On February 18th, the BFI will be announcing the full program of the 40th Edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival It is not only one of Queerguru’s ‘Hometown Fests’ (alongside Provincetown and Miami’s OUTshine)  it is unquestionably one of our favorites too.  As it’s one of the first queer festivals in the year’s calendar, it’s fortunate to be able to  premiere a lot of the newest releases.  Like the Opening Night Gala, which is the World Premiere of Jennifer Kroot’s glorious feature-length documentary Hunky Jesus. 

It tells the story of the wildly popular, annual Easter Sunday tradition in San Francisco known as Hunky Jesus. Hosted by the legendary drag and activist group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the event is a defiant expression of community, performance, and radical joy in the face of exclusion and repression. (Queerguru was there in the crowd last year check HERE ) Hosted by SPI icon Sister Roma and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Honey Mahogany, Hunky Jesus showcases a series of burlesque and drag performances as well as themed contests that are a mix of satire, celebration, and social commentary, promoting LGBTQ+ visibility, inclusivity, and religious parody. (Queerguru sat down to film an interview with Sister Roma when she was making her own London debut back in 2023. …check HERE) 

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have been a San Francisco institution for more than four decades, leaving an indelible mark on the community through their presence and performance activism. By promoting tolerance and advocating for the marginalised, they challenge societal norms with their distinctive style: donning non-traditional nun’s habits and painting their faces with elaborate, mask-like makeup. Through their unique flair and individuality, they subvert expectations and push the boundaries of gender and sexuality.

Kroot, a San Francisco native, has made documentaries that consistently profile underground filmmakers and LGBTQ+ cultural figures, revealing a pattern of subject selection rooted in countercultural legacies. Notable examples include It Came From Kuchar (2009), which examines the twin brothers George and Mike Kuchar, prolific creators of over 200 no-budget 8mm and 16mm films since their pre-teen years in the 1960s, positioning them as foundational influences on underground and queer cinema. Similarly, To Be Takei (2014) traces actor George Takei’s evolution from Star Trek roles to LGBTQ+ activism, while The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin (2017) chronicles the author’s development of the Tales of the City series, a landmark depiction of San Francisco’s queer subculture starting in 1978.

Meanwhile, the upstart Queer Britain Museum that is about to reopen after closing for  2 month refit on its new building that was just opened 4 years ago (!) will be mounting a small exhibition to celebrate BFI Flare’s 40th Anniversary.  The display is of forty images of the festival from its earliest incarnation as ‘Gay’s Own Pictures’, the years it was described as the ‘Lesbian & Gay Film Festival’, through to the poster for this year’s Flare.  The forty images represent each year of the event, and are displayed on one large wall in the first gallery at Queer Britain. 

]