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BFI Flare Festival 2023: One of the many things that’s refreshing about the annual BFI Flare Festival is that it challenges expectations and elevates lesser-known directors by platforming features, documentaries and shorts that play with and even defy genres. Unlike many other festivals that may have a deliberately narrow, national or regional focus Flare can pretty much show anything with a LGBTQIA+ flavour. Sometimes it’s the main theme or the pivotal plot driver, but in other films it seems almost incidental. It’s definitely a festival to check out, so let’s dig in to see what this year’s had to offer…
FEATURES
French movie Lie With Me, directed by Oliver Peyon, wasn’t just my favourite film in the entire BFI Flare Festival, but is one of my favourite cinematic experiences of the year so far. Set in beautiful, pastoral France across two time frames, this is a tale of unrequited and requited love, then a lifetime of hankering and grieving over that time past. Two teenage boys, one quiet and sensitive and the other brash and popular, fall for each other one summer. When sensitive Stephane, now a successful author, returns to his hometown decades later he finds that past confronting him, with the landscapes (and evocative soundtrack) pushing him into vivid, sensory memories he’s been suppressing, while writing about them in his novels. Played by Guillaume de Tonquedec, the older Stephane is a brittle, sometimes bitter character who resents having to rake over the past, like a bruise he’s touched. His world of literary appearances, agents and publishers feels very authentic yet suddenly seems uncomfortable as the ‘ghost’ of his lost lover haunts him still. Similarly this lingers with the viewer.
Another superb French feature, Five Devils, from Lea Mysius, is heavy on the elemental forces of Fire, Water… and the commanding Adèle Exarchopoulos as the troubled Joanne. But it’s the child actress, Sally Dramé, playing Joanne’s daughter Vicky who really stands out. Spookily gifted with the ability to make sense of everything by making scents of everything. She can even revisit the past and see what her maman was getting up to back in the day with old girlfriend Julia – who also happens to be the sister of Vicky’s papa. When Julia re-enters their lives, the sparks are reignited, everything becomes even more chaotic and Joanne questions everything about her failing marriage – everything apart from Vicky, of course. Meanwhile Vicky is bullied and picked on at school by junior racists, and starts conjuring up spells as well as smells in jars. There’s an echo of Celine Sciamma’s Water Lilies in some of the scenes, not to mention the mermaid-y Undine. This movie couldn’t be more French if it tried, and is all the better for it.
The Chambermaid, from Slovakian director Mariana Čengel Solčanská, is set in Prague as the First World War lurches into view. An engrossing feature that superficially looks like another costume drama, this pitches two characters from very different backgrounds together. Initially full of enmity and spite, spoilt little rich girl, Res has a new maid from rural Slovakia, Anke, who she persecutes, until hate turns to love. The two young women become confidantes, quietly fighting against the power structure between upstairs and downstairs, sharing secrets and intimacies, until Res is married off and soon struggling with the fate of a baby and violent, then war-wounded husband. Superstition swirls around them all, and there are also echoes of Lady Chatterley’s Lover in the time period, class difference, and love triangle plot.
A contemporary clash of class, background and religion provides the underlying tension in Canadian feature Polarized, from Shamim Sharif. Throw in raw, rural poverty and you have the perfect setting for a story that’s superficially a country song about a family farm being foreclosed by the bank. Under the surface the new agro-business run by a wealthy Palestinian family throws up an initially unlikely attraction between the female boss and the farmer’s daughter (who also sings country songs). With lots to say about economic hardship and small minds and small towns (this one is literally called Stonewall), the storyline also asks whether their love is fated to be kept apart by their families, religions and traditions…
The very concept of summer camp has become an all-American rites-of-passage genre of its own, and Corin Sherman’s Big Boyz takes up the idea and gently runs with it to explore teen love and lust. Young Jamie is sent off on a camping trip with his favourite cousin and her boyfriend, Dan. As awkward as a lovestruck puppy, Jamie follows after the patient and understanding Dan, in a very naturalistic and endearing, coming-of-age tale.
Family matters also come to the fore in the drama Peafowl, and show that Korean cinema is rightly confident in every cinematic genre now. Director Sung-bin Byun focuses on trans queen and ‘waacking’, voguing dancer Shin Myung, who has come from the countryside and immersed herself in the glitzy, gritty Seoul club scene to be her authentic self. When she’s forced to return home for her father’s funeral she has to face all the demons and prejudices of the past, with only one or two sympathetic individuals and a mythical peacock spirit guide to help her. She’s misgendered and vilified in this ‘fish out of water’ scenario, where rural rituals and superstitions still cast a shadow over the community. And, yes, the dance sequences are fabulous.
There’s something very charming about the odd couple in Sarah Kambe Holland’s comedy, Egghead and Twinkie. This coming-of-age, teen road movie has an added texture through snippets of animation, and the lo-fi, grungy feel makes it even more endearing. Adopted Twinkie is a gay Asian mixed-race young woman accompanied by her best friend, smart lad Matt, aka Egghead, who agrees to run away with Twinkie as her driver, for loads of adventures in search of love for her. And it’s fun to go along for the ride with them.
Set in the Azores, Portuguese drama Wolf and Dog again foregrounds two best friends – another girl and boy – but this time both gay and both looking for love in all the wrong places. Director Cláudia Varejāo shows her protagonists Ana and Luis in a constant state of feeling trapped with no future, in their stifling family situations in a small fishing town. When Ana’s old friend Cloé turns up, the temptation for escape becomes real. In the conflict between their desires and the crushing effects of religion, what will triumph?
