Skip to main content

Flare · 2024

Flare 2024

Minds

Programme

21 films · 8 reviews

Jump to a film

Baldiga - Unlocked Heart (Baldiga - Entsichertes Herz)

Using diary excerpts, photographs and memories from companions, the film paints the portrait of the artist Jürgen Baldiga.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Markus Stein; Stars: Birgit Baldiga, Jürgen Baldiga, Bernd Boßmann, Timo Lewandovsky, Ulf Reimer)

Calls From Moscow (Llamadas Desde Moscú)

Four Cuban exiles find themselves in Moscow one day before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

(Country: Cuba, Germany, Norway; Year: 2023; Director: Luis Alejandro Yero; Stars: Dariel Diaz, Daryl Acuña, Eldis Botta)

Code Of Fear

Triggered by the recent death of a Cameroonian activist, Siewe travels home to initiate conversations within his community regarding homosexuality. From the offset, Siewe’s family ostracises him and he finds himself confronted with the steep cost of African allyship.

(Country: Germany, Norway; Year: 2023; Director: Appolain Siewe)

Commitment To Life

Review preview for Commitment To Life

Jeffrey Schwarz, one of the most prolific documentarians working today and a man who has dedicated his life to redressing the balance in regard to LGBTQ+ narratives, is careful not to deliver only those stories which we have all heard before.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Against a rich Hollywood backdrop, this film documents the true story of the fight against HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles - and how an intrepid group of people living with HIV/AIDS, doctors, movie stars, studio moguls and activists changed the course of the epidemic.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jeffrey Schwarz; Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Jewel Thais-Williams, David Geffen, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks)

Full review

Days Of Happiness (Les Jours Heureux)

A talented conductor is confounded by the influence of her father and her agent, preventing her from striking a healthy balance between her career and her romantic relationship with a young cellist and her son.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Chloé Robichaud; Writer: Chloé Robichaud; Stars: Sophie Desmarais, Vincent Leclerc, Yves Jacques, Christian Paul, Sylvain Marcel, Geneviève Alarie, Nour Belkhiria)

Desire Lines

Past and present collide when an Iranian American trans man time-travels through an LGBTQ+ archive on a dizzying and erotic quest to unravel his own sexual desires.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Jules Rosskam; Writer: Nate Gualtieri; Stars: Theo Germaine, Aden Hakimi, Grant Carriker, Larry Dane, Chevon Dortch, Mike Geraghty, Emilie Modaff, Brandon Rivera, Emj Saab, Steve Silver, Diego Torrado)

Don't Ever Stop

The story of legendary DJ and record producer Tony de Vit, who changed many lives with his music, most famously at Trade nightclub.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Stuart Pollitt)

Heavy Snow (Pok-seol)

Two teenagers form a connection on the sandy beaches of Gangneung – a place they continuously return to in order to find each other.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Yun Su-ik; Writer: Yun Su-ik; Stars: Han So-hee, Han Hae-in)

Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes

Review preview for Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes

A thorough, well-told tale intertwined with many of the key social and artistic movements of that century – and dotted with its luminaries – Hidden Master brings Lynes back out into the light.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A documentary about the fashion photographer whose rare artistic vision became apparent when he focused his attention on male nudes.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Sam Shahid; Writer: Sam Shahid, Matthew Kraus, John MacConnell; Stars: George Platt Lynes)

Full review

India's 1st Best Trans Model Agency

A group of visionary hijra in Delhi form a modelling agency to bring the traditional third gender into the 21st century.

