BFI Flare: LGBTQIA Film Festival announces full programme
The 37th edition of the festival runs from 15- 26 March at BFI Southbank and on the BFI Player.
BFI Flare London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival has announced its full programme for 2023.
Returning once more to the BFI Southbank, as well as online, BFI Flare will run from 15-26 March. Booking opens to the general public on 24 February.
Divided into three themes – Hearts, Bodies, and Minds – this year’s festival will see 28 world premieres. Films will be shown from 41 countries around the world.
Selected titles will be able to UK audiences on the BFI Player. International audiences will be able to enjoy the Five Films for Freedom, a scheme now in its 8th year.
Earlier this month BFI Flare announced its opening and closing night films.
Among the films getting a world premiere at BFI Flare is John Hay’s illuminating documentary Willem & Frieda. Here, Stephen Fry investigates the inspiring and moving story of a gay man and a lesbian who led Holland’s anti-Nazi resistance.
Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn from Timothy Harris is another timely documentary following 31-year-old Pennsylvania State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta on his race to become the first openly gay person of colour with a seat in the United States Senate.
Speaking to the press ahead of today’s announcement BFI Flare’s programmers highlighted the number of films focusing on queer women in this year’s programme.
American Parent sees two new mums navigate questions of intimacy and queer parenthood during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the laugh-out-loud romantic comedy Jess Plus None follows the titular bisexual Jess as she finds a way to deal with her ex, her friends, and even herself. Jess Plus None is another world premiere.
If you’re looking for the World War One lesbian epic, The Chambermaid is for you. It explores the relationship between two women from different classes, one a wealthy daughter of an Austrian family, the other a poor woman sent to work as a maid for said family.
Trans stories are also highlighted in BFI Flare. As well as The Stroll, Kokomo City focuses on Black trans sex workers. It’s billed as a “punchy debut” from D. Smith.
Five older trans women reunite against the stunning backdrop of Italy in The Fabulous Ones. In the docu-drama, friends catch up about their lives before delving into the slightly mystical in aid of a long lost friend.
Something You Said Last Night, supported by the BFI’s main sponsor, Campari, sees director Luis De Filippis’ experience as a trans woman brought to life on screen through a refreshingly authentic family drama.
Monica tells the story of a woman (Trace Lysette) seeking to rekindle a relationship with her estranged mother (Patricia Clarkson)
Michael Blyth, BFI Flare Senior Programmer says: “For the past 37 years, BFI Flare has brought audiences the best, most innovative and most boundary pushing LGBTQIA+ stories from across the globe.
“But as our audiences constantly grow and evolve, the festival must grow and evolve with them.
“This year, in addition to our world-class showcase of contemporary queer film, we will take audiences beyond the cinema screen with BFI Flare Expanded, a free programme of queer immersive art guaranteed to offer new insights and shift perspectives.”
Also screening at BFI Flare are four of the best queer films to hit cinemas over the past 12 months. These are All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, The Inspection, Bodies Bodies Bodies, and Blue Jean.
For the first time this year, BFI will be presenting four immersive experiences for visitors. Over the first four days of the festival four immersive art and virtual reality works from boundary-pushing LGBTQIA+ artists will be on show.
These will explore themes of identity, belonging, self-expression, and vulnerability.
After debuting at Tribeca in 2022 the LGBTQ+ VR Museum will contain 3D scans of artifacts from LGBTQ people as well as their stories. This work was created by the acclaimed British creative technologist Antonia Forster and Thomas Terkildsen.
The boldly titled He F***ed The Girl Out Of Me uses 90s computer graphics to tell the deeply personal and moving story of Ann, a trans woman from America, who enters sex work to fund her transition, “with traumatising consequences,” as described by the programme.
Chroma 11 reunites two gay men, one with HIV and one with cancer while We Are Here Because Of Those That Are Not focuses on archival stories of Black trans people.
BFI Flare will also include a wide range of events, talks, and debates, including Remembering Ron Peck. This will offer the chance to learn more about the late giant of gay independent film. Peck passed away in November 2022.
A screening of Peck’s 1991 film Strip Jack Naked will also be showing during the Festival.
Other event highlights include We Have Always Been Here, which highlights queer disability representation. Bisexual Visi-Bi-Lity in Film and Television will focus on bisexual representation.
As always the Big Gay Film Quiz will run as will the ever-popular DJ nights at the BFI bar.
BFI Flare x BAFTA Mentoring programme in partnership with BFI Network once again offers six emerging LGBTQIA+ filmmakers the opportunity to strengthen their professional networks. Alumni include Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean), Dionne Edwards (Pretty Red Dress), and, Amrou Al-Kadhi (Little America)
Previous mentors have included Luca Guadagnino, Kate Herron, and Russell T Davies.
The full programme for BFI Flare is available here. Booking opens to the general public on 24 February.
BFI Flare Expanded exhibition will run at BFI Southbank (14:00-21:00 daily) between 16-19 March.