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Flare · 2022

Flare 2022

Bodies

Programme

18 films · 4 reviews

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Being Bebe

A documentary about the incredible rise of the first ever winner of RuPaul's Drag Race: the legendary BeBe Zahara Benet.

(Country: US, Cameroon; Year: 2021; Director: Emily Branham; Stars: Nea Marshall Kudi)

Benediction

Review preview for Benediction

Running alongside the film's more elegiac sweep is a cut-glass wit.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Siegfried Sassoon biopic.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2021; Director: Terence Davies; Writer: Terence Davies; Stars: Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi, Jeremy Irvine, Matthew Tennyson, Ben Daniels, Kate Phillips, Geraldine James, Gemma Jones, Anton Lesser, Lia Williams, Simon Russell Beale, Kellie Shirley, Suzanne Bertish, Harry Lawtey, Tom Blyth)

Full review

Bruno Reidal, Confessions of a Murderer

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Vincent Le Port; Writer: Vincent Le Port; Stars: Dimitri Doré, Jean-Luc Vincent, Roman Villedieu, Alex Fanguin, Tino Vigier, Nelly Bruel, Ivan Chiodetti, Dominique Legrand, Antoine Brunel, Tristan Chiodetti, René Loyon, Rémy Leboucq, André Salson, Astrid Vialard, Jeanne Fauchier)

Camila Comes Out Tonight (Camila Saldrá Esta Noche)

Camila’s life is turned upside down when her single-parent mother moves the family to Buenos Aires. Enrolled in an educational establishment that is worlds away from the liberal institution she previously attended, the politically-minded Camila is like a breath of fresh air amongst the elite student body, soon drawing the attention of popular boy Bruno and fun-loving Clara.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Inés Barrionuevo; Writer: Andrés Aloi, Inés Barrionuevo; Stars: Nina Dziembrowski, Maite Valero, Diego Sanchez)

Death And Bowling

Review preview for Death And Bowling

It never quite tips over into surrealism, but Kash lets events play out without too much explanation, plunging us into this world and then leaving us to find our own way.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
In a fictional meta-critique on trans representation, a transgender actor struggles with what it means to be seen after the beloved captain of his lesbian bowling league dies and a mysterious stranger shows up at the funeral.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Lyle Kash; Writer: Lyle Kash; Stars: Will Krisanda, Tracy Kowalski, Faith Bryan, Leontine White Foster, Denise Turkan)

Full review See: Interview with Lyle Kash about Death And Bowling

The First Fallen

New Year’s Eve, 1983. Suzano has returned from his studies in Paris to spend time with his sister and nephew. Rose, a trans performer, prepares for her latest show at a party. And Humberto, recently arrived in the city, documents it all on shaky camcorder. The future looks bright for them all. But eight months later, all three friends find themselves early victims of the AIDS epidemic.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Rodrigo de Oliveira; Writer: Rodrigo de Oliveira; Stars: Johnny Massaro, Renata Carvalho, Vitor Camilo)

I Am The Tigress

A bodybuilder pushes herself to the limit to defy expectations, both physically and socially.

(Country: Germany, Austria, US; Year: 2021; Director: Philipp Fussenegger, Dino Osmanović; Writer: Philipp Fussenegger, Dino Osmanović; Stars: Tischa Thomas, Steve Scibelli, Edward Zahler)

Long Live My Happy Head

A profile of illustrator Gordon Shaw, whose enlightened approach to living with a brain tumour fuels his comic world.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Austen McCowan, Will Hewitt; Writer: Austen McCowan, Will Hewitt; Stars: Gordon Shaw)

Madame Satã

A biopic of a legendary figure in Rio de Janeiro: a hustler, transvestite, gangster and chef; a queen who became something of a folk hero.

(Country: France, Brazil; Year: 2002; Director: Karim Aïnouz; Writer: Karim Aïnouz, Marcelo Gomes, Sérgio Machado, Mauricio Zacharias; Stars: Lázaro Ramos, Marcélia Cartaxo, Flavio Bauraqui)

Manscaping

Devan Shimoyama is an Afrofuturist painter who focuses on the barbershop as a social space, Jessie Anderson runs a queer barbershop in Vancouver, and Australian Richard Savvy gets his kit off as The Naked Barber.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Broderick Fox; Stars: Devan Shimoyama, Jessie Anderson, Richard Savvy)

Moneyboys

Fei works illegally as a hustler in order to support his family, yet when he realises they are willing to accept his money but not his way of life, there is a major breakdown in their relations.

(Country: Austria, France, Belgium, Taiwan; Year: 2021; Director: Chen Yilin Bo; Writer: Chen Yilin Bo; Stars: Yufan Bai, Kai Ko, Zhexi Lin, Chloe Maayan)

Nico

After she’s the victim of a xenophobic attack, a young Iranian woman in Berlin decides to take her life back into her own hands by training in karate.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Eline Gehring; Writer: Eline Gehring, Francy Fabritz, Sara Fazilat; Stars: Sara Fazilat, Sara Klimoska, Javeh Asefdjah)

The Novice

Review preview for The Novice

This is a stunning first feature.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A queer college freshman who joins her university’s rowing team and undertakes an obsessive physical and psychological journey to make it to the top varsity boat, no matter the cost.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Lauren Hadaway; Writer: Lauren Hadaway; Stars: Isabelle Fuhrman, Amy Forsyth, Dilone Kate Drummond, Jonathan Cherry, Charlotte Ubben)

Full review See: Interview with Lauren Hadaway about The Novice

Passion

After a destructive relationship, the rituals of BDSM and Christianity provide consolation and healing.

(Country: Sweden, Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Maja Borg)

The Perfect David (El Perfecto David)

A teenage bodybuilder pushes himself to breaking point.

(Country: Argentina, Uruguay; Year: 2021; Director: Felipe Gómez Aparicio; Writer: Leandro Custo, Felipe Gómez Aparicio; Stars: Umbra Colombo, Mauricio di Yorio)

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.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Adrian Silvestre; Writer: Adrian Silvestre; Stars: Alicia de Benito, Lena Brasas, Cristina Millán)

Full review

This Is Not Me

Two young men learn to navigate the Iranian courts in order to begin their formal gender transition.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2021; Director: Saeed Gholipour)

Wet Sand

A death in a small coastal village reveals, with a young woman trying to find out who her grandfather really was.

(Country: Switzerland, Georgia; Year: 2021; Director: Elene Naveriani; Writer: Elene Naveriani, Sandro Naveriani; Stars: Bebe Sesitashvili, Gia Agumava, Megi Kobaladze)