BFI FLARE LONDON’S LGBTQ+ FILM FESTIVAL is about to have its 40th Edition of what is the oldest and biggest Festival of its kind in Europe It has a wonderfully eclectic mix of films spread over 10 days that covers the entire LGBTQ spectrum with its truly inclusive program.
Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Andrew Hebden will be on the ground there on London’s Southbank to review as many new films as possible and meeting the filmmakers. But from the ones we have already managed to view here are our Top Ten Picks of films that you really shouldn’t miss …
A NIGHT AT SWITCH AND PLAY: About to have its EuropeanPremiere at BFI Flare the delightful A Night at Switch n’ Play is probably the queerest film we have seen in long time. We so hope Londoners are ready for it.
This feature documentary film debut from director CODY STICKELS is an exuberant close up look at an extraordinary queer performance collective who take over a small neighborhood bar in Brooklyn to shock the eager audience into ecstatic applause. The acts consists of experimental burlesque queens, innovative drag queens, some shockingly performance artistes, and others that simply defy description.
We deserve the sheer audacity of their performances and to revel in their highly infectious humor and good spirits. They are a true queer family, and is a real joy to have been invited into their home for even a short while.
Don’t Look Down: Gift wrapped in sex, perversity and symbolism, the film tells a simple truth: It’s hard to let go of a grudge because it’s easier to have someone else to blame when love does not go as wished.
The film ticks out a countdown like a highly structured piece of conceptual theater. OLIVIER DUCASTEL and JACQUES MARTINEAU (‘Theo & Hugo”) have created a work that could thrive equally well on stage given its tight, claustrophobic, dialogue driven drama. Set high in the sky in an apartment in Paris, looking down on the city of love, it is a successful psychological seduction that provokes thought on the desire, expectations and obsessions people bring to relationships.
The movie relies on a dinner party setting and has all the ingredients for a titillating one. It can be enjoyed simply for the sexual overtones and the murderous undercurrent. However, like being given a wedding present of a toaster that is gift wrapped in the pages of a porn magazine, there is a lesson of real domestic utility underneath the sexy exterior. Never forget how tempting it is to blame someone else when you don’t get what you want.
JACK AND YAYA : This is a very personal story brought to the screen by a small, woman-run production company based in Boston, MA. In fact the city is is where their story starts . Jack lives there now with his cute dog Plinko and it is where he works as a kindergarten teacher. He actually grew up in a small working class town in South Jersey and when his was three years old, his life changed dramatically when a new family moved into the house next door. Yaya was just a year younger and she and Jack embarked on a friendship that is still going strong some 30 years later.
What really bonded them however was they simple fact that they could see each other how they truly were. Jack (christened Jacquline) and Yaya aka Christine (christened Christopher) knew then that they would both eventually transition, even though the rest of the world was totally unaware of how they felt
Decades later Jack and Yaya are now both in different stages of their transitioning : Jack is about to undergo a hysterectomy, and Yaya is struggling to get her new name legally registered. Both of them are very fortunate that even if their extended families may have been slow to get onboard in the beginning, they are all very supportive of the two of them now.
LINGUA FRANCA: NY based Filipino trans filmmaker ISOBEL SANDOVAL’s heart-wrenching third feature film is sadly one of those tales of the moment that seem like they can never end well.
Its the story of trans woman Olivia (played by Sandoval) who is an undocumented Filipino caregiver who looks after Olga an elderly Russian Jewish women (LYNN COHEN) in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The irony of the situation is that Olga and her late husband had landed In the US themselves some decades ago in very similar circumstances as Olivias
This is not the story of Sandoval’s own life, but she is however in a position to relate to it personally and so adds a real sense of authenticity to it. It’s a very downbeat drama that seems to deliberately avoid giving even a hint of optimism and hope, yet somehow Sandoval draws us in and keeps us invested until the very end.
