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Festival coverage

Flare

16 March – 27 March 2022

BFI Flare is back and this time it's screening both in its original home at BFI Southbank, London, and on the BFI's digital platform. It includes many of the best new LGBTQ+ themed films from around the world.

The festival runs from 16 to 27 March.

Other years (12)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Sediments
    Review preview for Sediments

    In its quiet, observational way, Sediments gets closer to the experience of what it means to be trans than any number of more direct interrogations.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Just as the Earth is, our inner selves are made up of many layers that make up our identity and tell the story of our existence.
  • Sublime
    Review preview for Sublime

    What really lights up the film is the chemistry between the boys and their wider circle of friends.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A teenager in a rock band falls for his best friend, who is also one of his bandmates, while acting as his confidante and listening to his plans to impress girls.
  • Jimmy In Saigon
    Review preview for Jimmy In Saigon

    Deftly edited with an eye for detail, this is a personal story which reminds us that history is comprised not simply of great events but of human experiences.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    The director goes in search of the truth about his brother Jimmy, a Vietnam veteran, who died in Saigon at the age of 24 and whose parents never explained how it happened, rarely mentioning his name.
  • Framing Agnes
    Review preview for Framing Agnes

    For such a studiously artificial work...it is profoundly moving.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    After discovering case files from a 1950s gender clinic, a cast of transgender actors turn a talk show inside out to confront the legacy of a young trans woman forced to choose between honesty and access.
  • Cop Secret
    Review preview for Cop Secret

    This film is nothing if not derivative. Except, therein lies its beauty.

    Jane Fae · 4 out of 5
    Mismatched buddy cop spoof.
  • Tramps!
    Review preview for Tramps!

    What could have been just another exercise in nostalgia instead emerges as a valuable picture of a grassroots creative movement.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Rising from the nihilistic ashes of the punk movement in the late 1970s, a fresh crowd of flamboyant fashionistas, who would later be christened the New Romantics, began to materialise on the streets of London.
  • Girls Girls Girls
    Review preview for Girls Girls Girls

    The performances are all first class, with any one of the three leads capable of carrying a film on her own.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Mimmi, Emma and Rönkkö are girls at the cusp of womanhood, trying to draw their own contours. In three consecutive Fridays two of them experience the earth-moving effects of falling in love, while the third goes on a quest to find something she’s never experienced before: pleasure.
  • Sirens
    Review preview for Sirens

    A fascinating watch.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    On the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and Shery, co-founders and guitarists of the Middle East's first all-female metal band, wrestle with friendship, sexuality and destruction in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars.
  • Charli XCX: Alone Together
    Review preview for Charli XCX: Alone Together

    Having been largely shot by amateurs, this documentary looks rough, but as always, the magic is in the edit.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Acclaimed pop star Charli XCX teams up with her legions of queer fans across the globe to create a new album, in this DIY documentary.
  • Wildhood
    Review preview for Wildhood

    Trust in strangers is a big theme in this sweet-natured film.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Link does his best to protect his younger half-brother Travis from their father’s violent rages. But one night he discovers a dark family secret and realises that he must leave his father, who symbolises the violent cultural evisceration of European colonisation.

A–Z of Flare 2022 reviews

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