BFI Flare
BFI Flare Review: Kiss Me Before It Blows Up
Families can be complex, confusing, confounding and confrontational, but more often than not blood is thicker than water. All families have a tangled web of inter-relationships, shared histories and those topics avoided at all costs. However, when you’ve finally found that special someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, your nearest …
BFI Flare Review: Cured
Today, being gay in a progressive society generally means being a second-class citizen in one way or another. Seen, accepted but usually not afforded the same legal protections as someone in a heterosexual relationship. In less open and tolerant countries it remains a criminal office, often punishable by death. However, there was a time, even …
BFI Flare Review: Rebel Dykes
There once was a time when youthful rebellion and protest were a mainstay of British life. Indeed, activism and campaigning were often regular pastimes during the 1970s and early 1980s. Especially around the time when Margaret Thatcher came to power and society was becoming increasingly conservative. AIDS was on the rise and a number of …
BFI Flare Review: No Ordinary Man
Born in Oklahoma City, Billy Tipton was a talented pianist and jazz musician who both played with the greats and became a renowned bandleader. He was also a dedicated family man, living with his wife and three adopted sons. However, when he died suddenly in his 70s, his family and friends were in for one …
BFI Flare: Sweetheart
Being a teenager is never easy. Stuck somewhere between childhood and adulthood, with your body undergoing a number of unseen and seen changes. It can all be extremely confusing. Especially, with peer pressure, parental expectations and the almost constant cultural assault on adolescents. When you’re different, or at least feel different, it can become isolating. …
BFI Flare Review: Firebird
Until relatively recently, being openly gay in the military was a criminal offence, and that was in the more progressive nations. Even then, there’s often a reluctance to ‘come out’ for fear of bullying, harassment and discrimination. In less tolerant and usually only vaguely democratic countries, it’s still illegal. However, in ‘ancient’ Sparta or Medieval …
BFI Flare Review: The Greenhouse
The loss of a loved one can be paralysing. The death of someone who has played a huge part in your daily life can leave a gap which can never be filled. Whilst most people find a way to move on, step by step, it’s just too painful for others. They retreat within themselves. Often …
BFI Flare Review: Mama Gloria
Whilst Western societies have come a long way when it comes to equal rights for all, that doesn’t mean that everyone is being afforded the same treatment. Or that there’s not been a backslide over the past few years with the rise of popularism. Whilst there are still massive issues surrounding race relations, gender inequality …
BFI Flare Review: Dramarama
It’s not so long ago that being a nerd largely meant a childhood of bullying and constant abuse. To be different at school was almost asking to become a target. The worst part is the feeling that you’re all alone. Today, that situation, to a large extent, has been turned on its head. Nerdism has …
BFI Flare 2021 Preview
The 35th edition of BFI Flare, London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, will take place online between 17 and 28 March. One of the oldest and most prestigious queer film festivals in the world, this year there’s another impressive line-up with some of the best new LGBTIQ+ cinema from around the globe. This year, the line-up is …