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Shadows FestShadows @ Flare

London's LGBTQIA+ Film Festival
Held annually by the British Film Institute at BFI Southbank in London

flare site 39th BFI Flare
London LGBTQIA+
Film Festival

at BFI Southbank
19-30 MARCH 2025

Opening Film:
THE WEDDING BANQUET
Closing Film: NIGHT STAGE
Special Presentation:
DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES

REPORTS FROM THE FESTIVAL:
flare
ON THE BLOG

2 0 2 5   F I L M S
AFTER THE SNOWMELT (Shan)
ASSEMBLY (Newsome/Symons)
* THE ASTRONAUT LOVERS (Berger, Arg)
* BLACK FRUIT (Gibba)
A BODY TO LIVE IN (Madsen)
CHERUB (Shears)
* DEPARTURES (Eyre-Morgan/Ely, UK)
* DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES (Ford)
DRIP LIKE COFFEE (Cisco)
* DRIVE BACK HOME (Clowater)
ENIGMA (Drucker)
* FATHERHOOD (Hanssen/Benestad)
* A FEW FEET AWAY (Caro, Arg)
FOR THE GIRLS
FOUR MOTHERS (Thornton, Ire)
HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY (Feder)
* HIGH TIDE (Calvani)
* HOT MILK (Lenkiewicz)
* HOW TO LIVE (Muthoni, Ken)
I SAW THE TV GLOW (Schoenbrun, US)
I'M YOUR VENUS IF I DIE, IT’LL BE OF JOY (Taillant)
LAKEVIEW (Thorne)
LUCKY, APARTMENT (Garam)
MANOK (Lee)
* MEA CULPA (Tass)
* MEMORABILIA (Verow/Lum)
A MOTHER APART (Townshend)
A NIGHT LIKE THIS (Calvert)
THE MULEETER (Fregoso)

* NIGHT STAGE (Matzembacher/Reolon)
ONDA NOVA
OUTERLANDS (Oxman)
PEACHES GOES BANANAS (Losier)
THE PLEASURE IS MINE
* PONYBOI (Arango)
POWER ALLEY (Halla)
QUEENS OF DRAMA (Langlois)
QUEER (Guadanigno, It)
* REALLY HAPPY SOMEDAY (Stevens)
RENT FREE
* SAD JOKES (Joseph)
SALLY (Craig)
* SANDBAG DAM
* SOME NIGHTS I FEEL LIKE WALKING (Vargas)
SPORTY SPICE
SUMMER'S CAMERA (Sung)
THE SILENCE OF MY HANDS
TO OUR FRIENDS
TRANS MEMORIA (Verseau)
TRUTH OR DARE
VIET AND NAM (Truong, Vie)
WE ARE FAHEEM & KARUN (Onir, Ind)
WHERE YOU FIND ME (Andrick/Bermudez/etc)
THE WEDDING BANQUET (Ahn, US)
WILL & HARPER (Greenbaum, US)
* WINTER KEPT US WARM (Secter)
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ALLEE WILLIS (Spraic)

flare site 38th BFI Flare
London LGBTQIA+
Film Festival



at BFI Southbank
13-24 MARCH 2024


Opening Film: LAYLA
Closing Film: LADY LIKE
Special Presentations:
CLOSE TO YOU
CROSSING
2 0 2 4   F I L M S
Rich's best of the fest 2024:
  1. CROSSING
  2. ORLANDO, MY POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY
  3. THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN
  4. UNSPOKEN
  5. UNICORNS
  6. LOVE LIES BLEEDING
  7. TOLL
  8. CALLS FROM MOSCOW
  9. RILEY
  10. DESIRE LINES

20,000 SPECIES OF BEES (Urresola, Sp)
ALIGNED (Bakopoulos, Gr)
ALL OF US STRANGERS (Haigh, UK)
BACKSPOT (Waterson, Can)
BALDIGA: UNLOCKED HEART (Stein, Ger)
BOTTOMS (Seligman, US)
CALLS FROM MOSCOW (Yero, Cub)
CHASING CHASING AMY (Rodgers, US)
CLOSE TO YOU (Savage, Can)
CODE OF FEAR
COMMITMENT TO LIFE (Schwarz, US)
CROSSING (Akin, Geo)
DAYS OF HAPPINESS
DEPARTING SENIORS
DESIRE LINES (Rosskam, US)
DON'T EVER STOP (Pollitt, UK)
HEAVY SNOW
HIDDEN MASTER: THE LEGACY OF GEORGE PLATT LYNES (Shahid, US)
I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE
INDIAS 1ST BEST TRANS MODEL AGENCY
ISLA'S WAY
JOIN THE CLUB
LADY LIKE (Willis, US)
LAYLA (Al-Kadhi, UK)
LESVIA

