BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival

39TH Edition

BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival

when:March 13th - 24th, 2024
address:BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival
BFI Southbank - Festival Office
Belvedere Road
South Bank
London SE1 8XT - UK
tel:+44(0)20 7815 1305
email:BFIFlareSubmissions@bfi.org.uk
website:www.bfi.org.uk/flare/
deadline:December 15th, 2023
entry form:Online Submission

BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival offers a vibrant and precious space for debate, compassion, community and empowerment. In a world where many people fear and loathe difference, audiences and filmmakers at BFI Flare defiantly assert that love is a human right. We celebrate sexual and gender diversity – all this, while watching great films from around the globe.
This year’s BFI Flare cover art from creative agency Studio Moross goes to the heart of that celebration of diversity within the LGBTQ+ community. We wanted it to stimulate dialogue, but also be clean and stylish; to be sexy and promote body-positivity – asserting people’s right to love their bodies and be loved, whether or not they conform to gender norms. And we wanted it to celebrate queer culture now and into the future. We’re so excited to share the results.
In addition to the great films and events at BFI Southbank, keep your eyes peeled for BFI Flare Live, an exciting series of interactive live events to be streamed on the BFI’s Facebook channel during the Fest and throughout the year.
Every year we endeavour to curate a Festival that speaks to anyone and everyone who occupies a space under the LGBTQ+ umbrella.
As we embark on our tireless search for the best in contemporary queer cinema, we are constantly surprised and encouraged by the work we discover. This is a fruitful time for queer representation on screen, something which will become clear as you browse the Festival, encountering stories with the potential to inspire joy and sadness, courage and action.
Still, as we seek out work for the Festival, we inevitably find that while some groups are served in abundance, others remain, shall we say, cinematically undernourished. One of the many exciting aspects of this year’s BFI Flare is seeing some of those under-represented communities find their voices on the big screen.
Intersex identities are explored in documentaries such as No Box for Me. An Intersex Story and A Normal Girl, as well as the ground-breaking short Ponyboi, the first intersex narrative film made by an intersex artist. The seldom discussed subject of asexuality is addressed in the charming short Infinite While It Lasts, hopefully a sign of more asexual stories to come. Meanwhile, films like JT LeRoy, Two in the Bush: A Love Story and Splinters (to name a few) place bisexuality very much at their centre. For too long bisexuals have been given the celluloid cold-shoulder, but this year it looks like the tables might be turning. And if you ask us, that’s just brilliant. With a capital B.

2023
2019
2018
2017
2016
2013
2008
  • Paillettes by Cinzia Pedrizzetti: Obsessions

  • Saturn in Opposition by Ferzan Ozpetek: Recasting Gender: Reflections on Transgender Representation

  • Shelter Me by Marco Simon Puccioni: Recasting Gender: Reflections on Transgender Representation

2005