London Latino Film Festival (LoLaFF), London’s first competitive Latino film festival, launches this October with a programme that puts queer Latin American stories and celebration at its heart.
Running 2–6 October across seven London cinemas, the festival’s queer strand spans decades of LGBTQ+ history and everyday joy.
¡Quba! (Sat 3 October, 6:30pm, ICA)
Plus film maker intro. A journey through Cuba’s LGBTQ+ revolution, centred on trans politician Adela Hernandez and cultural pioneer Ramon Silverio. The story traces the decades of struggle to the historic 2022 marriage equality victory.
Baracoa (Tue 6 October, 3:00pm, Lumiere)
A homophobic man and a drag queen journey across Cuba together to scatter his father’s ashes. Baracoa is a story of grief, reckoning and unlikely connection.
Elsewhere in the programme, short films Tratto and Merlyn’s Beard bring queer identity to the screen in more intimate, playful forms.
A Fantastic Woman – Una Mujer Fantástica (Sun 4 October, 7:00pm, Regent Street Cinema)
Intro with screenwriter Gonzalo Maza. This Oscar-winning 2017 Chilean film is about Marina, a young transgender waitress and aspiring singer in Santiago. As she faces grief after the death of her old partner, his unexpected death fuels suspicion and transphobia.
Tratto (part of Short Films: Culture in Motion, Mon 5 October, 4:30pm)
When a new worker arrives at the Tratto family house, something begins to grow.
Merlyn’s Beard (part of the shorts programme)
Merlyn, a transgender wizard, really wants a beard to fit in and match his idols.
LoLaFF Queer Social (Sun 4 October, 6:00pm)
Beyond the screen, LoLaFF is throwing a queer social night at Penny Squares in Hilton’s Canopy. In collaboration with Lady Olé, London’s beloved Spanish-language queer party since 2005, the Queer Social is an afternoon and evening of drag performances and DJ sets, dressing the shorter October daylight in pure gold and sequins.
Wider London Latino Film Festival Programme
The queer programme sits within LoLaFF’s wider inaugural edition, which screens 60 films from 27 countries and welcomes guests including Óscar Martínez, Jorge Perugorría and Cuban ballet icon Carlos Acosta.
