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Exclusive: Happy Valley star Siobhan Finneran is starring in a Black Mirror-esque British LGBTQ+ sci-fi movie about death in the internet age, with cameras rolling this week.

Chatlines follows Jordan, a 30-something with terminal cancer in 2027 who spends his final days drifting between morphine dreams and digital distractions. On a whim he uses an old Chatroulette-style app and on the screen appears Danny, a sarcastic, vibrant guy, also terminally ill, who swears it’s 2005. As days pass, the two men form a deep bond, opening up about their regrets, dreams and the loneliness of facing death too soon.

The Black Mirror-style movie stars Lloyd Eyre-Morgan (Departures) as lead, who also co-directs, along with Nico Mirallegro (My Mad Fat Diary), who plays Danny. Finneran, a BAFTA nominee for her role as Clare in Happy Valley, also stars alongside Faye Mckeever (Adolescence), Laura Aikman (This City is Ours) and Hannah Jones...

Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely’s Departures is about to send the BFI Flare audience on a trip of a lifetime. We caught up with Eyre-Morgan to chat about the film.

“I think we should skip to the fucking end.”

This is the starting point of Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely’s Departures. The film, which is getting its world premiere at BFI Flare, starts with the end of a relationship. Benji (played by Eyre-Morgan) and David Tag’s Jake are breaking up, quite nastily too, but things weren’t always like this. Once upon a time, the pair were sharing passionate getaways in Amsterdam but even the most toxic relationships often begin in a haze of love and affection. And great sex, of which there is plenty of in Departures.

There’s a lot to relate to in Departures, which is “inspired by all the dickheads that fucked us...

Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely’s UK queer comedy Departures has been picked up for sales by nascent UK outfit Rapt Films, ahead of its world premiere at BFI Flare: London Lgbtqia+ Film Festival.

Departures draws on the filmmakers own experiences, and follows the relationship between two men who meet at an airport gate and begin monthly incognito trips to Amsterdam together. Over time the need to keep their intimacy a secret causes strain, and the relationship becomes increasingly toxic.

It marks the first feature produced by Punk Spirit Films, a collective of working-class LGBT+ filmmakers based in Manchester. Co-directors...

BFI Flare: London Lgbtqia+ Film Festival (March 19-30) has unveiled its full line-up, with 56 features across three strands, exploring subjects such as Kenya’s ballroom scene and the appeal of dating apps.

The programme has films and shorts from 41 countries, with six world premiere features. These include Kenyan filmmaker Njoroge Muthoni’s documentaryHow To Live, which explores Nairobi’s vibrant ballroom scene and celebrates queer African joy.

In Yu-jin Lee’s Manok, the owner of a South Korean lesbian bar must return to her small hometown after clashing with the city’s younger queer community.

Buenos Aires-set comedy drama Few...

Exclusive: This year’s Manchester Film Festival is set to run from March 14 – 23 and will open with a screening of The Penguin Lessons, directed by British filmmaker Peter Cattaneo and starring Steve Coogan.

Based on the best-selling memoir, the film tells the story of an Englishman’s personal and political awakening during a cataclysmic period in Argentine history, brought about by his unlikely adoption of a penguin.

Manchester will screen 37 features, including 15 UK premieres and 4 world premieres. All films will be screening in Manchester for the first time. This includes the Manchester premiere of the UK’s Oscar selection Santosh from Sandhya Suri, Sundance, and Cannes hit Good One directed by India Donaldson, and South by Southwest Audience Award Winner My Dead Friend Zoe from Kyle Hausmann-Stokes.

Other highlights include the UK premieres of Y2K, A24’s latest horror comedy starring Fred Durst and directed by Kyle Mooney, the...

Ahead of the theatrical and VOD release of Tell Me How I Die on September 16th, Daily Dead has an exclusive clip from the film. Also: details on YouTube Spaces and Blumhouse's horror Vr collaboration, Child Eater's world premiere at Brooklyn Horror Fest, Destination America's Mountain Monsters season five renewal, and Iris Prize Festival screening details for Kill Pill.

Watch an Exclusive Clip from Tell Me How I Die: "When a group of college students takes part in an experimental drug study, an unexpected side effect gives them terrifying visions of their own murders… which begin to come true. As they scramble to outsmart and outmaneuver their date with death, they realize that the killer is among them and shares their ability to see the future – only he seems to be one step ahead in their race to survive."

Ryan Higa (YouTube's NigaHiga), Nathan Kress (iCarly), Virginia Gardner...