BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival announces full line-up

The BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival has unveiled its 31^st edition’s full programme.

Last week the BFI a nnounced that it would be showcasing the world premiere of Fergus O’Brien’s BBC Production Against the Law at BFI Southbank.

The Festival will close with the International Premiere of Jennifer Reeder’s Signature Move. The LGBT film festival of the year will showcase over 50 feature films, more than 100 shorts and a range of other events guest appearances and workshops.

Speaking about what is in store this year, Tricia Tuttle the BFI Deputy Head of Festivals said: “What a programme we have to offer this year – it’s vibrant, politically engaged, playful, stirring – and with a number of World, International and European Premieres on offer, BFI Flare is absolutely the place to see the best new LGBT cinema first.”

The Festival is divided into three sections: hearts, bodies and minds.

‘Hearts’ has many hit films about love, romance and friendship. Handsome Devil, directed by John Butler and starring Andrew Scott, is a witty Irish charmer which charts the unlikely friendship between an isolated gay teen and his hunky rugby playing roommate.

Maura Anderson’s elegant and assured debut Heartland is a powerful examination of love and loss and tells the tale of Lauren, who is forced to return to live in rural Oklahoma following the death of her girlfriend. Dear Dad (dir. Tanuj Bhramar) is an India-set bittersweet father and son road movie. André Techine’s powerful and affecting Being 17 is the story two young boys in their last year of high school, co-written by Celine Sciamma (Tomboy, Girlhood).

‘Bodies’ has films around the themes of sex, identity and transformation. There will be a wide selection of films like the Interbank LGBT Forum Special Screening of Nathan Adloff’s gay teen movie Miles. Park Chan Wook’s ravishing The Handmaiden, inspired by Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith, sees a woman hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, secretly involved in a plot to defraud her.

Marcelo Caetano’s Body Electric follows a handsome young man enjoying casual encounters in contemporary Brazil. Timothy Greenfield Sanders returns to BFI Flare with The Trans List, in which some of the world’s most prominent transpeople, including Caitlin Jenner and Laverne Cox, tell their stories.

‘Minds’ will have films reflecting on art, politics and community. Morgan White chronicles the world’s most recognisable pair of shoes with The Slippers, a documentary about Dorothy’s iconic ruby footwear in The Wizard of Oz, which features appearances from the late Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.

Waiting for B (dir. Paulo Cesar Toldeo) is a kitschy, light-hearted and thoroughly camp portrayal of pop culture, mega fandom and the adoration of Beyoncé. Last Man Standing (dir. Erin Brethauer) is a beautifully made documentary charting the life of eight long-term survivors who live with AIDS. Led by Laverne Cox, Jaqueline Gares’ Free Cece documents the case of Cece McDonald, a transwoman imprisoned in a male facility.

As well as all the films, there will be talks on the porn industry, queer aesthetic, the internet, notions of gender and sex. There is also a big gay quiz that will put your knowledge of the LGBT film industry to the test.

For further details about the full programme see bfi.org.uk/flare

Tickets go on sale via bfi.org.uk/flare to the general public on Monday 27th February.

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