BFI Flare 2020 – Special Presentations announced ahead of full programme launch

As we gear up for the full programme launch of the 34th BFI Flare LGBTQ+ Film Festival later this month, the folks at BFI have kindly whet our collective appetite by announcing this year’s Headline Galas and Centrepiece Screening. The films selected once again highlight the diverse content Flare brings to London each year, including two first-time features, a world premiere, and an exploration of transgender representation in TV and film.

The Festival opens on March 18th with the World Premiere of Matt Fifer and Kieran Mulcare’s CICADA, a drama set in New York City in 2013 at the height of the Sandusky trial. Fifer’s debut picture follows the meeting and subsequent relationship of Ben (Matt Fifer) and Sam (Sheldon D. Brown), their union caught up in memories of childhood trauma, brought to the surface as the media and public face the shocking ghosts of the past.

This year’s Centrepiece Screening on the 26th of March is Sam Feder’s Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen. It is an unprecedented and eye-opening look at transgender representation in film and television, unveiling how Hollywood simultaneously reflects and manufactures our deepest anxieties about gender. Leading trans thinkers and creatives, including Laverne Cox, Yance Ford, and Chaz Bono, share their reactions and thoughts.

Finally, Flare closes on Saturday, 28th March, with Olivier Award-winning playwright and theatre director Jessica Swale’s feature debut. Summerland, set in Kent during the 1940s, stars Gemma Arterton and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. When a young evacuee arrives at the home of Alice, a secluded and independent writer. Alice finds fresh impetus in exploring her life and the ghosts of her past. With summer bringing old wounds to heal and a new life shining through.

Once again, Pureland Foundation returns as the main sponsor of this year’s BFI Flare. The festival’s full programme will be available from the 18th of February via our news page and the BFI website. Cinerama Film will continue to ensure that the diversity of LGBTQ+ world cinema at BFI Flare takes centre stage on our site in March.

BFI Flare runs from 18th – 29th March at BFI Southbank with full details and ticketing information available from 19th February.

Cinerama Film coverage of BFI Flare begins on the 18th of March 2020 on both our festival page and home page