Queerguru’s TOP PICKS OF MUST SEE FILMS @ BFI Flare LGBTQA+ Film Festival in London. PART 2

London’s BFI Flare is one of the early queer film Festivals that kick off the new year, following on from Queer Screen in Sydney and The Berlinale. Now in its 39th year, it is still one of the oldest ones across the globe (we wonder like so many gay men, if it will publicly acknowledge its 40th birthday next year?

This year more than most, it’s an exciting and extremely well-curated program that celebrates the whole spectrum of the LGBTQA+ community, which is even more important now in this extremely hostile political climate, which is such a threat to our very survival.

Our Queerguru Team of reviewers, who can be a tough bunch of critics, believe that this year’s Flare has so many excellent films that deserve to find their audiences that we have, for the very first time, split our MUST SEE TOP PICS into two parts. Here’s the second one.

A Few Feet Away is directed by Tadeo Pestana Caro and takes a close look at modern dating culture. The ease of using online apps, their addictive nature, their potential to create an unreal world for the user, the risk of loneliness, the chance of meeting very odd people, the line between fantasy and reality, and the danger of ignoring real-world opportunities at the expense of potential online rewards are issues many hook-up app users will be familiar with. Although set in Buenos Aires the themes of the film apply to any city in the world.

Departures : Toxic relationships seem to be on the rise, whether romantic, friendship, or employer relationships, or maybe we are just better at identifying toxicity these days. Departures, a fantastic new UK indie comedy-drama based in Manchester, takes a deep, brutal dive into the causes and effects of a toxic queer romantic relationship between charity worker Benji (Lloyd Eyre-Morgan) and personal trainer to footballers, Jake (David Tag – Hollyoaks). Based on true stories experienced by the directors, Departures is a sparky British production that’s likely to become a classic.

Fatherhood : A straight story about a queer family. : Kristopher, David and Sindre live in a multi-partner relationship, expecting their first child. Kristopher was born a woman and today identifies as a homosexual man. As the birth father he will be the first in Norway. The pregnancy is a small miracle, after enduring forced sterilisation at 18 in order to legally change gender. This beautifully sensitive doc charts their journey from pregnancy to the beginnings of a new family life.

Memorabilia : Avant garde filmmaker Todd Verow‘s new movie is a lifetime of sexual encounters is celebrated in this art-porn odyssey, inspired by the late Charles Lum’s cruising diaries. He is sharing a great piece of queer history that so needs to be seen.

Peaches Goes Bananas is a portrait of the transgressive Canadian electro-clash rocker, feminist and queer icon, Merrill Nisker. Her most famous song Fuck the Pain Away was used in Sofia Coppola’s 2003 movie Lost in Translation as well as being featured on the soundtracks of several well known films and TV shows.

The film eas made over 17 years by Belgian director Marie Losier. Recorded with a Bolex camera on 16mm film and with sound added later, the film feels like a superior home movie. Its non-linear structure appears to have been formed, not from a storyboard, but from the creative editing of existing footage.

Some Nights I Feel Like Walking, a queer indie road movie by Filipino director Petersen Vargas, which has its UK premiere at London’s BFI Flare Film Festival. Vargas has taken themes of queer chosen family, the Duterte crimes, police/authority oppression, the ending of life, rich versus poor and marginalised living and fashioned an intense, fast-paced film that gives an interesting insight into Filipino life. Shot entirely at night, the cast (chosen from hundreds of applicants) have a strong bond and chemistry. There’s a rawness to the film, with many shots filmed on handheld cameras and involving the public, that gives it an authenticity. The scenes of intimacy also feel real, ranging from the emotionless, transactional ‘no kissing’ escort hook ups, to the tenderness of real love.

Andrew Ahn’s latest film ‘The Wedding Banquet’ is inspired by Ang Lee’s Oscar-nominated film of the same name from 1992…. The one thing that both movies share is the fact they were both co-written by James Shamus.

This is an intergenerational feel-good queer rom-com that Ahn has been come the master off: expect some superb performances especially from Joan Chen as a mother, and Korean Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung as the grandmother ….. iut dont expect too much sugar and spice as Ahn always likes to add a wee sharp edge to stories.. We predict this will be as a big a smash hit as Ahn’s Fire Island was.

Produced and directed by the multi-award-winning Onir, We are Faheem and Karun is the first Kashmiri queer film.

Karun (Akash Unnimenon), a handsome young security officer from Kerala, is stationed in a remote village in Kashmir. One day he meets Faheem (Tawseef Mir), a charming, equally attractive, student returning from college to visit his family, who stops his motorbike at Karun’s checkpoint. The two men fleetingly lock their beautiful eyes, before parting company. A mutual romantic interest has, however, been sparked. This gradually blossoms as Karun occasionally bumps into Faheem when picking up food from his father’s catering business and the two men follow each other on TikTok.

There is no queer visibility in rural Kashmir. The culture is poor, very religious, brutal and macho, with few dreams realised, so the outlook for their romance is bleak. Things are not helped by Faheem’s homophobic brother Zaid (Mir Salman) who has anger management issues. Other issues include the fact that Faheem is Muslim and Karun is Hindu, and that there are outbreaks of violence nearby in the disputed territories between India and Pakistan, with Faheem and Karun’s associates on opposing sides of the feud.

BFI Southbank – 19 to 30 March 2025.

https://whatson.bfi.org.

London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival

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