BFI Player marks Galentine’s Day with new curated film collections. It also celebrates the 40th anniversary of BFI Flare. The collections are led by its newest programmer, acclaimed critic, and broadcaster Rhianna Dhillon. Her new monthly series on BFI Player highlights female friendship. It emphasizes chosen family and the richness of queer cinema. This series brings a distinctive critical voice to the platform.
Galentine’s Day collection – celebrating female friendship
Launching on Wednesday 11 February, the Galentine’s Day collection offers an alternative to traditional Valentine’s fare. It focuses on the joy, intensity, and complexity of female friendships. These relationships are often more intimate, emotionally revealing, and enduring than romance.
Titles in the collection include:
- Frances Ha (2012) – dir. Noah Baumbach – available now
- Girls Girls Girls (2022) – dir. Alli Haapasalo – available now
- Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974) – dir. Jacques Rivette – available now
- Daisies (1966) – dir. Věra Chytilová – available now
Through these films, Dhillon highlights friendships that are messy, devoted, occasionally obsessive and frequently transformative – the kinds of bonds that redefine what “finding your person” can look like.
BFI Flare at 40 – queer cinema on BFI Player
From 9 March, Rhianna Dhillon will also present a special BFI Flare collection celebrating 40 years of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. The selection honours the festival’s exceptional LGBTQIA+ filmmaking across decades, showcasing films steeped in love, angst, heartbreak and joy.
Films in the BFI Flare collection include:
- My First Summer (2020) – dir. Katie Found – available now
- Beach Rats (2017) – dir. Eliza Hittman – available now
- Young Soul Rebels (1991) – dir. Isaac Julien – available now
- Weekend (2011) – dir. Andrew Haigh – available now
- The New Girlfriend (2014) – dir. François Ozon – available now
Together, these titles map out many shades of queer experience. They range from tender first love to identity, desire, loss, and resilience. These stories offer powerful, life-affirming narratives that reflect the nuance of LGBTQIA+ lives on screen.
BFI Flare: the festival
BFI Flare is the UK’s largest queer film event. It runs at BFI Southbank from 18–29 March 2026. The event screens the best in contemporary LGBTQIA+ cinema from around the world. It also offers a rich programme of talks, events, and archive screenings. The BFI Player collection extends this spirit online. It gives audiences nationwide access to landmark queer films. Audiences can also discover underrated queer films all year round.
Rhianna Dhillon on her collections
Rhianna Dhillon explains what inspired her. Rather than revisiting the familiar tropes of Valentine’s Day, she wanted to embrace Galentine’s Day. She aimed to highlight the “wonderful female friendships” in her favourite films on BFI Player. These friendships include loves and occasionally obsessions. The anarchic joy of Daisies captivates her. The aching closeness of Frances Ha draws her in. She leans into “the role of a lifetime – the best friend.”
Curating the BFI Flare collection, she notes how difficult it was to narrow down decades of LGBTQIA+ filmmaking to a handful of titles. She hopes that works like Weekend, My First Summer, and Beach Rats will offer a glimpse into queer cinema. These works provide “a taste of the love, angst, heartbreak and pure joy” woven throughout it. Additionally, she aims to encourage viewers to discover both cult favourites and lesser‑seen gems.
BFI Player as a home for filmmakers and conversations
Alongside its curated film collections, BFI Player has become a destination for exclusive filmmaker conversations. It offers Q&As and event recordings, providing rare access to the creative voices shaping contemporary cinema. Recent highlights include George Clooney in Conversation. This was recorded at BFI Southbank. It connects audiences not only with the films themselves but also with the stories and people behind them.
Rhianna Dhillon is available for interviews. She can discuss her Galentine’s Day and BFI Flare collections. She can also talk about her ongoing monthly collaboration with BFI Player and wider trends in film and culture.
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