London´s Queer East festival returns this 1 May – 6 June at venues across the city, including The Barbican, The ICA, BFI Southbank, Battersea Arts Centre and many more.

Queer East is a cross-disciplinary festival that showcases boundary-pushing Asian LGBTQ+ cinema, live arts, and moving image. The festival explores what it means to be queer and Asian today.

The film programme includes gems from countries across Asia, ranging from India, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Myanmar, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, and Asian diaspora communities around the world.

Full film programme here. https://queereast.org.uk/festival-2026/

There is also an exciting performing arts programme, presenting a range of bold, thought-provoking queer Asian works. This year’s programme features two international productions, No. 60 by the renowned Thai Pichet Klunchun Dance Company and Bunny by performance artists Daniel Kok and Luke George. A new Queer East takeover, DAYTRIP, also takes place, at the ICA, featuring a dynamic lineup of artists, performers and DJs from around the world and culminating in a live-art rave. As well, an industry day for performance-makers and cultural workers involved in queer and Asian arts will also be part of this year’s programme.  

Performance Programme

Queer East DAYTRIP (ICA, 16 May)

Expanding an ongoing partnership with the ICA, the new Queer East takeover, DAYTRIP, will feature an all-day line-up of electrifying queer artists at with a mixed bill of film, moving image, performance and workshops, culminating in a queer live-art rave.  A looping film programme will display works by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Umi Ishihara, and Oat Montien among others. Meanwhile, live performances and counter-choreographic eruptions will take place across the venue, with contributions from artists such as Joseph Lee and Paula Wong from Hong Kong’s Unlock Dancing Plaza, London-based Shibari artist hua hua, multidisciplinary artist Riven Ratanavanh, and many more.

The day-to-night programme builds to a moonlit climax with Flow (海纳百川), a multidisciplinary club and performance programme curated by celebrated fixture of the queer London rave scene Sirui Chang (Princess Xixi).  

No. 60 by Pichet Klunchun Dance Company, The Place, Tuesday 19 May, 7.30pm

One of Thailand’s most celebrated choreographers, Pichet Klunchun, and his company join Queer East at The Place with this provocative reimagination of traditional Thai Khon dance.

https://queereast.org.uk/programme/no-60/  

Bunny, Battersea Arts Centre 4 – 6 June, 7.30pm 

Bunny is a daring interactive performance utilising the physical properties of rope and knots to explore desire, trust, consent, and connection between the artist and the audience. Daniel Kok and Luke George look to macramé, sailors’ knots, Chinese knots and rope bondage to weave together an experience of collectivity. “Bunny” is a nickname given to the person being tied in rope bondage. In this work, we ask ourselves this question: What if everyone (in the theatre) is a Bunny?

https://queereast.org.uk/programme/bunny/

Industry Programme, Chats Palace, 23 May

Queer East will hold an Industry Day at Chats Palace. This will feature a programme of talks, panels, pitches, and workshops to share ideas and best practices within the performing arts sector. It will bring together queer theatre makers, festival curators, and grassroots community organisers to utilise resources and address shared challenges through collaborative networking.

For further information: https://queereast.org.uk/