition.
Queer East is a cross-disciplinary festival that showcases boundary-pushing LGBTQ+ cinema, live arts, and moving image work from East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities that returns to our cinema for its 2026 edition.
Programme
Saturday 2 May, 2pm
UK PREMIERE Isan Odyssey + introduction
This hybrid documentary from Thai director Thunska Pansittivorakul commences as a film about Mor Lam, folk music that originated in Laos, before mounting a searing critique of state repression and violence. Queer in its gaze and endlessly inventive in its style, Isan Odyssey is an ambitious and unpredictable work.
Sunday 3 May, 6pm
The Erotics of Space: Hiroyuki Oki + conversation
Friday 8 May, 8.40pm
UK PREMIERE Raging + introduction
The mid-1990s, on Sibuyan Island in the Philippines: when Eli witnesses a mysterious plane crash in the island’s densely forested mountains, he begins to confront a traumatic experience of his own. Ryan Machado’s atmospheric character study asks troubling questions about queerness, abuse, and stigma.
Saturday 9 May, 4pm
UK PREMIERE A Good Child + introduction
Jia-hao is a sassy Singaporean drag queen who barely sees his family, but reluctantly returns home to help his brother care for their mother, who has dementia. Both hilariously funny and profoundly moving, this riveting drama features knockout performances from a talented cast, headed by rising star Richie Koh.
Sunday 10 May, 2pm
With Beauty and Sorrow on 35mm
Otoko is a famous painter who, as a teenager, was seduced by the married novelist Oto. Years later, when he reappears in her life, Otoko’s pupil and lesbian lover Keiko vows to take revenge. Exquisite cinematography and evocative use of the Kyoto locations conjure up a claustrophobic feel in this classic tale of obsessive love.
Thursday 14 May, 6.30pm
Myths We Call Bodies + Q&A
Friday 15 May, 6.30pm
UK PREMIERE Where Comes Mulan + conversation
Artist and filmmaker Tianyi Zheng returns to her ancestral village in Huangpi, Wuhan, the purported hometown of Mulan, the legendary figure known for fighting battles while disguised as a male warrior. With documentary and performative elements, Where Comes Mulan excavates cultural mythology while offering a personal reflection on displacement, queerness, and identity.
Sunday 17 May, 1.30pm
Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia + conversation
Kidnapped on a journey through Mongolia, two European anthropologists become embroiled in a lesbian love triangle with their captor, the Mongolian warrior princess Ulan Iga. This resplendently eccentric film by lesbian cinema pioneer Ulrike Ottinger provides a subtly satirical commentary on the ethnographic tourist gaze.
Saturday 2 May, 2pm
UK PREMIERE Isan Odyssey + introduction
This hybrid documentary from Thai director Thunska Pansittivorakul commences as a film about Mor Lam, folk music that originated in Laos, before mounting a searing critique of state repression and violence. Queer in its gaze and endlessly inventive in its style, Isan Odyssey is an ambitious and unpredictable work.
Sunday 3 May, 6pm
The Erotics of Space: Hiroyuki Oki + conversation
Friday 8 May, 8.40pm
UK PREMIERE Raging + introduction
The mid-1990s, on Sibuyan Island in the Philippines: when Eli witnesses a mysterious plane crash in the island’s densely forested mountains, he begins to confront a traumatic experience of his own. Ryan Machado’s atmospheric character study asks troubling questions about queerness, abuse, and stigma.
Saturday 9 May, 4pm
UK PREMIERE A Good Child + introduction
Jia-hao is a sassy Singaporean drag queen who barely sees his family, but reluctantly returns home to help his brother care for their mother, who has dementia. Both hilariously funny and profoundly moving, this riveting drama features knockout performances from a talented cast, headed by rising star Richie Koh.
Sunday 10 May, 2pm
With Beauty and Sorrow on 35mm
Otoko is a famous painter who, as a teenager, was seduced by the married novelist Oto. Years later, when he reappears in her life, Otoko’s pupil and lesbian lover Keiko vows to take revenge. Exquisite cinematography and evocative use of the Kyoto locations conjure up a claustrophobic feel in this classic tale of obsessive love.
Thursday 14 May, 6.30pm
Myths We Call Bodies + Q&A
Friday 15 May, 6.30pm
UK PREMIERE Where Comes Mulan + conversation
Artist and filmmaker Tianyi Zheng returns to her ancestral village in Huangpi, Wuhan, the purported hometown of Mulan, the legendary figure known for fighting battles while disguised as a male warrior. With documentary and performative elements, Where Comes Mulan excavates cultural mythology while offering a personal reflection on displacement, queerness, and identity.
Sunday 17 May, 1.30pm
Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia + conversation
Kidnapped on a journey through Mongolia, two European anthropologists become embroiled in a lesbian love triangle with their captor, the Mongolian warrior princess Ulan Iga. This resplendently eccentric film by lesbian cinema pioneer Ulrike Ottinger provides a subtly satirical commentary on the ethnographic tourist gaze.