LIFE IS NOT A COMPETITION, BUT I'M WINNING
LIL NAS X: LONG LIVE MONTERO (Estrada/Manuel, US)
LOVE LIES BLEEDING (Glass, US)
MERCHANT IVORY (Soucy, US)
ORLANDO, MY POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY (Preciado, Fr)
OUR SON (Oliver, US)
PINE CONE (Onir, Ind)
THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS (Mirza, Can)
REAS
RILEY (Howard, US)
RUSTIN (Wolfe, US)
SEX IS COMEDY
SILVER HAZE (Polak, UK)
SINCE THE LAST TIME WE MET (Correa, Arg)
SLOW
SOLIDS BY THE SEASHORE
SPLIT
STORIES OF OUR LIVES
STUDIO ONE FOREVER (Saltarelli, US)
SUMMER SOLSTICE (Schamus, US)
THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN (Mavroeidis, Gr)
TOLL (Markowicz, Br)
TOPS
UNICORNS (Hosaini/Floyd, UK)
UNSPOKEN (Borison, US)
WE ARE PERFECT
WE FORGOT TO BREAK UP (Knox, Can)
WE WERE DANGEROUS
WHAT A FEELING (Rohrer, Aut)
WHAT'S SAFE, WHAT'S GROSS, WHAT'S SELFISH AND WHAT'S STUPID
WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN
WOMAN OF...
YOU PROMISED ME THE SEA

See also:
FLARE 2024 SHORTS
FIVE FILMS FOR FREEDOM 2024


flare site 37th
BFI Flare

London LGBTQIA+
Film Festival



at BFI Southbank
15-26 MARCH 2023

Opening Film: THE STROLL
Closing Film: DRIFTER
Centrepiece Film: WHO I AM NOT
2 0 2 3   F I L M S
Rich's best of the fest 2023:
  1. THE BLUE CAFTAN
  2. UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS
  3. BIG BOYS
  4. CHRISSY JUDY
  5. WHO I AM NOT
  6. DRIFTER
  7. 1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED CULTURE
  8. GOLDEN DELICIOUS
  9. LIE WITH ME
  10. EGGHEAD & TWINKIE

100 WAYS TO CROSS THE BORDER (Bemak, US)
1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED CULTURE (Roggio, US)
AFEMINADAS (Gondim, Br)
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED (Poitras, US)
AMERICAN PARENT (Railsback, US)
LE BEAU MEC (Potts, Fr)
BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND (Anderson, Can)
BIG BOYS (Sherman, US)
BLUE JEAN (Oakley, UK)
BODIES BODIES BODIES (Reijin, US)
THE BLUE CAFTAN (Touzani, Mor)
BREAD AND SALT (Kocur, Pol)
THE CHAMBERMAID (Solcanska, Svk)
CHRISSY JUDY (Flaherty, US)
CLARA (Suarez, Col)
DRIFTER (Hirsch, Ger)
THE DREAM SONGS (Cho, Kor)
EGGHEAD & TWINKIE (Holland, US)
THE EMPRESS OF VANCOUVER (Rodden-Shortt, Can)
THE FABULOUS ONES (Torre, It)
FIERCE: A PORN REVOLUTION (Muroni, Swi)
THE FIVE DEVILS (Mysius, Fr)
GOLDEN DELICIOUS (Karman, Can)


HORSEPLAY (Berger, Arg)
HOW TO TELL A SECRET (Rodgers/Dunne, Ire)
THE INSPECTION (Bratton, US)
IT'S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL (Bombach, US)
JESS PLUS NONE (Fabian, US)
JEWELLE: A JUST VISION (Lim, US)
KENYATTA: DO NOT WAIT YOUR TURN (Harris, US)
KOKOMO CITY (Smith, US)
LIE WITH ME (Peyon, Fr)
LIFE UNREHEARSED (Banpark, Kor)
LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING (Cortes, US)
LOTUS SPORTS CLUB (Hem/Colognese, Ned)
LOVING HIGHSMITH (Vitija, Swi)
MAYBE SOMEDAY (Ehlen, US)
MEL (Sahakyan/Cohen, Arm)
MONICA (Pallaoro, US)
MY NAME IS ANDREA (Parmar, US)
NARCISSISM: THE AUTO-EROTIC IMAGES (Karat, Ger)
PEAFOWL (Byun, Kor)
A PLACE OF OUR OWN (Ektara, Ind)
POLARIZED (Sarif, Can)
PREJUDICE & PRIDE: SWEDISH FILM QUEER (Beling, Swe)
RULE 34 (Murat, Br)
SILENT LOVE (Kozakiewicz, Pol)
SOMETHING YOU SAID LAST NIGHT (De Filippis, Can)
STRIP JACK NAKED: NIGHTHAWKS II (Peck, UK)
THE STROLL (Lovell/Drucker, US)
SWALLOWED (Smith, US)
THREE NIGHTS A WEEK (Gouelou, Fr)
UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS (Zuleta, US)
WHO I AM NOT (Skovran, SA)
WILLEM & FRIEDA (Hay, UK)
WINTER BOY (Honore, Fr)
WOLF AND DOG (Varejao, Por)
XX+XY (Lee, Kor)

