BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival kicks off this Wednesday (17 March), with 12 days of the best new queer cinema coming direct to your living room in a digital extravaganza of exclusive screenings and events.
The UK’s biggest LGBTIQ+ film festival may be going digital again this year due to ongoing coronavirus restrictions, but that does mean you’ll be able to watch feature film screenings and LGBTQ short films wherever you are in the UK (five shorts thatform the ‘Five Films For Freedom’ serieswill also available to stream internationally, too).
Tickets for feature film screening are available now(you can see the full line-up of films on offer here), and this year you can also watch 38 LGBTQ-themed short films absolutely free viaBFI Player. All you need to do is subscribe now with a two-week free trial.
This year’s short film selection is split into seven thematic sections, offering compelling stories for you to fall in love with whatever your sexuality or gender identity. Happy watching!
Check out all 38 short films available free online at this year’sBFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival:
Beginnings and Endings
From an unexpectedly eventful train journey, to the end of the world, this stunning collection of shorts explores the trials and triumphs of being your true self.
Buck (Dirs. Elegance Bratton, Jovan James)
In an attempt to deal with his depression, Lynn goes out into the night looking for a good time.
Cosmopolitan (Dir. Moran Nakar)
Jacob faces racial prejudice when he attempts to enter a gay nightclub.
Escaping the Fragile Planet (Dir. Thanasis Tsimpinis)
In the final few hours before the world ends, two men meet and form a connection.
Listening In (Dir. Omer Sterenberg)
A young soldier in an intelligence unit questions himself while spying on a Palestinian gay couple.
The Night Train (Dir. Jerry Carlsson)
On an overnight train journey home, a young man locks eyes with a fellow passenger.
Pool Boy (Dir. Luke Willis)
River Gallo stars as a non-binary pool cleaner who attracts the attention of a former high school athlete.
For the Record
Traversing a wide range of subjects, this inspiring selection of short form documentaries is guaranteed to provoke and inspire in equal measures.
Above the Troubled Water (Dir. Joe Cohen)
Three Nigerian men are scattered across the globe after escaping hom*ophobic violence.
All I Need Is a Ball (Dir. Elena Molina)
Freestyle champion Palermo and her grassroots campaign to create a female league of freestylers in her native Spain.
Being Sascha (Dir. Manuel Gübeli)
In this discerning mini-doc, Sascha beautifully articulates and illuminates life as a trans non-binary person in the small city of Basel.
Son of Sodom(Dir. Theo Montoya)
Selected for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, this portrait of a beautiful, young, rebel queer explores his life in the bohemian circles of Medellin.
Tracing Utopia (Dirs. Catarina de Sousa, Nick Tyson)
Young queers connect in a sci-fi dream world to build a war machine of love and a virtual manifesto for the future.
Heart’s Desires
History, geography and personal circ*mstances may change but challenges facing the heart are timeless and universal.
The Act (Dir. Thomas Hescott)
One young man faces up to the joys and perils of living a gay life amidst the sexual repressiveness of pre-1967 London.
Baby Lies Truthfully (Dir. Joseph Ingham)
A love letter to the late David Robilliard – a collage of his poems and archive visuals, with a voice- over by Russell Tovey.
Eden (Dir. Sven Spur)
A sexually-driven man cruises the parks, saunas and streets of an unnamed city at night, seeking to satisfy his relentless lust.
Isaac and the Ram (Dir. Jason Bradbury)
A tense encounter between a young man in distress and his reluctant saviour.
Land of the Free (Dir. Dawid Ullgren)
A group of gay men enjoy a late-night birthday party in the park, but an encounter with two straight couples creates a situation.
Of Hearts and Castles (Dir. Rubén Navarro)
When two lonely men meet they discover something revealing about each other and themselves.
Into the Unknown
The blurred lines of love and friendship between women are explored in these poignant and beautiful short films.
The Cost of Living (Dir. Alice Trueman)
Lily is stuck in a state of ennui, until Death comes along in the form of a beautiful woman and entices her to live.
From A to Q (Dir. Emmalie El Fadli)
Figuring out you have feelings for your best friend is half the battle.
Girls Shouldn’t Walk Alone at Night (Dir. Katerine Martineau)
Stranded at a remote beach, friends Delphine and Chantal lay their feelings bare to each other.
Hello, Goodbye (Dir. Sarah Rotella)
Sometimes love just isn’t enough to hold two people together.
Love Is a Hand Grenade (Dir. Jessica Benhamou)
Mixing drink, drugs and a friendship on eggshells was always going to be an explosive mix in this bittersweet British mini drama.
Wings (Dir. Jamie Weston)
Virginia McKenna and Miriam Margoles star as former Land Army Girls who reconnect in their twilight years.
Queer as in Question Everything
Here’s a collection of funny, sweet and strange shorts for the natural contrarian.
Acrimonious (Dir. Olivia Emden)
Hilarious, heart-breaking and relatable all at once – how to bounce back when a breakup crashes you back down to earth?
Bodies of Desire (Dir. Asawari Jagushte)
In a conservative society, this is a passionate love poem to genderless intimacy.
Pure (Dir. Natalie Harris)
Whoever you are, whatever your desires, you too shall go to the prom!
We Two (Dir. Grace Porter)
A smart, meditative take on the gulf that emerges between ex-lovers.
Shapes We Make, Spaces We Take
Our relationship to our bodies and our homes have become more complex than ever. These five shorts up the ante, exploring where, how and with whom we feel at home.
Is It Me? (Dir. Christopher McGill)
Body dysmorphia takes centre stage in this highly visual examination of the selves we invent to navigate the world.
Space / Walk (Dirs. Tarik Elmoutawakil, Amina Yousif, Carmen D’Cruz)
Two queer people talk intergenerational experience down on England’s south coast.
Subjekträume / Subject Spaces (Dir. Katharina Voß)
The fall of the Berlin Wall changes the political landscape for this cool dyke space.
This Is an Address (Dir. Sasha Wortzel)
Familiar footage of Sylvia Rivera by New York’s harbour, remixed as commentary on gentrification.
Transitions II: Movement in Isolation (Dir. Tobi Adebajo)
Aesthetically bold, visually rich – a beautiful non-linear encounter with the physical and social dimensions of chronic pain.
Striving to Be Seen
Inquisitive tales of resilience, memory and enlightenment in this largely fictional selection, traversing an expanse of trans experience across Europe and the Americas.
Dustin (Dir. Naïla Guiguet)
A wild drug-fuelled ride and the long morning after follows the highs and lows of a Parisian party queen.
Kind Of (Dir. Noah Schamus)
Cute gay trans-masculine couple have a little lovers’ tiff over polyamory and penis envy, featuring rising star Garcia (Tales of the City).
The Lights Are On, No One’s Home (Dir. Faye Ruiz)
Familial grief gives sunshine to this beautiful film about finding your home on shifting sands.
Trans Happiness Is Real (Dir. Quinton Baker)
Young activists in Oxford wage a trans-positive graffiti war after discovering TERF stickers dotted around the city.
Unliveable (Dirs. Matheus Farias, Enock Carvalho)
Those close to a missing trans woman join forces to search for her, until a strange canister points towards an extra-terrestrial mystery.
Victoria (Dir. Daniel Toledo)
A florist receives a surprise visit from her ex-wife, uneasy at the next round of coming out.
Subscribe to BFI Player with a free trial to watch all this year’s BFI Flare short films absolutely free from 17-28 March.
Tickets for online feature film screenings at BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival are available now.
