If you are anywhere near the Tower on London on Sunday 25th March be sure to look up at the outer walls as to celebrate #FiveFilms4Freedom, BFI Flare London’s LGBTQ Film Festival will project clips from five films to spread the message that Love is a Human Right.
#FiveFilms4Freedom is the world’s widest-reaching LGBTQ+ online film campaign, and it returns for the fourth year running with distinctive voices from around the globe, including a transgender teenager dealing with discrimination and abuse in a Canadian school, gay farmers in the UK, a feisty teenage girl living in India exploring her burgeoning sexuality, a young Korean man who receives an unexpected visit, and a Greek goldfish called Tom Daley.
The British Council, working in partnership with BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival, will make five LGBTQ+ themed short films available for the world to watch online for free, over the twelve days of BFI Flare from 21st March to 1st April. The programme of films, which features work by emerging filmmakers from across the world, has been selected from BFI Flare.
Last year the films were viewed 1.8 million times by people in 202 countries and principalities, including parts of the world where homosexuality is criminalized, and in some cases punishable by the death penalty
The five short films selected for 2018 are:-
GODDESS (India)
Dir. Karishma Dev Dube | 13 minutes
Tara, a feisty teenager, risks both family and tradition as she pursues her attraction towards her housemaid, Devi. When they are caught together at a dinner party, Tara must suddenly define who she really is.
GOLDFISH (Greece)
Dir. Yorgos Angelopoulos | 10 minutes
Stratis’ seventh birthday turns sour when he reveals to his father that he has named his goldfish after Tom Daley.
HANDSOME & MAJESTIC (Canada)
Dir. Jeff Lee Petry and Nathan Drillot | 12 minutes
The story of Milan Halikowski, a young trans boy from the rural city of Prince George, British Columbia. In the face of discrimination from his peers and teachers at school, Milan becomes a role model and an advocate for trans people in his small community and beyond.
LANDLINE (UK)
Dir. Matt Houghton | 11 minutes
A short documentary about the only helpline in the UK for gay farmers. Through recorded telephone conversations and reconstructed visuals, the film uses the helpline as a lens through which to view the often isolated experiences of LGBTQ+ people in the British farming community.
UNINVITED (South Korea)
Dir. Seung Yeob Lee | 20 minutes
Jungho’s mother visits his new place unannounced, and Jungho’s not comfortable with her visit.
