Everything to know about BFI Flare, as queer film festival returns to London
BFI Flare, the UK’s largest queer film festival returns this 15-26 March, where hundreds of new LGBTQ films will be screened, both feature films and shorts, alongside a programme of events. The BFI Player will also host a selection of films that are free to watch from home, but all in-person , including post-film Q+A sessions with directors and cast, will take place at the BFI on the South Bank.
Films are divided into three categories for 2023: Hearts, Bodies and Minds. Minds will focus on art, politics and community, Bodies on sex, identity and transformation and Hearts are films about love, romance and friendship. There will be 28 world premieres, 58 feature films and 90 shorts shown from 41 different countries. The festival will open with the International premiere of Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker’s The Stroll, a documentary about black and brown trans sex workers in New York, which won the Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury: Clarity of Vision Award.
The closing film is Hannes Hirsch’s Drifter, a coming-of-age tale about a young man in Berlin that had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. The festival’s Five Films for Freedom initiative returns this year, spotlighting movies from creators living in, or hailing from, countries where freedom and equal rights are limited. This year films focus on Guyana, South Korea, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Cyprus and the USA. The films can be found on the British Council’s YouTube channel.
BFI Expanded also launches this year, for the first time offering a curation of immersive digital cultural experiences exploring virtual reality storytelling.
A series of social events, including DJ nights, take place throughout the festival at the BFI on the South Bank.
For the full BFI Flare festival programming and to book tickets, click here