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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 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

REPORTS FROM THE FESTIVAL:
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ON THE BLOG

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


flare site 35th
BFI Flare

London LGBTIQ+
Film Festival



Held virtually
17-28 MARCH 2021


NOTE: With a reduced programme of films and events, BFI Flare was held online for the second year due to the pandemic.

2 0 2 1   F I L M S
Rich's best of the 2021 fest...

F E A T U R E S
  1. POPPY FIELD
  2. SWEETHEART
  3. JUMP, DARLING
  4. I AM SAMUEL
  5. RURANGI
  6. SUBLET
  7. BOY MEETS BOY
  8. THE DOSE
  9. VALENTINA
  10. FIREBIRD
S H O R T S
  1. LAND OF THE FREE
  2. BEING SASCHA
  3. ESCAPING THE FRAGILE PLANET
  4. VICTORIA
  5. COSMOPOLITAN
  6. POOL BOY
  7. THE NIGHT TRAIN
  8. BABY LIES TRUTHFULLY
  9. SON OF SODOM
  10. EDEN
BOY MEETS BOY (Lopez, Ger)
COLORS OF TOBI (Bakony, Hun)
COWBOYS (Kerrigan, US)
CURED (Singer/Sammon, US)
THE DOSE (Kraut, Arg)
DRAMARAMA (Wysocki, US)
ENFANT TERRIBLE (Roehler, Ger)
FIREBIRD (Rebane, Est)
THE GREENHOUSE (Wilson-White, Aus)
I AM SAMUEL (Murimi, Ken)
KISS ME BEFORE IT BLOWS UP (Peleg, Isr)
JUMP, DARLING (Connell, Can)
NO ORDINARY MAN (Chin-Yee/Joynt, Can)
THE OBITUARY OF TUNDE JOHNSON (LeRoi, US)
POPPY FIELD (Jebeleanu, Rom)
P.S. BURN THIS LETTER PLEASE (Seligman/Tiexiera/Olsen, US)
REBEL DYKES (Shanahan/Williams, UK)
RURANGI (Currie, NZ)
SUBLET (Fox, Isr)
SWEETHEART (Morrison, UK)
TOVE (Bergroth, Fin)
VALENTINA (dos Santos, Br)

See also:
FLARE 2021 SHORTS
FIVE FILMS FOR FREEDOM 2021


flare site 34th
BFI Flare

London LGBTIQ+
Film Festival



Held virtually
18-29 MARCH 2020


Rich's best of the 2020 fest...
  1. AND THEN WE DANCED
  2. THE LAWYER
  3. THE PRINCE
  4. FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO
  5. MATTHIAS & MAXIME
  6. SEQUIN IN A BLUE ROOM
  7. CICADA
  8. YOU DON'T NOMI
  9. SPIRAL
  10. SUMMERLAND
2 0 2 0   F I L M S
NOTE: BFI Flare was cancelled due to Covid, aside from an abbreviated virtual festival. This is a complete list of the scheduled films.


AND THEN WE DANCED (Akin, Geo)
ASK ANY BUDDY (Purchell, US)
BOOKSMART (Wilde, US)
CICADA (Fifer/Mulcare, US)
CLEMENTINE (Gallagher, US)
DISCLOSURE (Feder, US)
A DOG BARKING AT THE MOON (Zi, Chn)
DON'T LOOK DOWN (Ducastel/Martineau, Fr)
DRAG KIDS (Wennberg, Can)
ELLIE AND ABBIE (AND ELLIE'S DEAD AUNT) (Zanetti, Aus)
FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO (Karslake, US)
JACK & YAYA (Bagley/Hewey, US)
JUSTINE (Patterson, UK)
KEYBOARD FANTASIES (Dixon, UK)
THE LAWYER (Zabarauskas, Lit)
LINGUA FRANCA (Sandoval, US)
MAKE UP (Oakley, UK)
MATTHIAS & MAXIME (Dolan, Can)


MIDNIGHT KISS (Smith, US)
MOFFIE (Hermanus, SA)
MONSOON (Khaou, UK)
NO HARD FEELINGS (Shariat, Ger)
PAIN AND GLORY (Almodovar, Sp)
PIER KIDS (Bratton, US)
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (Sciamma, Fr)
THE PRINCE (Munoz, Chl)
RESCUE THE FIRE (Viefhues, Ger)
SEQUIN IN A BLUE ROOM (Van Grinsven, Aus)
SPIRAL (Harder, Can)
STEELERS (Ashton-Atkinson, UK)
SUMMERLAND (Swale, UK)
TWO OF US (Meneghetti, Fr)
YOU DON'T NOMI (McHale, US)
YOUNG HUNTER (Berger, Arg)

See also:
FLARE 2020 SHORTS
FIVE FILMS FOR FREEDOM 2020

* review coming soon


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© 2023 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
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