BFI Flare Expanded offers fresh perspectives on queer and trans stories

New to the BFI Flare LGBTQIA+ Film Festival is a series of interactive and immersive experiences called BFI Flare Expanded.

The free exhibition available at BFI Southbank from Thursday (16 March) to Sunday (19 March) offers visitors the chance to explore queer narratives from an entirely new perspective.

This was the goal of curator, Ulrich Schrauth, Immersive Programme Lead for the BFI. It’s not the first time BFI has worked in this area. In fact, BFI will be having immersive thematic exhibitions all year round.

The team has already done work around Mental Health Awareness Week, COP26, and female and non-binary creators. Flare, Ulrich told Attitude on Wednesday (16 March) was the logical next step.

“I wanted to showcase a breadth of work, both in terms of format, but also into the topics that the creators look into.” True to that there’s a retro 90s style game you can play in the boldly titled He F***ed the Girl Out of Me. Then there’s the LGBTQ+ VR Museum and Chroma 11. The interactive experience of We Are Here Because of Those That Are Not. A special presentation, Treasure is the Journey rounds out BFI Flare Expanded.

“Every one of them is very different. And that’s why I wanted to have these. But I think it shines a spotlight on how vibrant the community is in the field of emerging technologies, using the new tech to raise their voices in these very important questions around acceptance, about identity, and our communities.”

Ulrich’s mission is new perspectives for visitors. This is the key strength of BFI Flare Expanded.

“Especially with virtual reality,” Ulrich told Attitude. “It is very interesting to be put into the shoes of someone else. So you literally change perspectives, and telling queer stories I think is about changing perspective.

“You want to give someone else an insight into your world, into what’s happening inside of you. And I think this is very, very important for the acceptance of the queer community to raise those voices and to showcase these works.

“I think it’s it’s a different approach, but it adds to the experience here at the festival.”

Antonia Forster and Thomas Terkildsen’s LGBTQ+ VR Museum offers people the chance to step into the world’s first virtual reality museum. Items including a teddy bear, a knife, and a glowing lamp in the shape of a hand are accompanied by personal stories from their contributors explaining the item’s significance.

Guests can teleport themselves around as they explore the items on display. It’s an interesting and entertaining way of preserving personal queer stories that you would be unlikely to hear anywhere else.

Chroma 11 is another immersive experience that sees a couple and dance duo – Ix Wong Thien-pau (Malaysia) and Aaron Khek Ah Hock (Singapore) reunited via VR. Sadly, Aaron passed away during the filming of a documentary (Ward 11) about the pair.

Chroma 11 imagines the two reuniting and dancing as well as featuring clips of the pair.

We Are Here Because of Those That Are Not gives visitors the chance to explore an interactive archive of Black trans existence. Conceived by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley the thought-provoking work seeks to correct the erasure of Black trans people. Visitors can use the three buttons to change the tone and perspective of the experience as out-of-this-world voices communicate and narrate.

The fourth part of BFI Flare Expanded is He F***ed the Girl Out of Me. This 8-bit retro video game can be played on a 90s desktop computer or a GameBoy. Both are seriously vintage.

The experience tells the real-life story of Ann, a trans woman forced into sex work to fund her transition. “If it meant transitioning, I’d do anything.” the game reads at one point.

Throughout most of the game ‘Ann’ appears as an amorphous shape, perhaps a manifestation of their shifting identity. Described as “provocative and hugely affecting,” it most certainly is. It does come with a trigger warning (as do other previously mentioned features)

The game is truly shocking and unnerving. Guests might feel uncomfortable, (Attitude did when we tried it out) but that is the point. It’s easy to want to put the game down and walk away, but it’s a lived experience and while difficult at times, important to hear.

The very last part of BFI Flare Expanded is Treasure is a Journey. This special presentation comes from the London-based artist collective Pride of Arabia. It includes an interactive timeline that visitors can actually add to. This means it may be very different from one day to the next.

A 10-minute video also accompanies the timeline. It explores how people came to find their own identity and then seek out their community.

BFI Flare Expanded is running between 2pm and 9pm every day from Thursday 16 March to Sunday 19 March.

All of the exhibits in BFI Flare Expanded last between 10 and 30 minutes. All are free to try.