Bilal Hasna

Louis Greatorex

Safiyya Ingar

Terique Jarrett

Darkwah

Sarah Agha

Self Esteem

Emma McDonald

Ghazi Al Ruffai

Baby

Tim Bowie

Freddie Thorp

Adam Howden

Ali Barouti

Rania Kurdi

Adnan Rashed

Buket Komur

Matthew Jacobs Morgan

Huw Morgan

Tim Berrington

Alexis Meshida

Ruby Thomas

Farhana Bhula

Nina Yang Bongiovi

Mary Burke

Kristin Irving

Emily Everdee

Samantha Spellman

Savannah James-Bayly

Emily Precious

Fiona Brands

Shaheen Baig

Soraya Gilanni Viljoen

Xenia Flint

Oliver Edinburgh

Cobbie Yates

Ella Burton

Guy Common

Adele Firth

Anna Morena

Christoph Suckow

Tom Leatherbarrow

Gerardine O'Flynn

Daniel Jerome Gill

Joe Nugent

Hannah Gray

Matthew Janion

Emily Murphy

Arron Cuthbertson

Ellie Chiang

Amrou Al-Kadhi

Connor Williams

Craig Dean Devine

CJ Mirra

Drama

Comedy

Romance

Layla

Film4 Productions

Significant Productions

Fox Cub Films

United Kingdom

United States of America

CinemaSerf

When "Layla" (Bilal Hasna) dons the full drag regalia to perform at a corporate launch for some ready meal company and they pay her in vouchers, she isn't best pleased and so makes a speech annoying just about everyone in the room except the guy from the marketing company. He's "Max" (Louis Greatorex) and it's quite clear that there's a little chemistry between the two after a brief conversation on a stairwell. It's not long before they've hooked up and what's clear is that both are attracted to the other, but that both have their identification issues that might prove difficult for the other to reconcile. The question for each of them is the extent to which they can love each other and still be who they are, want or need to be. Now perhaps it's the old romantic in me, but I hated the ending. That may be, though, because it is truthful and didn't take any easy routes out of what is quite an interesting story of human nurture, nature and personality. The former man is from Surrey, but has Arab roots whilst "Max" is as white as chalk and way more conforming to the more standard British norms of dress and family. Both are openly gay so that's not the issue, it's much more about breaking free from those linear and societal boundaries and being true to themselves. If I'm honest, I didn't much care for the drag friends. They seemed determined that "Max" was always going to be an interloper, and most of us know that embryonic relationships - platonic or sexual - can often thrive or fail depending on the reaction existing friends provide. There's quite a bit of selfishness around here and that annoyed me a little. Both performances are honest, playful and at times quite visceral and though comparisons are bound to be made with "Femme" and/or "Unicorns" from last year, this has quite an unique take on issues that are specific to those two characters here, but needn't be looked at in isolation.