Jess Plus One, an American comedy from Mandy Fabian, is sweet and funny, yet sharp and bitter. Much like its central character, Jess, who is invited to be maid of honour at her best friend’s wedding in the woods. There’s an uncomfortable reunion with her ex-girlfriend at the heart of the plot, and so many other interesting characters who have – and haven’t – moved on from their college days that you’re drawn into the rollercoaster drama. So naturalistic in style and narrative arc that it feels like a documentary, American Parent tackles a bunch of issues, including Covid and queer co-parenting, plus overcoming big hurdles over money and childcare. There’s real heart and warmth here, and it augurs well for whatever director Emily Railsback does next.
From Hannes Hirsch, Drifter is a Berlin-set, dark melodrama that follows an unmoored young man, Moritz through a series of sexual adventures – sometimes in uncompromising detail – as he explores the further reaches of his sexuality and appetite for experimentation. There’s a seam of aimless hedonism running through every part of his journey – through clubs, gay and straight hook-ups, and ketamine – with an appropriately banging soundtrack. Huge applause for the excellent Lorenz Hochhuth too, who makes the character Moritz plausible in every situation. XX + XY (above) is a Korean drama about Jay, who was born intersex, though only their parents and best friend know this. Tonally, it’s played as a teen comedy, with all the pressures of school, and underneath this secret just lurking there. Dual attraction – to best friend Sera and classmate Wooram – is handled really well and comes off as sweet and cute. Meanwhile, Jay gets different advice from mum and dad, though it boils down to: “live your life with those who accept you and that’s enough”. By the end of Soh-Yoon Lee’s film, however, it’s rather moving.
DOCUMENTARIES
A perfect opening feature, The Stroll (above) is a doc that takes you into a complete portrait of an unknown world from the relatively recent past. Through amazing access and archive, you’re plunged into New York City’s meatpacking district from the 1990s and into the next decade. It’s all centred in one place, 14 th Street aka ‘the stroll’, which is where trans women of colour not only felt accepted, but could also ply their trade as sex-workers. Of course, this was not without peril, as customers and cops could turn violent, and none of this is off-limits to the filmmakers and their interviewees.
Main reason this feature gets to the heart of the matter so effectively is that co-director Kristen Lovell is a trans woman and was one of the sex-workers who walked ‘the stroll’ herself. She ran away there to get acceptance and feel safer, with the constant knowledge that there was always the threat of violence hanging in the air. When Lovell revisits the time and place, it’s with a mix of sadness and fondness, and she gets many fellow survivors from those days to also speak on camera. Politics comes into the story too, when the ‘broken windows’ idea pushed by Giuliani and the cops is debunked, but you can see that the real death knell for ‘the stroll’ was probably the gradual emptying out of the meatpackers, and the creeping gentrification, with the High Line now in its place.
Acceptance is also at the heart of Cambodian documentary Lotus Sports Club, which tells the story of an inclusive soccer team for young outcasts. Through the film’s focus on one player, trans man Leak, and the team’s coach Pa Vann, we learn that almost half of the players are queer, trans or lesbian, and there’s a defiant solidarity amongst them. The club has become a kind of refuge, and Pa teaches those who stay there other skills like woodworking too. Gradually, you learn that there’s much more to Pa’s own story, and the selfless generosity and inclusiveness all makes sense.
Key centrepiece presentation in this year’s Flare Festival, Tünde Skovrán’s Who I Am Not, has the message that we are not defined by just one thing. Focusing on two young intersex people in South Africa, this documentary sees them constantly confront ignorance and family bigotry, not to mention religion. Indeed, there is something akin to conversion therapy going on in the church. At the core of this really interesting and open film are the scenes where the two meet and talk freely and frankly about their experiences – and their inevitable questions surface, including “where is the place where I am supposed to belong?” plus the honest assessment that “my being was an issue.”
The big selling point of true story, Willem and Frieda (above), from director John Hay, is the immersion of presenter Stephen Fry in the film’s narrative. But in truth, the twists and turns and bravery of the protagonists are reason enough to engage with this documentary. Narrating the tale of two Dutch resistance fighters, Fry shows how this movement was led by gay artist, Willem, and lesbian musician and conductor, Frieda. It’s a portrait of their extraordinary courage in the face of adversity and the Nazis, which builds through archive and visits to many Dutch locations, and includes the details of the vital task of helping Jews forge documents like ID cards to exist, and even escape. And when the film manages to get hold of the testimony of a survivor, it gives the documentary an added resonance.
Based on Shaun Dunne’s play Rapids, How To Tell a Secret is a film Dunne has made with Anna Rodgers about the stigma that has long persisted around HIV and AIDS in Ireland. Verbatim accounts from specific eras are re-enacted and spoken by actors, and their juxtaposition with footage from the time gives the feature a surprisingly affecting and quietly powerful meaning. Finally, in complementary style, Where Have All The Old Gays Gone? is a short film from Ireland comprising touching interviews straight to camera. Upbeat, bright and funny, it also poses questions, including addressing ongoing difficulties with care homes, some of which are in no way accepting.
The bar has been set very high by this year’s Flare for its 2024 iteration, but I have no doubt the BFI programmers are already on the case and will have plenty of goodies in store…