Hearts, bodies and minds at Flare
Photo: The Wedding Banquet
39th BFI FLARE: LONDON LGBTQIA+ FILM FESTIVAL, 19 – 30 March at BFI Southbank
This year’s BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival takes place at BFI Southbank with screenings, special events and DJ nights.
It is divided into three strands: HEARTS, BODIES and MINDS and this year presents 34 world premieres, 56 features and 81 shorts from 41 countries. Tickets go on general sale from 27 February via bfi.org.uk/flare.
The festival opens with the premiere of THE WEDDING BANQUET, Andrew Ahn’s joyful comedy of errors. With a pitch-perfect cast of multigenerational talent that includes Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Joan Chen, and Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-Jung, this fresh reimagining of Ang Lee’s beloved rom-com teems with humour and heart is a poignant reminder that being part of a family means learning to both accept and forgive.
BFI Flare Programmers said: “Flare is a place for community, thought and discussion through film and this year we have an abundance of cinematic riches and events to spark endless conversation. We can’t wait to welcome talents from the UK and across the globe to share these incredible stories with audiences this March.”
Other premieres include Divine Sung’s dreamy and beautifully shot coming-of-age drama SUMMER’S CAMERA, following a teenage girl experiencing her first crush and uncovering revelations about her recently deceased father. Kenyan filmmaker Njoroge Muthoni explores Nairobi’s vibrant ballroom scene and celebrates queer African joy. The pull of hook-up apps becomes a double-edged sword for a young man looking for connection in captivating Buenos Aires-set comedy-drama A FEW FEET AWAY by Tadeo Pestaña Caro. In Yu-jin Lee's moving comedy MANOK the owner of a South Korean lesbian bar must return to her small hometown after clashing with the city’s younger queer community.
DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES follows three Black queer femmes in their mid 30s as they take a road trip across the Midwestern United States in search of a friend who has seemingly disappeared off the grid.
In an intimate documentary, A MOTHER APART, Jamaican poet Staceyann Chin begins a journey to find the mother who abandoned her whilst solo-parenting her own nine-year-old daughter. BLACK FRUIT is a hilarious, heartbreaking web series created by and starring Lamin Leroy Gibba about two queer Afro-German friends who are forced to confront tensions at the heart of their friendship after the death of a parent. From artist Rashaad Newsome and filmmaker and professor Jonny Symons comes ASSEMBLY, an immersive, multimedia documentary that pays tribute to vogueing and Black queer culture. A gorgeous depiction of Black queer women’s love, DRIP LIKE COFFEE sees two New York baristas embark on a sensual love affair.
Other highlights include HOT MILK - an atmospheric adaptation of Deborah Levy’s novel, starring Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps. PONYBOI is a gripping, queer twist on the crime thriller.
The programme includes a range of global perspectives including a number of East Asian titles. Trương Minh Quý’s VIET AND NAM is the hypnotic tale of two star-crossed Vietnamese miners. The stable life of a lesbian couple is rocked when a mysterious odour emerges from the flat below in a compelling portrayal of Korean residential politics, LUCKY, APARTMENT. Exploring grief, life and legacy, documentary filmmaker Yi Shan’s AFTER THE SNOWMELT follows her investigation into her best friend’s death, taking her on a journey into Nepal’s misty mountains.
MEA CULPA is among the documentaries. It traces the personal journey of director Patrick Tass’ complex family history across Lebanon and Belgium, leading him to discover the intersections between sexuality and nationality.
Queer music and performance arts scene includes A BODY TO LIVE IN, in which Angelo Madsen traces the life and work of legendary photographer, performer and "Gender Flex" cultural icon, Fakir Musafar.
THE MULEETER focuses on a daring young woman in 1930s Mexico who flees into the Jalisco mountains on the hunt for her biological father after her adoptive family discover her true sexuality.
BFI Flare will also screen four of the best queer films from the past 12 months. Daniel Craig gives a career-best performance in acclaimed filmmaker Luca Guadanigno’s QUEER. In 1950s Mexico, expat writer Lee falls for the young and elusive Allerton and is an evocative depiction of loneliness and infatuation. Having garnered multiple awards and nominations on the 2024 festival circuit including the Panorama Audience Award and Teddy Award at Berlin International Film Festival, Jane Schoenbrun’s mesmerising sophomore feature I SAW THE TV GLOW follows a lonely teenager who gets drawn into a surreal obsession with a late-night TV show. POWER ALLEY, Lillah Halla’s arresting debut feature which received multiple nominations at the Cannes Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI Prize in Parallel Sections, follows the star player of a gender fluid volleyball team who finds herself in a difficult position when she discovers she’s pregnant before a life-changing championship match. The BAFTA nominated WILL & HARPER sees Will Ferrell and SNL writer Harper Steele hit the road in this hilarious and moving tribute to the importance of allyship.
This year’s BFI Shorts programme is split across over a dozen thematic selections and features with themes including Queer Africa: New Visions, Sporty Spice! and Let Trans Kids Bloom. Further breakdown below.
This year’s Festival marks the 11th year of #FiveFilmsForFreedom in partnership with the British Council. This landmark international initiative presents five films from the BFI Flare shorts programme, available for free online to audiences globally for the duration of the festival and invites everyone everywhere to show solidarity with LGBTQIA+ communities in countries where freedom and equal rights are limited. The 2024 LGBTQIA+ digital campaign attracted over three million views from around the world with a quarter of views coming from parts of the world where freedom and equal rights are limited.
Since its launch in 2015, Five Films for Freedom films has been viewed by 26 million people, in over 202 countries and principalities, including significant numbers in the 11 countries where LGBTQIA+ lives are punishable by the death penalty.
EVENTS
BFI Flare also features events, talks and debates, which include:
FOR US, BY US: A HISTORY OF BLACK QUEER WOMEN’S CINEMA
Exploring the rich (but sadly often invisible) history of Black queer women’s cinema, the talk will include insights into filmmakers including Cheryl Dunye, Wanuri Kahiu and Dee Rees, as well as unearthing hidden gems from previous editions of BFI Flare and spotlighting the brilliant films by Black queer women screening in this year’s festival.
DESI QUEERS
Authors Churnjeet Mahn, Rohit K. Dasgupta and DJ Ritu discuss their landmark book on South Asian queer communities in Britain.
QUEER LIVES IN THE ARCHIVES
Representatives from LGBTQIA+ archives discuss the importance of preserving our histories.
OUT OF THE CLOSETS AND INTO THE STREETS: LGBTQ+ ACTIVISM IN THE 80S
An exhibition celebrating the incredible solidarity, organisation and resistance of the LGBTQ+ community in the 80s drawing from materials held in the LGBTQ+ Archives at Bishopsgate Institute which will be complimented by a curated collection of archive highlights from the world’s greatest film and TV archive in the Mediatheque, BFI Southbank’s free digital viewing space.