Queer East

The full programme of #QueerEast Festival 2026 is here! Discover LGBTQ+ cinema, performances, and arts from East and Southeast Asia and beyond, taking place 1 May - 6 June in venues across London.

Introducing 𝘿𝘼𝙔𝙏𝙍𝙄𝙋, an expansive day-to-night programme of live art, performance, film and music, taking over at @icalondon on 16 May, as part of #QueerEast 2026. Chasing the dizzying ecstasy of movement in all its eclectic potentials, this experimental showcase will flow across disciplines and throughout the venue, concocting a sensory mixed bill of bold sounds, moving image and haptic intimacies. Building to a fiery, moonlit climax, we will shed skins and dance hard to the beats of Flow, a club-performance programme curated by celebrated DJ-artist Sirui Chang (Princess Xixi). Throughout, a looping film programme will display works by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Umi Ishihara, and Oat Montien, among others. Programme Highlights: Good Boy, Bad Girl by @unlockdancingplaza In this double bill, Joseph Lee and Paula Wong work through regimes of conditioning, endurance and display, foregrounding the body as something trained, exposed and consumed. The Language of Rope by @huahua.online Shibari artist hua hua guides you on the language of rope, exploring how to create a dialogue, build tension and express our desires. Performance by Riven Ratanavanh Reappropriating Thai-Chinese oil traditions (สักน้ำมัน) and spirit cloth blessings (ผ้ายันต์), Ratanavanh’s modified ritual casts a spell to reclaim queer Asian masculinities from ghosts of legacies past. The Application by @cd3project CD3 is on the hunt for their fourth performer in their debut performance The Application, a transdisciplinary piece that conjures a live laboratory to interrogate digital intimacy, consent, and power.  Crucified Stars on the Tongue by @osamu_shikichi “舌読 / Zetsudoku” is a technique developed by people with Hansen’s disease in Japan after WWII, in their attempt to find light within darkness by using their tongue as a third hand.
 Flow (海纳百川) by @xixi_asinshe Into the night, Princess Xixi’s multidisciplinary programme brings together DJs, MCs, and movement artists at the intersection of diasporic underground music and contemporary art: @areyoumessy , @chiobutch , @jinn_jellyeeee , @dryakubslab and more. Curated and produced by @antibart and @studioyiwang

Announcing our Industry Weekender, bringing together artists, curators, filmmakers, critics, programmers, producers, and community organisers for two days of dialogue across film and performing arts. Foregrounding exchange as both critical and social practice, the Performing Arts Industry Day brings together artists from across the UK to explore performance as a space for reflection, experimentation, and resistance through talks, open-mic pitching, and a networking party with DJs, games, and gogo dancing. Turning toward queer and Asian cinema, the Film Industry Day brings together filmmakers, curators, critics, exhibitors, and grassroots collectives to explore storytelling, exhibition, and the challenges shaping contemporary film culture. Through talks and conversations with UK and international guests, the programme creates space for dialogue, exchange, and new connections. Seapkers include @absentobject , @pearpiesyrup , @socratesdlr , @hiddenkeileon , @kakilangarts , @shayshayshow , @bittenpeachuk , @platformasia , @easternmargins , @chisenhaledance , @queercircle , @rich.rahad , @juwairiyyah_wali , @cici__peng , @maj_kor , @bigbigbigturtle , @tranne_boleyn , @tgirlsonfilm , @klassiki.online , @otherness_archive , @dariusshu_ , @yarliallison , @riverrcao , @seowfilms and many more. 🎭 Industry Day: Performing Arts, Sat 23 May, 12:00 @chatspalace 🎬 Industry Day: Film, Sun 24 May, 12:00 @britishfilminsitute Pay what you can tickets available via link in bio.

In No. 60, Pichet Klunchun strips Thai Khon dance of its masks and ornamentation to reinvent a 700-year-old form from within. Marking the culmination of two decades of movement research, immersive projections and hand-drawn diagrams transform the dancers into a radical study of bodily geometry that unsettles the divide between tradition and innovation. Tues 19 May, 19:30 @theplacelondon

Two free-diving athletes, Hua-Yang Huang and Afa Zhang, push their bodies to the limit in 𝘼 𝘿𝙧𝙤𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙊𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣, a captivating documentary from Taiwan. The film explores the pair’s determination and endurance, as well as dancer Afa’s stunning transformation into a mermaid, while the mesmerising underwater cinematography captures the beauty of the divers’ exertions. The UK premiere of 𝘼 𝘿𝙧𝙤𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙊𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣 臨淵入魚 will take place on Tue 19 May 18:00 at @thegardencinema , with a pre-recorded introduction from the director @holo_wang .

Lino Brocka’s acclaimed gay drama Macho Dancer centres on Paul, who leaves his impoverished rural village to find work as a dancer, stripper, and rent boy in Manila’s red light district. Revisited after nearly four decades, the film’s strikingly erotic imagery forces us to consider our desires, and complicity, as viewers. This 4K restoration screening will take place on Thurs 21 May, 18:00 @britishfilminstitute , with a pre-recorded introduction by Prof. Jose B. Capino.

