''Layla'' is a 2024 British romance film written and directed by Amrou Al-Kadhi in their feature directorial debut.

Premise

While navigating their identity around friends and family, Layla, a

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

British-Palestinian drag queen living in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, falls in love with Max, an advertising executive.

Cast

* Bilal Hasna as Layla * Louis Greatorex as Max *

Safiyya Ingar Safiyya Ingar is a British actor, voiceover artist, and writer. Their films include ''Layla (film), Layla'' (2024). On television, they appeared in the BBC Two miniseries ''Summer of Rockets'' (2019) and the Netflix series ''The Witcher (TV serie ...

as Princy * Terique Jarrett as Felix * Darkwah as Lucilla * Sarah Agha as Fatima *

Baby In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...

Rebecca Lucy Taylor Rebecca Lucy Taylor (born 15 October 1986), also known by her stage name Self Esteem, is a British musician, songwriter and actress. First known as one half of the band Slow Club, she launched a solo career as Self Esteem with the single "Your ...

as Emily * Buket Kömür as Sara * Emma McDonald as Areej * Ghazi Al Ruffai as Travis

Production

Savannah James-Bayly produced the film for Fox Cub Films. Executive producers include Farhana Bhula of

Film4 Film4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, dedicated to broadcasting films. The standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesa ...

, Kristin Irving of BFI, Mary Burke of Public Dreams, and

Nina Yang Bongiovi Nina Yang Bongiovi is an Asian-American film producer and Associate Chair of the Peter Stark Producing Program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. In 2010, she partnered with actor Forest Whitaker to create Significant Productions; together, they ...

and

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and activist. His accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Best Actor Award at the ...

of Significant Productions. Principal photography took place in East London over six weeks and wrapped in December 2022.

Release

Film4 holds the UK and Ireland TV distribution rights. A first look image was shared in December 2022. ''Layla'' was selected by the BFI and British Council for the Great8 showcase at the 2023 Cannes Marché. The film premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the

2024 Sundance Film Festival The 2024 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 18 to 28, 2024. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 6, 2023. Among the highlighted events included the premiere of a documentary about the 1980s rock band Dev ...

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds a 88% "Fresh" score, based on 25 critic reviews with an average rating of 6.5/10. Fionnuala Halligan of ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' wrote, "At times, Al-Khadi’s film feels like a torrent of pent-up expression, yet more often reads as a tender yearning." Ryan Lattanzio of '' IndieWire'' wrote, "An exuberant appreciation of queer life even as it skims the surface of weightier issues around identity. But even the most callous of hearts will find it hard to skirt the charms of this sensitive, well-acted, and confidently shot feature." In a negative review,

Kevin Maher Kevin Andrew Maher (born 17 October 1976) is a former professional footballer and coach who played as a midfielder. He is head coach of National League side Southend United. Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland international ...

of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' wrote, "It’s a bland, flip-flopping central romance, topped off with some sub-Oprah sentiment about self-empowerment."

Gallery

Images from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival screening of Layla: Sundance Film Festival 2024 - Layla - Amrou Al-Kadhi-104A1507.jpg, Writer and director Amrou Al-Kadhi Sundance Film Festival 2024 - Layla - Bilal Hasna-104A1481.jpg, Lead actor Bilal Hasna Sundance Film Festival 2024 - Layla - Louis Greatorex-104A1522.jpg, Lead actor Louis Greatorex

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 23888758 2024 films British Film Institute films British LGBTQ-related films British romance films Drag (entertainment)-related films Film4 Productions films 2024 LGBTQ-related films Films about non-binary people 2020s British films