See also:
FIVE FILMS FOR FREEDOM 2023


flare site 36th
BFI Flare

London LGBTQIA+
Film Festival



at BFI Southbank
16-27 MARCH 2022

Opening Film: GIRL PICTURE
Closing Film: TRAMPS!
2 0 2 2   F I L M S
Rich's best of the 2022 fest...
  1. PRIVATE DESERT
  2. A DISTANT PLACE
  3. MONEYBOYS
  4. THE PERFECT DAVID
  5. WILDHOOD
  6. BRUNO REIDAL: CONFESSION OF A MURDERER
  7. GIRL PICTURE
  8. SUBLIME
  9. MANSCAPING
  10. THE DIVIDE

BEING BEBE (Branham, US)
BENEDICTION (Davies, UK)
BESTIES (Ravel, Fr)
BOULEVARD! A HOLLYWOOD STORY (Schwarz, US)
BOY CULTURE: THE SERIES (Brocka, US)
BRUNO REIDAL: CONFESSION OF A MURDERER (Le Port. Fr)
CAMILA COMES OUT TONIGHT (Barrionuevo)
CHARLI XCX: ALONE TOGETHER (Bradley/Pablo, US)
COP SECRET (Halldorsson, Ice)
DAKAN (Camara, Gui)
DAWN, HER DAD & THE TRACTOR (Thompson)
DEATH AND BOWLING (Kash)
A DISTANT PLACE (Park, Kor)
THE DIVIDE (Corsini, Fr)
THE END OF WONDERLAND (Turcotte-Fraser)
ESTHER NEWTON MADE ME GAY (Carlomusto, US)
EVERYTHING AT ONCE: KINK (Fuguet)
FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK (Hart, Can)
THE FIRST FALLEN (de Oliveira)
FLEE (Rasmussen, Den)
FRAGRANCE OF THE FIRST FLOWER (Teng)
FRAMING AGNES (Joynt, Can)
GATEWAYS GRIND (Lawrence, UK)
GIRL PICTURE (Haapasalo, Fin)
GREAT FREEDOM (Meise, Aut)
I AM THE TIGRESS (Fussenegger/Osmanovic)
I WANT TO TALK ABOUT DURAS (Simon, Fr)
IN FROM THE SIDE (Carter, UK)
INVISIBLE: GAY WOMEN IN SOUTHERN MUSIC (Parsell, US)
IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY (Linares, DR)
JIMMY IN SAIGON (McDowell, US)
THE LAW OF LOVE (Chalupova)
LONG LIVE MY HAPPY HEAD (McCowan/Hewitt)
MADAME SATA (Ainouz, 02/Br)
MANSCAPING (Fox, US)
MONEYBOYS (Yi, Tai)
NICO (Gehring)
NORTH BY CURRENT (Minax)
THE NOVICE (Hadaway, US)
THE OUTLAWS (Dahlsbakken)
PARALLEL MOTHERS (Almodovar, Sp)
PASSION (Borg)
THE PERFECT DAVID (Aparicio, Arg)
PRIVATE DESERT (Muritiba, Br)
SEDIMENTS (Silvestre)
SIRENS (Baghdadi, Leb)
THE SOUND OF SCARS (Brooks, US)
SUBLIME (Biasin, Arg)
THE SWIMMER (Kalderon, Isr)
THIS IS NOT ME (Gholipour, Irn)
TRAMPS! (Hegge, Can)
ULTRAVIOLETTE AND THE BLOOD-SPITTERS GANG (Hunzinger, Fr)
WALK WITH ME (del Rosal)
WET SAND (Naveriani)
WILDHOOD (Hannam, Can)
THE WORLD TO COME (Fastvold, US)

See also:
FLARE 2022 SHORTS
FIVE FILMS FOR FREEDOM 2022



* review coming soon

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