“Montreal, My Beautiful honours every decision forced and every desire unsaid, all without judgment.” - @exclaimdotca Feng Xia, a Chinese immigrant and mother living in Montréal, has built her life around duty: to family, culture, and a loveless marriage. But when she meets the spirited Camille, long-buried desires begin to surface. Featuring a haunting performance by screen icon Joan Chen, 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡, 𝙈𝙮 𝘽𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 is a landmark work of queer Asian diaspora cinema exploring identity, exile, and the cost of liberation. Thurs 21 May, 20:30 at @richmixlondon , with a pre-recorded introduction by dir. Xiaodan He.

Infected with adventure and subtly satirical of the ethnographic and tourist lens, Johanna d’arc of Mongolia (1989) marked a dramatic shift in German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger’s filmography towards Asia. A group of white European women — guided by the extravagant British anthropologist Lady Windermere (Delphine Seyrig) — are kidnapped by a local tribe in the breathtaking Mongolian steppe, where a lesbian love triangle slowly unfolds. Sun 17 May 13:30 at @icalondon Preceded by an introduction from the event’s curator Misha Zakharov @m_m_zakharov , and a discussion with Buryat artist Margarita Galandina @mgalandina on the Mongolian Indigenous rituals and culture presented in the film. An accompanying interview by Misha with Mongolian researchers and LGBTQ+ advocates Dorjjantsan ‘Jack’ Ganbaatar @jackganbaatar and Erdeneburen ‘Gonto’ Dorjpurev @gonto_erdeneburen is available now on the Queer East website, and a print version will be distributed at the screening.

Who determines how bodies are seen? How might spectatorship become power—or a commodity? 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝘽𝙤𝙮, 𝘽𝙖𝙙 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡 is a double bill by Hong Kong-based @unlockdancingplaza examining how contemporary bodies are constructed, exposed and repaired within regimes of training, desire and the aesthetic marketplace. In @paula_ponawong ’s 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝘾𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙧, 𝙂𝙤 𝘿𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧!, stretching and limbering become performance itself; meanwhile, @josephwnlee ’s 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧, 𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙁𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 draws on fitness culture and lecture performance to reveal how the male body is produced and consumed within economies of desire. One contemplative and the other energetic, the two works reveal how bodies are continually shaped and reshaped amid the tensions of training, desire and self-display, while proposing how the body might still respond, speak, and discover fissures for subversion and reconstruction. As part of our day-to-night takeover DAYTRIP, taking place at @icalondon on Sat 16 May 14:00 and 20:30. 🎫 day pass via link in bio.

Chasing the dizzying ecstasy of movement in all its eclectic potential, Queer East's DAYTRIP unfolds across the ICA this Saturday, 16 May from 2pm-2am 💥 Featuring artists and collectives including Joseph Lee & Paula Wong (Unlock Dancing Plaza), hua hua, Riven Ratanavanh, CD3, and choreographer Osamu Shikichi, alongside a looping film programme with works by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Umi Ishihara, and Oat Montien. Plus, immersive workshops led by Sun Park & Chiemi Shimada, Pubis Project, Kayla Lui, and Doreen Chan, exploring everything from rope practice and cosmotechnical filmmaking to dream-based cocktail mixing 🍸 The day builds into a club finale curated by DJ-artist Sirui Chang (Princess Xixi). 📅 16 May 2026 📍 ICA, London 🎟️ Tickets at link in bio: Full Access £35, Day Pass £25, Rave Pass £15 @xixi_asinshe @theahgohgoh @doreen_chanwingyan @kaylaluisikchi @pubis_project @smdcem @coco____ @osamu_shikichi @huahua.online @transgressrrr @cd3project @josephwnlee @paula_ponawong @queereast @antibart #DAYTRIP #QueerEast #ICA #Queer #LiveArt #Performance #ClubCulture

”A sharp, candy-coated commentary on casual transphobia and the shaky ways identity gets defined.” @tatlerasia Ena is a vapid sanitary towel endorser who calls her vagina ‘poochy’ and mindlessly enjoys a wannabe celebrity lifestyle. But after an acrimonious encounter with a mysterious fairy, Ena wakes up to find that her ‘poochy’ has vanished. @fatrick_tabada ’s 𝙁𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡 is a riotous comedy from the Philippines that mercilessly castigates prejudices and assumptions relating to sex and gender identity. This UK premiere screening will take place on Sat 16 May, 18:00 at @riocinema .

Often absent from the big screen, queer elders bask in the limelight in these luminous short films that trace their lives on the road, in care homes, and onstage. They retell stories of political upheavals and secret romances, passing down lived histories to the next generation. Honouring those who have endured great hardship and loss, 𝙏𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙀𝙮𝙚𝙨 is a tribute to the elders who continue to love, resist, and grace the silver screen. Curatorial idea by Xi Liu @wenyi3008 , as part of Up Next: Future Film Curators Lab 2025/26 Fri 22 May, 18:00 at @thegardencinema 🌅 Two Travelling Aunties dir. Christine Seow @seowfilms | Singapore, UK | 2025 | 22min 🎤 Golden Voice dir. Mars Verrone @marsverrone | Cambodia, USA | 2023 | 18min 🪷 Jasmine that Blooms in Autumn dir. Chandradeep Das @chandradeepesque | India | 2025 | 15min 💅🏼 Ibu @ibu.film dir. Jessi Goh | Singapore | 2025 | 19min 🎠 Silig dir. Arvin Belarmino @arvinbelarmino & Lomorpich (aka YoKi) Rithy @yokicoco | Philippines | 2024 | 17min