Black Burns Fast
Sandulela Asanda | South Africa | 2025 | English & isiXhosa with English subtitles | CC | 96m
Scottish Premiere
Seventeen-year-old Luthando, adorkable, bookish, and forever drifting between reality and her vivid inner world, returns for another year at a prestigious South African all-girls’ boarding school. Behind its manicured lawns and bright, busy corridors, the school hides a deceptively conservative culture where reputation is everything, and nonconformity is quietly disciplined. As the lone scholarship girl, Luthando has learned to keep her head down, her marks up, and her mother’s strict expectations close to heart.
Her world tilts when Ayanda, a bold and effortlessly magnetic new student, arrives. Their connection sparks into something that Luthando has only ever daydreamed about. As they begin a secret romance, Luthando is ushered into Ayanda’s orbit of confident, carefree friends, tasting freedom she’s never experienced within the school’s rigid walls.
Presented in partnership with Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF).
The feature will be screened alongside short film:
ChikaBOOM!
C. Craig Patterson | US | 2026 | English | CC | 9m
UK Premiere
Chika Batstone is an aspiring young magician whose curiosity accidentally unleashes Kaboom, a chaotic magical creature, into the heart of New York City. With her world-famous magician father, The Amazin’ Arnie, performing nearby, Chika must contain the mayhem before it’s too late. Featuring the voice cast of Yara Shahidi, Daveed Diggs, Natasha Lyonne, Roy Wood Jr and Tika Sumpter.
Accessibility
This event will have:
English-BSL interpretation for introduction
Live Captioning
Descriptive subtitles