The new feature Low Rider, directed by Campbell X, follows Quinn — a London-based millennial played by Emma McDonald — who travels to Cape Town after her mother dies in search of an estranged father. What begins as a simple errand becomes an improvised odyssey: nights out in clubs, lingering campfires and an unexpected companionship with Harley, portrayed by Thishiwe Ziqubu. The film balances romance and humour with quieter moments of self-discovery, and the setting in the Western Cape is integral to how identity, memory and belonging unfold on screen.
Presented at the 40th BFI Flare, Low Rider has sparked conversation not only for its storytelling but for who is telling it. The production reunited a director and cast committed to centring queer experience through authentic casting and collaborative practices. The festival slot — with the event running 18 – 29 March and the film premiering on 21 March — positions the film within a wider program dedicated to LGBTQIA+ visibility and debate.
The film’s emotional architecture
Low Rider constructs its emotional stakes around two characters in transition. Quinn is restless, negotiating grief and a fragmented family history, while Harley offers a gentle counterpart whose own arc involves recovery and self-acceptance. Actors spoke about trusting Campbell X’s vision; that trust translated into scenes that feel lived-in rather than performative. The camerawork and locations become active collaborators in the narrative: seaside horizons, intimate interiors and the electricity of club spaces all contribute to a sense of movement, as if the landscape itself is a character shaping the protagonists’ choices.
On-set collaboration and craft
Cast members described the set as deliberately nurturing. McDonald highlighted how the director encouraged risk and exploration, creating a safe environment for experimentation. Ziqubu, making a milestone transition by playing a trans man on screen for the first time, emphasized that Campbell’s openness allowed personal spirituality and lived experience to inform the performance. This collaborative approach resulted in texture and nuance — a sensitivity to what some actors called a softer, more caring form of masculinity that informed both the role and the actor’s own understanding of self.
Representation, place and belonging
Both performers and the director have spoken about the film as more than a romance: it is a statement about why representation matters. For many viewers, particularly those from underrepresented communities, seeing queer lives portrayed on screen is restorative. The film situates queer experience within a particular cultural context, challenging the idea that transness or queerness is a uniform, imported identity. By rooting the story in South Africa, Low Rider asks audiences to consider how questions of diaspora, history and local culture shape the ways people love, grieve and rebuild.
Healing through visibility
Participants in the project have described the creative work as therapeutic. The phrase representation is healing recurs in conversations around the film: when people who rarely see themselves on screen are reflected back in full complexity, it can change everyday perceptions and offer dignity. For trans viewers and communities in South Africa who have long been marginalised, the film acts as both mirror and invitation — a public argument for acknowledging lives that have too often been ignored or maligned.
A harder reality elsewhere on the continent
While Low Rider celebrates visibility in one context, other parts of the continent are experiencing a contracting space for LGBTQ people. High-profile legal cases, such as the arrest of individuals in Uganda after intimate images circulated online, underline how criminalisation remains a daily threat. Under current provisions, consensual same-sex relations are punishable by severe terms in some countries, and a 2026 law in Uganda introduced harsher provisions labeled as aggravated homosexuality, which can carry the death penalty in theory. These legal frameworks create urgent stakes for activists and artists working to tell different stories.
Legislative shifts in nations such as Senegal and Ghana have also brought renewed scrutiny. Recent parliamentary moves increased maximum sentences for same-sex relations in Senegal, and Ghana continues to debate legislation that would criminalize identification and advocacy. Analysts and campaigners point to a mix of local conservatism, religious influence and international dynamics — including policy signals from governments like the United States — as factors shaping this backlash. Restrictions on funding, symbolic gestures that roll back prior protections, and the activity of foreign groups have all been cited by advocates as contributing forces.
What audiences can take away
At its heart, Low Rider offers a gentle but firm case for empathy: it asks viewers to follow two people who navigate loss, belonging and intimacy while learning from one another. In screening at BFI Flare, the film joins a wider conversation about how cinema can nurture recognition and repair. Audiences are invited to see parts of themselves in the characters and to reflect on the inequalities that make representation both a creative choice and a political act.