The first films have been announced for the upcoming 37th edition of the hotly-anticipated festival
BY DIVA STAFF, IMAGE SOURCE: BFI FLARE
This year the highly anticipated BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival returns to BFI Southbank from 15-26 March for its 37th edition. Created in 1986, the festival is the UK’s longest-running queer film event and the first wave of films has recently been announced and the lineup is already looking spectacular. Here’s a taste of what you have to look forward to…
The Stroll
Directed by Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker
The 37th edition of the queerest film event of the year will be opening with a screening of The Stroll on 15 March. This deeply personal film tells the history of New York City’s Meatpacking District from the point of view of the trans sex workers of colour who lived and worked there. Co-director Kristen Lovell, who worked on “The Stroll”, offers an intimate narration as the film shows her reuniting with her sisters to recount the violence, policing, homelessness and gentrification they overcame to build a movement for transgender rights.
Zackary Drucker, has said: “In the words of one of our legendary film subjects Ceyenne Doroshow, “I’m a Black, trans, international WHORE baby” — The Stroll is going international! We are thrilled and honored to premiere The Stroll to UK audiences at the beloved BFI Flare festival.”
Who I Am Not
Directed by Tünde Skovrán
Tünde Skovrán’s documentary will receive its UK premiere at BFI Flare’s Centrepiece Presentation Screening on 21 March. The film is an intimate portrait of the lives of two intersex South Africans and the challenges they face navigating binary sex and gender systems. The documentary focuses on beauty queen Sharon-Rose Khumalo and intersex rights Dimakatso Sebidi and explores the various challenges they face.
Tünde Skovrán said: “We are thrilled to have our UK premiere at BFI Flare! What better home for a film that breaks the intersex taboo? Through a personal and intimate exploration of truth, faith, and belonging, Who I Am Not takes a close look at the struggle of living in a male-female world, when you are born in-between, and gives a voice to the long ignored and mostly silent two percent of the world’s population: the intersex community”
Drifter
Directed by Hannes Hirsch
Closing the festival on 25 March is the UK premiere of Hannes Hirsch’s debut film Drifter. This is a coming-of-age story with a difference, audiences follow 22-year-old Moritz, who is excited to be moving to Berlin with his boyfriend. However, when the relationship quickly falls apart, he begins an odyssey of new relationships in a city that is full of possibilities. Mortiz discovers the joys of sexual abandon and with each new encounter he understands more of himself and how to fulfil people’s desires.
Hannes Hirsch has said: “I’m thrilled and proud that my debut film Drifter will be shown as the closing film at BFI Flare. The film is my personal love-letter to Berlin’s queer scene, but it was also only possible with the broad support from the community. After its world premiere at Berlinale, I am honoured to present Drifter at the prestigious BFI Flare to the community.”
Michael Blyth, BFI Flare’s Senior Programmer said: “Taking us from New York’s Meatpacking District in Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker’s vital record of trans history The Stroll, to present day Berlin with Hannes Hirsch’s scintillating queer odyssey Drifter, via South Africa for Who I Am Not, an intimate documentary portrait of two intersex people navigating the binary system, the Opening, Closing and Centrepiece presentations at this year’s BFI Flare offer a fascinating cross section of queer identities, each radically different in both style and content. But more than just three distinct entities, together these remarkable, urgent films explore what it takes to find your voice, to claim your space, and to choose your family.”
The full programme for BFI Flare 2023 will be revealed on Wednesday 15 February. Tickets will go on sale on 22 February for BFI members and 24 February for general public via bfi.org.uk/flare.
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