BFI London Film Festival 2025: 5 amazing LGBTQ-themed films we saw
From the Emma Corrin-starring 100 Nights of Hero to the Kristen Stewart-directed The Chronology of Water
100 Nights of Hero
This queer fantasy romance film stars Emma Corrin, Maika Monroe and Nicholas Galitzine, and features Charli XCX in a fabulous supporting role. Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Isabel Greenberg, the movie takes place in a whimsical, but heavily patriarchal alternative reality where the princess-like Cherry (Monroe) and her maid Hero (Corrin) attempt to resist male control, including Cherry’s deceitful husband Jerome – and a society that deems lesbianism a “perversion”.
Speaking to Attitude about the power of queer storytelling on the red carpet at the film’s premiere last night, Corrin said: “It’s the most important thing, to take up that space; to take back that space that is being denied to us. One of the beautiful things about this film is that it celebrates storytelling. Stories have been around as long as humans have. It’s the most natural way of articulating our truth and our experiences of other people. And making people feel, no matter where they are, that they are understood. That they have a voice, that they have a place.”
Corrin’s co-star Richard E. Grant meanwhile expressed confidence that LGBTQ storytelling is here to stay. The veteran actor, also known for Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Everybody’s Talking about Jamie told Attitude: “Despite what Donald Trump and Mr. Putin are saying – the opposite – the world is so radically changed. The level of tolerance and acceptance since same-sex marriage was legalised – that’s had a profound watershed shift in people’s acceptance thinking about everything.”
100 Nights of Hero is due to hit UK cinemas in early 2025.
Pillion
Alexander Skarsgård stars as a hyper-masculine biker Ray, who takes Harry Melling’s goody two shoes Colin as his submissive lover in Pillion, which has been affectionally dubbed a ‘dom-com’ by some who have seen it.
Speaking to Attitude on the red carpet at the film’s premiere on Saturday (18 October), Melling said: “What’s amazing about this story is that this narrative gets out there. The fact it’s out there to be seen by anyone who wants to see it is a very, very, very good thing.”
Pillion hits UK cinemas on 28 November 2025.
Christy
Whatever you think of Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney, there’s no denying the raw power of her performance in this full pelt sporting biopic. The film tells the incredible story of high-profile professional boxer Christy Martin, who escaped her abusive marriage to her coach, James V. Martin, after his attempted murder of her in 2010. In 2017, Christy married one of her old boxing opponents, Lisa Holewyne.
Christy hits UK cinemas on 28 November.
The History of Sound
Perhaps the most hotly-anticipated movie of late 2025, The History of Sound unites two of the film world’s buzziest actors: Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor. Set in the US in the aftermath of WW1, the film follows Lionel (Mescal) and David (O’Connor), as they venture across the country recording voices of ordinary people, capturing a nation’s soul.
Speaking to Attitude at the film’s premiere on Saturday (18 October), the film’s writer Ben Shattuck said: “This film, with the characters and the way it’s framed, tries to understand how secrecy, love, regrets and grief work. Director Oliver Hermanus meanwhile revealed his connection to Pillion director Harry Lighton: “We used to work together! We’re very good friends. I’m incredibly proud of him. I went to Cannes early to see Pillion!”
Mescal said his All of Us Strangers co-star Andrew Scott and director Andrew Haigh have yet to see The History of Sound, although added “we have a little group chat, they both messaged me last week!” The star added that although both films are “queer love stories,” he took “more from something like Normal People towards this than All of Us Strangers.”
The History of Sound hits UK cinemas on 23 January 2026.
The Chronology of Water
The directorial debut of Love Lies Bleeding star Kristen Stewart has one of the highest Rotten Tomatoes scores of any film across the festival. Starring Imogen Poots and adapted from the 2011 memoir of the same name by Lidia Yuknavitch, the film follows the story of Lidia, who grew up in a sexually abusive household and went on to become a competitive swimmer and writer.
In a review for Variety earlier this year, Owen Gleiberman opined of the film: “This is the beauty of what movies can do. They can be voyeuristic and honest — give us privileged glimpses of the forbidden, of what people are really like, of all the muck and pain and yearning we cover up.”