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Flare · 2018

Flare 2018

Bodies

Programme

18 films · 4 reviews

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Alaska Is A Drag

Story of an aspiring drag diva who is stuck working in a fish cannery.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Shaz Bennett; Writer: Shaz Bennett; Stars: Martin L Washington Jr, Maya Washington, Matt Dallas, Christopher O'Shea, Jason Scott Lee, Margaret Cho, Kevin Daniels, John Fleck, Nia Peeples, Adam Tomei, Shivani Bhagwan, Tim Holmes, Jennifer Jelsema, Matt Hudson, Connie Kincer)

The Carmilla Movie

It’s been five years since Laura and Carmilla saved the world. Their life together is the picture of domestic bliss – the happy ending they always desired and deserved. But Laura has started having strange dreams of a woman in black haunting the hallways of an old mansion.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2017; Director: Spencer Maybee; Writer: Alejandro Alcoba, Jordan Hall; Stars: Elise Bauman, Natasha Negovanlis, Dominique Provost-Chalkley)

Coby

A documentary grappling with how parents and partners adapt to a transition in the family.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Christian Sonderegger)

Conversations With Gay Elders

David Weissman’s documentary focuses on Kerby Lauderdale, a married man who came out later in life, exploring his life as a pastor, husband, father, lover and gay activist preacher

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: David Weissman)

The Feels

As bachelorette weekends go, Andi and Lu’s is shaping up nicely. Everyone’s turned up, the drinks are flowing and even the late arrival of Nikki, Lu’s emotionally demanding sister, can’t dampen the celebratory spirit. But the party atmosphere is soon derailed when Lu, a little high and more than a little drunk, casually admits to never having had an orgasm in her life.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Jenée LaMarque; Writer: Jenée LaMarque, Lauren Parks; Stars: Constance Wu, Angela Trimbur, Josh Fadem)

Freak Show

Review preview for Freak Show

A film like this is a costume designer's dream.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A teenager who moves to a small town decides to tackle bullying attitudes by running for homecoming queen.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Trudie Styler; Writer: Patrick J Clifton, Beth Rigazio, James St James; Stars: Alex Lawther, Ian Nelson, Abigail Breslin, AnnaSophia Robb, Laverne Cox, Bette Midler, Willa Fitzgerald, Celia Weston, Mickey Sumner, Doris McCarthy, John McEnroe, Christopher Dylan White, Larry Pine, Michael Park, Eddie Schweighardt)

Full review

Going West

A man takes his estranged transsexual dad on a road trip.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2017; Director: Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken; Writer: Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken; Stars: Henrik Mestad, Ingar Helge Gimle, Benjamin Helstad, Iben Akerlie, Bjørn Myrene, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Marte Germaine Christensen, Anne Krigsvoll, Ine F. Jansen, Reidar Sørensen, Trine Wiggen, Bente Børsum, Per Schaanning, Birgitte Victoria Svendsen, Tuva Børgedotter Larsen)

Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras)

A lonely nurse is hired by a wealthy woman as a nanny for her unborn child, but one night has unexpected consequences.

(Country: Brazil, France; Year: 2017; Director: Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas; Writer: Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas; Stars: Isabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo, Cida Moreira, Andréa Marquee, Felipe Kenji, Nina Medeiros, Neusa Velasco, Gilda Nomacce, Eduardo Gomes, Hugo Villavicenzio, Adriana Mendonça, Germano Melo, Naloana Lima, Clara de Cápua)

Love, Scott

One fateful night, after leaving a bar in his home town of Nova Scotia, musician Scott Jones was subjected to a vicious and targeted attack which left him paralysed and in a wheelchair. Despite Scott knowing that this was a homophobic hate crime, the assault was not treated as such in the courts, or by the media. As Scott rebuilds his life, he is forced to make sense of the way the incident was handled while also struggling to make peace with his attacker.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2017; Director: Laura Marie Wayne; Writer: Laura Marie Wayne)

Martyr

Review preview for Martyr

We get to see every inch of Hassane's skin without ever truly being able to get beneath it.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
An unexpected event during a day at the beach, forces a group of friends to grapple with loss.

(Country: Lebanon; Year: 2017; Director: Mazen Khaled; Writer: Mazen Khaled; Stars: Carole Abboud, Hamza Mekdad, Mostafa Fahs, Hady Bou Ayash, Rachad Nassereddine, Rabih el Zaher, Yara Abou Haidar)

Full review See: Mazen Khaled on matrydom, male identity and freedom in Martyr

My Own Private Hell

The dark and strange story of a sailor, a landlady, two gangsters and a rabbit.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2018; Director: Guto Parente, Pedro Diógenes; Writer: Guto Parente, Pedro Diógenes, Rafael Martins; Stars: Yuri Yamamoto, Demick Lopes, Samya De Lavor)

Paternal Rites

A filmmaker retraces the 1974 road trip undertaken by his parents in order to confront deep-seated family secrets.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Jules Rosskam; Writer: Marc Smolowitz, Jules Rosskam)

Pulse

Review preview for Pulse

Perhaps there are certain questions that we don't need asked; or if they are to be asked, a certain care in the way they are asked would be helpful.

Jane Fae · 2 out of 5
After a series of humiliations, a young disabled man looking for love decides to transition – but not in the manner you’d expect. Set in an alternative present in which medical procedures are drastically different, the question of what it means to change gender is complicated by the question of what it means to find love when you have a disabled body in an ableist world.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2017; Director: Stevie Cruz-Martin; Writer: Daniel Monks; Stars: Daniel Monks, Caroline Brazier, Scott Lee)

Full review

Sidney And Friends

Review preview for Sidney And Friends

Technically impressive given the conditions in which some of it is filmed, Sidney And Friends is a powerful piece of filmmaking exploring the human impact of prejudice and simple ignorance.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Scottish filmmaker Tristan Aitchison visited Kenya in 2013. A chance meeting with an activist revealed an underground network of intersex and trans people that wanted their voices heard.

(Country: UK, Kenya; Year: 2017; Director: Tristan Aitchison; Stars: Awuor Onyango, Charles Ouda, Michael Daviot)

Full review

Stumped

The story of filmmaker Will Lautzenheiser, who turned to stand-up as therapy after having both arms and legs amputated.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Robin Berghaus; Stars: Angel Gonzalez, Rob Crean, Bohdan Pomahac, Andrew Oliver, Emma Brady, Marlene Sewall, Tom Lautzenheiser, Thomas Fiedler, Caitlin Sachs, Marie José Benjamin, Lisa Pratt, Simon Talbot, Alexis Liakos, Jacqueline Hillriegel, Claire Dacey)

They

(Country: US, Denmark, Qatar; Year: 2017; Director: Anahita Ghazvinizadeh; Writer: Anahita Ghazvinizadeh; Stars: Almai Sinai, Rhys Fehrenbacher, Nicole Coffineau)

Tomorrow Never Knows

The uncomfortable reality of death is faced by Shar and Cynthia who, upon Shar’s diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer’s, make a brave and difficult decision: she will undertake a conscious death, fully experiencing the end of her life.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Adam Sekuler; Writer: Shar Jones, Cynthia Vitale)

Uncle David 2

This dark and disturbing sequel to Uncle David returns us to a bleak caravan park somewhere on the Isle of Sheppey and finds that Uncle David has introduced a new addition to his community, whose warped imagination and love of horror might have led to murder.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Gary Reich; Writer: David Hoyle, Archie Redford, Matthew McCabe, Lucy McCormick; Stars: David Hoyle, Archie Redford, Matthew McCabe, Lucy McCormick)