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Unlike the rest of us, the current challenge for London’s film community is to keep audiences and movies as close together as possible. Innovative thinking is going to be needed, and the BFI has got the ball rolling in fine style. This month’s recently cancelled BFI Flare Festival is back in business as a streaming-apolooza, bringing a (nice) bit of the Southbank into our homes from March 20-29 (the dates the festival was due to run). Say hello to BFI Flare at Home.
In these tough days, it’s nice to have a little uplifting news – and this is definitely that. Film lovers will be able to access LGBTIQ+ shorts and features from the festival line-up via BFI Player. Even the spirit of Flare’s raucous closing-night party will live on, with a DJ set being made available via Spotify. You just have to provide the dancefloor.
Ticket-holders can access it via BFI Player; there’s a free two-week trial period available to everyone else too.
The BFI’s director of festivals Tricia Tuttle says: ‘When the decision was made to cancel the “live” festival, the team knew that they wanted to share some elements of BFI Flare digitally to celebrate the spirit of BFI Flare and the incredible range of LGBTIQ+ stories from talented filmmakers being told in the UK and internationally. We want to bring some of the spirit of Flare into viewers’ living rooms.’
On the resurrected line-up? Jacques Martineau’s romance-and-revenge drama ‘Don’t Look Down’, Daniel Karslake’s exploration of queerness and organised religion ‘For They Know Not What They Do’, and terrific Georgian-set romance ‘And Then We Danced’, as well as past Flare faves and the BFI Flare Five Films for Freedom line-up of shorts.
Others will be announced in the days ahead, so keep checking the official site for more info. BFI Flare at Home runs until March 29 on BFI Player.
Check out our guide to the 50 best LGBTQ+ movies ever made.