MOFFIE : The fact that ‘moffie’ is the South African equivalent of ‘faggot’ sets the tone for one of the most harrowing coming-of-age films we have ever seen. It is set in South Africa in 1981 in the midst of apartheid where the white minority still dominate and persecute the ‘colored’ population. They however are not the enemy in this war drama, as the country is obsessed with fighting neighboring Angola with its Soviet backed troops. If there is one thing that the South Africans hate as much as ‘colored’ people it is Communists. It goes without saying that ‘moffies’ are on that list too.
PIER KIDS: ELEGANCE BRATTON’S compelling documentary on the homeless LGBTQ kids of color that center their lives around the piers in NY’s Greenwich village has been years in the making. He started filming in 2011 and shot footage up until 2016 by when some of the kids had grown up, and a few had sadly died, but most of the scene had essentially remained unchanged.
Bratton’s own story accounts for the movie’s authenticity for as an African/American gay teenager he had been kicked out of his home when he ‘came out’ and had lived on the streets for the next few years. However he starts his film pointing out the sobering facts that he, and the pier kids, are hardly alone. Of the 2 Million homeless youth, over 50% of them identify as LGBTQ, and then 40% of that total are people of color.
This powerful documentary merely observes so any thoughts or opinions we gather are based on the kids own actions and words. This is essentially an historical record of the facts. Braxton seems almost resigned to the reality that even if one day the pier kids get physical displaced, they will simply reassemble elsewhere to maintain their sense of community which is now so vital to their very being.
THE PRINCE (aka El Principe) : the directing debut of filmmaker SEBASTIÁN MUÑOZ is one of most homoerotic prison movies we have seen for some time, and it bears the influences of other queer movies of that genre. The main difference of this tale set in ALLENDE’S CHILE in the 1970s is that young Jaime ( JUAN CARLOS MALDONADO) ….. who is given the nickname The Prince …. is actually happy to be in jail.
He’s been imprisoned for murdering a man he befriended and flirted with in a bar who turned out that he prefered to sleep with a girl rather than him.
Muñoz wrote the script with LUIS BARRALES adapting a novel by MARIO CRUZ, and it is an immensely powerful and engrossing coming-of-age tale. . Whilst it hardly glorified homosexuality, it certainly normalized these relationships which made a rather grim prison life easier to bear.
STEELERS: The World’s First Gay Rugby Club : Australian television news reporter, EAMMON ASHTON-ATKINSON had originally moved to the UK to escape depression. What he found was both love with his future husband and an opportunity to indulge in his favorite passion of playing rugby. He joined the KINGS CROSS STEELERS in London, the World’s first ever all-gay rugby team and this completed his happiness.
Ashton-Atkinson had hoped to be part of the Steelers Team in 2018 that were off to take part in the BINGHAM CUP TOURNAMENT in Amsterdam but an injury made that impossible. Instead he accompanied the Team with his camera and what he filmed ended up being edited into this unplanned and completely delightful documentary.
Ashton-Atkinson is very non apologetic from the start. This film is very personal. He says that this isn’t just a story about being gay : its not even a story about playing rugby . It’s a story about struggle , acceptance, searching for happiness and finding a place to belong.
THE TWO OF US: There are so many ways to begin to describe this lovely film and each would probably turn off half of our audience instantly. Which is a shame as they might miss one of the best films at BFI Flare
So, let us get it over with. It’s about old people. It’s about old lesbians. It’s about old lesbian love. It’s about old lesbian love in French. Lost you yet? No? Wow. Good. You may be about to graduate from side eyeing bar hopping twink to a treasure hunter of beautifully well told love stories.
Two of Us, directed by FILLIPO MENEGHETT, is a rich and moving tale that will appeal to people of all ages. Despite the frailty of the body, or maybe because of it, it is deeply optimistic about the enduring nature of love and its ability to overcome the most adverse circumstances.
For full details of the entire BFI Flare program: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/flare/
For the full reviews of the movies listed check out https:// queerguru.com where you can also find reviews of over 1000 more LGBTQ films.
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