(Country: UK, India, Norway; Year: 2023; Director: Ila Mehrotra; Stars: Rudrani Chettri)

Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero

A documentary following rapper Lil Nas X as he embarks on his first live tour.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Carlos López Estrada, Zac Manuel; Stars: Lil Nas X)

Merchant Ivory

Review preview for Merchant Ivory

Whether you’re a fan of the company’s work specifically or simply interested in the history of cinema, this portrait of its longest-lasting partnership will delight and entertain you.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The story of cinema's longest lasting partnership.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Stephen Soucy; Stars: James Ivory, Simon Callow, Vanessa Redgrave, Madhur Jaffrey, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Helena Bonham-Carter, James Fox, Rupert Graves)

Full review

Orlando, My Political Biography (Orlando, ma biographie politique)

Review preview for Orlando, My Political Biography

Capturing the experience of living in a world where one’s gender doesn’t fit better than almost any other film to date, Preciado’s work is all about claiming space and present day narrative.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Docufiction interpretation of Virginia Woolf's novel.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Paul B Preciado; Writer: Paul B Preciado; Stars: Paul B Preciado)

Full review

Reas

Review preview for Reas

It’s quickly apparent that entering prison means becoming part of the collective body that is the prisoner population, with the choreographed movements that accompany the songs reinforcing the sense of synchronicity.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A group of prison inmates re-enact their lives and sentences, balancing memories with fantasy.

(Country: Argentina, Germany, Switzerland; Year: 2023; Director: Lola Arias; Stars: Yoseli Arias, Ignacio Amador Rodriguez, Estefy Harcastle)

Full review

Studio One Forever

The story of America's iconic gay disco and its relationship with LGBTQ+ history.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Marc Saltarelli; Stars: Chita Rivera, Bruce Vilanch, Thelma Houston, Lance Bass)

Stories Of Our Lives

Review preview for Stories Of Our Lives

Stylistically simple but quite remarkable when one considers that they were filmed with a single DSLR, these short films form a powerful whole.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A collection of stories about LGBT life in Kenya.

(Country: Kenya; Year: 2014; Director: Jim Chuchu; Writer: Jim Chuchu; Stars: Kelly Gichohi, Tim Mutungi, Paul Ogola, Mugambi Nthiga, Rose Njenga)

Full review

Toll (Pedágio)

Review preview for Toll

At the heart of it is the complex relationship between mother and son.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Suellen, a toll booth attendant, realises she can use her job to raise some extra money illegally. But this is only for a noble cause: to send her son to an expensive gay conversion workshop led by a renowned foreign priest.

(Country: Brazil, Portugal; Year: 2022; Director: Carolina Markowicz; Writer: Carolina Markowicz; Stars: Maeve Jinkings, Thomas Aquino, Isac Graça, Caio Macedo, Aline Marta Maia, Kauan Alvarenga)

Full review

Unspoken

A closeted Orthodox Jewish teen, discovers his grandfather might have loved another man, prompting a journey towards self-discovery.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jeremy Borison; Writer: Jeremy Borison; Stars: Charlie Korman, Michael Zapesotsky, Katherine Kamhi)

We Forgot To Break Up

A trans musician is caught in a love triangle with his bandmates as they rise to fame in 2000s Toronto.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Karen Knox; Writer: Noel Baker, Pat K Mills, Zoe Whittall; Stars: Lane Webber, Daniel Gravelle, June Laporte)

We Were Dangerous

Review preview for We Were Dangerous

The darkness in the film is carefully balanced by comedy.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Three friends attend an institution for delinquent girls on an isolated island In 1950s New Zealand. The trio rail against the system, finding strength in their bond. This is challenged when the school’s matron divides them.

(Country: New Zealand/Aotearoa; Year: 2024; Director: Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu; Writer: Maddie Dai, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu; Stars: Rima Te Wiata, Erana James, Nathalie Morris, Manaia Hall)

Full review See: Interview with Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu about We Were Dangerous

You Promised Me The Sea (L'Air De La Mer Rend Libre)

A bride and groom in an arranged marriage are forced to confront the implications of his secret sex life.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Nadir Moknèche, Naïla Guiguet, Michael Barnes; Writer: Nadir Moknèche, Naïla Guiguet, Michael Barnes; Stars: Youssouf Abi-Ayad, Kenza Fortas, Saadia Bentaïeb)