BFI Flare’s 2020 programme focuses on politics,… | Little White Lies

Festivals

BFI Flare’s 2020 pro­gramme focus­es on pol­i­tics, resis­tance and rebellion

19 Feb 2020

Words by Romelly Eavis

Two people, a man and a woman, sitting together on a sofa in a room with bookshelves in the background.
Two people, a man and a woman, sitting together on a sofa in a room with bookshelves in the background.
The UK’s pre­mier LGB­TIQ+ film fes­ti­val returns with over 50 fea­tures, 85 shorts and a wide range of spe­cial events.

On a gloomy Tues­day evening, invit­ed guests were met with colour and warmth at the pro­gramme launch for this year’s BFI Flare: Lon­don LGB­TIQ+ Film Festival.

Now in its 34th year, and the biggest fes­ti­val of its kind, BFI Flare sets a glob­al prece­dent when it comes to show­cas­ing LGB­TIQ+ tal­ent. Split across three strands – Hearts, Bod­ies and Minds – with addi­tion­al Spe­cial Pre­sen­ta­tions, the fes­ti­val promis­es a ​“strong polit­i­cal spir­it” and empha­sis that places ​“activism, resis­tance and rebel­lion” at its core.

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Open­ing the fes­ti­val is Matthew Fifer’s debut fea­ture Cica­da, a pro­found­ly mov­ing char­ac­ter study in which a new rela­tion­ship opens up old wounds. Sam Feder’s Dis­clo­sure: Trans Lives on Screen pays direct heed to the festival’s resound­ing spir­it of activism, deal­ing direct­ly with dam­ag­ing stereo­types through­out the course of film and tele­vi­sion history.

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing black top, seated in studio with lighting equipment.

Par­tic­u­lar­ly allur­ing is the Hearts pro­gramme – a selec­tion of films that place love, romance and friend­ship at their cen­tre. Amongst the line­up is quirky com­e­dy, Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt), a promis­ing first fea­ture from Mon­i­ca Zanet­ti that sees the tit­u­lar Ellie gar­ner unin­vit­ed dat­ing advice from her very own fairy god­moth­er, or rather, her very own dead les­bian aunt, Tara.

Jus­tine looks to be a poignant sto­ry of love and inner tur­moil, whilst Moffie, Oliv­er Her­manus’ bar­bar­ic but beau­ti­ful fourth fea­ture fol­lows Nicholas, draft­ed for com­pul­so­ry mil­i­tary ser­vice in 1980s apartheid South Africa. The bru­tal­i­ty of the train­ing is unspar­ing, but Nicholas soon devel­ops a rela­tion­ship with anoth­er recruit that brings him com­fort and relief; a rela­tion­ship that must be kept com­plete­ly secret.

If you’re look­ing to break up your film view­ing, Drag Queen Sto­ry Time, based on Michelle Tea and RADAR Pro­duc­tions’ Drag Queen Sto­ry Hour, is a fam­i­ly-friend­ly space that aims to engage with ​‘dif­fer­ence’ in an opti­mistic way, cham­pi­oning pos­i­tiv­i­ty through the medi­um of storytelling.

The 34th BFI Flare runs 18 – 29 March at BFI South­bank. Tick­ets go on sale 27 Feb via bfi​.org​.uk/​flare

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