BFI Flare

BFI Flare is back this month with twelve days of the best in contemporary queer cinema from across the world. The LGBTIQ+ film festival is available to watch from home this year, with a selection of 26 feature film premieres joined by 38 free short films from 23 countries, as well as exclusive filmmaker intros and Q&As, and a selection of yet to be revealed virtual events.

This is the second year in a row the festival has been available digitally, following a late change in the wake of lockdown last March. While we’d all like to be attending events in person, Tricia Tuttle, BFI Festivals Director explains that “Flare’s spirit of community, solidarity, defiance and celebration is more precious than ever.”

“Flare’s spirit of community, solidarity, defiance and celebration is more precious than ever.”

Amongst the titles available to watch this year is Peeter Rebane’s feature debut Firebird, a lavish production which chronicles a love triangle between a junior officer, his best friend and a handsome fighter pilot in the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war. Jump, Darling stars the late, great Cloris Leachman in an offbeat drama about a drag queen who takes time out to care for his wise-cracking grandma.

Students of cinema will want to check out Oskar Roehler’s Enfant Terrible — an unforgiving portrait of complex New German Cinema icon Rainer Werner Fassbinder. While Rebel Dykes follows a tight-knit group of friends who met at Greenham Common peace camp and went on to become radical artists, performers and activists in London.

The full programme is available directly from the BFI, but check back as more events are announced.