BFI Flare LGBT Film Fest goes global

Five short films from London’s BFI Flare LGBT Film Festival will be available to audiences around the world next week for the first time through BFI player, the British Film Institute’s online video service.

BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival runs from 19–29 March 2015 at BFI Southbank, and on Wednesday 25 March, ‘fiveFilms4freedom’ will become a 24-hour campaign asking people everywhere to watch a film together over the course of one single day.

Launched on Thursday by the British Council and the BFI, the five films – which are also available to view outside of the 24-hour window, from 19 – 29 March – represent a cross section of contemporary LGBT short film, ranging from sweet short stories about first love to films documenting activism:

· An Afternoon (En Eftermiddag, pictured above): Director Søren Green’s sensitive exploration of nascent sexuality. Mathias and Frederik are two friends who spend an afternoon together; Mathias has decided that this is the time to tell Frederik that he is in love with him.

· Chance: Jake Graf’s self-funded short film premieres at BFI Flare. It focuses on older gay love and overcoming loneliness as a chance encounter between Trevor and a mysterious stranger equally troubled by his own past, forces both men to start to live again.

· Code Academy: Canadian writer and director Nisha Ganatra is best known as Producer/Director of Transparent, the Golden Globe-winning TV series. In Code Academy, Frankie masquerades as a boy in futuristic cyberspace to get the girl of her dreams.

· Morning Is Broken (pictured above): Director and writer Simon Anderson’s 2014 film is a beautifully shot coming-of-age drama set in the lush English countryside, following a young man’s struggle to come to terms with his sexuality at the end of his older brother’s wedding.

· True Wheel: Director Nora Mandray’s 2015 documentary focuses on Fender Bender, an inspirational bicycle workshop for queer, transgender and women’s communities in Detroit.

“Queer filmmakers have delivered some of cinema’s most striking, vital, challenging, provocative and beautiful films, and BFI Flare has been key in bringing these to UK audiences over the last 29 years. We’re thrilled this partnership will open up the festival to audiences around the world, giving millions of people the opportunity to enjoy great new LGBT films,” said Tricia Tuttle, Deputy Director of Festivals at the British Film Institute.