It’s time again for queerguru to call Virgin Atlantic again and book our flights back across the Pond for one of our very favorite LGBT Film Festivals. The 31st Edition of London’s BFI Flare which runs from 16th – 26th March 2017, has just released its jam-packed schedule which we have combed through in great detail to give you our own Top Picks of Films You Won’t Want To Miss (in alphabetical order)
After Louie: This powerful drama is about how two men of different generation and on different sides of the AIDS epidemic come together in an unlikely but beautiful love story. Starring Alan Cumming in a career-best performance, the movie is the directing debut of Vincent Gagliostro, who also co-wrote the script with Alan Johnston. The legendary LGBT activist and author Larry Kramer was adamant that this movie should be made. He was so very right.
Being 17 : Veteran French filmmaker André Téchiné may be the wrong side of 70 now but he shows in his latest movie that he still has a very firm grasp of the sensibilities of teenage boys coming of age. This is the story of two strikingly different high-school boys living in the French Pyrenees. Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein) is a pale effete boy who sports a diamond stud earring and excels at his academic work and cooking and self-defense. Tom (Corentin Fila) is a a biracial boy living with his adopted parents in a remote mountain farm that entails a 90 minute journey by foot and bus to get to school every day. He is determined to train to be a veterinarian when he graduates, but his school grades are so poor that he may have to abort that ambition. It seems that the only thing that these two total opposites have in common, is that they are both unpopular with their classmates and are always the very last two to be picked to play basketball.
Being 17 is nothing less than a superb coming-of-age story that is completely riveting to the very last frame, and will probably be come to be recognized as possibly Téchinés best movie to date.
Handsome Devil : one of the best LGBT movies that premiered at Sundance this year winning excellent reviews for the young stars Fionn O’Shea and Nicholas Galitzine as the two Boarding school pupils who are forced to share a bedroom together and then totally unexpectedly bond in this captivating Irish coming-out story.
Last Men Standing : It seems very apt that this highly emotional documentary that tells the poignant stories of 8 gay men who are long-time AIDS survivors is the work of The South Francisco Chronicle as it is Northern California’s largest newspaper and as such was always reporting more than most from the front line of the pandemic. Since 1981 when the first death was recorded in the city, some 20000 people in the City, mostly gay men, have died from AIDS. The film, the first one that the paper has ever produced, is part of a larger special report featuring interactive digital and print features by Chronicle reporter Erin Allday.
The documentary written, produced and directed by Erin Brethauer and Tim Hussin does its best to end on a positive note at a Dance that has been mounted for the long-time AIDS survivor community (there are some 6000 in SF) and for one brief moment they forget their worries and just go with the music. It gives them, and us, some hope.
Miles: Like any good aspiring filmmaker Nathan Adloff uses his own life story as the inspiration for his movies. His debut feature, the utterly delightful gay ‘Harold & Maude’ type story called Nate & Margaret, was based on his friendship with an older straight woman. This time around he focuses on his childhood when money in his family was in short supply, which meant that he and his mother had to make some odd life choices.
As does Miles (Tim Boardman) the teenage protagonist in Adloff’s new feature after his father drops down dead from a heart attack and his family are shocked to discover that they were now totally broke. Miles had always been desperate to escape his small midwest hometown to go and study in Chicago, but with no funds or any feasible means of support, that was now out of the question.
This is a very cute dramedy about one gay boy’s unusual fight for his equality which served up all lame excuses that people give to cover what is still essentially homophobia. It strengthened this quiet mild boy’s resolve into not accepting anything less than what he was entitled too, no matter all the pressure the authorities and other adults tried to pile on him.
Out Of Iraq: Grab at least two boxes of Kleenex to watch this new documentary of a heartbreaking love story between an Iraqi soldier and an Iraqi military translator that always looks like it could end badly at any moment with either of the men being killed simply for being gay. The newsreels are full each day of so called ‘honor killings’ in the Middle East where family and neighborhoods take the law into their own hands and subject any LGBT person they can catch to a brutal barbaric killings. Somehow though it takes on even greater significance when you realize that this is the very same fate that could befall these very charming young men whose own tale is unfolding on the screen.
When it is all finally resolved you will have totally run out of tissues, but the saddest part of all, is that this is just one LGBT couple that survived a harrowing ordeal with both their lives and each other, whilst their countrymen must hide their sexuality to avoid being yet another victim of murderous culture.
Political Animals : This new wonderfully uplifting documentary from filmmakers Jonah Markowitz and Tracy Wares is the remarkable story of the first four openly gay members of the Californian Legislature whose fierce determination to get some basic LGBT rights were crucial milestones in the continuing journey to full equality. The four were all women Sheila Kuehl who was first one to be elected to the Assembly in 1994, followed by Carole Migden, and then later by Christine Kehoe and Jackie Goldberg.
As a piece of history the movie is essential viewing, and is probably one of the best LGBT documentaries of the year. Carole Midgen downplayed their major contribution with her own modest summary ……..I just wanted to make a footprint of earth to help generations to come. She, and the others, certainly did that and so much more.
Pushing Dead : This is filmmaker Tom E. Brown‘s first feature length film so it was a brave decision to make what he labels as the first ever AIDS comedy, but as he succeeds so admirably, it was a good call after all. He cleverly focuses on all the varying dimensions of his protagonist Dan’s different relationships which, like many gay men, consist of a birth family and also his family of choice that he has collected over the years. Brown imbues each scene with a strong vein of ridiculously funny black (ish) humor that really succeeds in finding the comedy in Dan’s haphazard life without continually focusing on why he needs to keep taking all these now elusive medication.
Southwest of Salem : The Story of the San Antonio Four : This is one of those hard-to-believe it’s true stories that never really grabbed the attention of the media so when you come to it ignorance and it unfolds on the screen and you hear the horrifying incredulous details, you cannot fail to be stunned into a combination of shock and anger. The latter particularly if you identify as LGBT as this outrageous case of mis-justice is deeply rooted in intransigent homophobia.
In 1994 four young Latina lesbians in San Antonia who were vey good friends …..two of them are involved in a relationship together ….. were accused of raping two young girls who were actually nieces of one of the accused. The case took two years to come to trial, and all the girls maintaining their innocence, refused the offer of plea bargaining. Consequently when they where found guilty, the judge handed down impossibly lengthy jail terms. Three of the young woman were sentenced for 15 years each, but the 4th was punished with 37.5 years! In his and the jury’s eyes they had three things going against them : they were low-income, Latina and gay women.
The Trans List: For his new documentary “The Trans List” filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, along with writer and transgender rights activist Janet Mock, has assembled a diverse group of fascinating trans men and women to talk about how their own journeys have resulted in such joy and peace of mind. In her introduction before the interviews Janet Mock noted ‘These stories of triumph do not outweigh those of tragedy facing many trans Americans who struggle with limited access to shelter, healthcare, education, and employment.’
P.S. Check out the new section BFI Flare have added this year called Winks & Nudges which includes some glorious cult classics which celebrates the phenomena of ‘Camp’
For a full list of the BFI Flare Festival Program and Tickets check out http://www.bfi.org.uk/flare BUT act fast as many of the Screenings sell out completely.
Labels: 2017, BFI Flare, culture, film festival, Top Ten List
