The 38th BFI Flare London LGBTQ+ film festival runs at the BFI Southbank from 13-24 March and online at BFI Player ,and there’s lots to see in its three themed sections, Hearts, Bodies and Minds. There’s a staggering total of 33 world premieres, 57 features and 81 shorts from 41 countries.
I just had a tiny toe in its water to give a hint of the goodies in store. Under its theme Bodies, is Backspot. Riley begins to crumble under pressure when she and her girlfriend are selected for an elite cheerleading squad. Departing Seniors is a tongue-in-cheek Queer remix of slasher films. Making it to graduation is the least of these high school students’ problems with a murderer in their midst.
I Don’t Know Who You Are features a young gay man who races against time to get funds for HIV prevention treatment, following a sexual assault. Love Lies Bleeding is Rose Glass’s gripping and gory follow-up to St Maud. It finds a lesbian couple drawn into a web of violence in 1980’s small-town New Mexico.
Riley is a powerful revelation of Dakota Riley’s secret gay life which threatens to destroy him and his star-playing football career. Slow tells the story of Dovydas and Elena, who form a strong connection, but when Dovydas reveals he is asexual, everything changes.
The Summer With Carmen is a seductive and smart gay comedy on a cruisy Greek island. In Tops, it’s the hilarious Trans 1990’s breakfast tv show you didn’t know you wanted.
We Are Perfect takes us to an open audition for a rare Trans masculine role, which attracts 300 candidates. It uncovers raw talent and revolutionary spirit. In the Shorts section of the festival I found Connect/Disconnect. The first few seconds of an encounter can surprise and unsettle.
Cosmic Dreams: Through The Looking Glass has techno-sexual deviants, pixelated dolphins and sensuous goddesses, who all reside in the queer multiverse. Pleasure Me is is a set of short films exploring queer sex and desire. There’s beauty, frustration, joy and heartbreak.
Check out the full programme at bfi.org.uk and if you subscribe to BFI Player you can get an online selection of the festival too.
You must be logged in to post a comment.