BFI’s LGBT-orientated festival Flare returns for a special 30th edition next month, and the programme has now been released.

The festival, known as London LGBT Film Festival until a re-envisioning a few years ago, is the biggest LGBT film festival in Europe and seems to grow in scale and stature each year. This year sees the inclusion of over 100 features and 50 shorts, and a wide looking events and industry programme.

This year’s programme is split into three enigmatically titled strands, Hearts, Bodies and Minds, with each thematic group aiming to spotlight one of three themes: LGBT content in British film and new British talent, transgender representation, and ‘queer science’ and new technology.

The programme includes a mix of premiering and underseen films, as well as a number of titles that have already achieved success (Todd Hayne’s Carol, recent Berlinale Audience Award winner Who’s Gonna Love Me Now, or iPhone shot, transgender talent led Tangerine).

Opening the festival is the Russell Tovey-starring football feature The Pass, with Catherine Corsini’s 1970s Parisian protest romance Summertime closing things off. Below, we spotlight a few interesting looking films that play in between.

Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (Stephen Cone)

Henry Gambles Birthday Party, the latest feature from prolific, well respected American independent filmmaker Stephen Cone, sees the titular character wrestle internally with as issues as wide ranging as sexuality, family, alcoholism and faith on the day of his 17th birthday. Placing the limitations of religious conservatism up against the trials and complexities of the onset of adult life and burgeoning questions of sexuality, Cone’s latest film seems to be a challenging, but intriguing proposition.

Theo and Hugo (Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau)

From the synopsis, this film from Flare stalwarts Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau sounds like an intriguing inversion on a traditional formula. As the filmmaker pair’s latest film develops in real time, a sex club encounter develops into something more, or at least something different and unexpected. The two filmmakers have made a number of films that found fans at Flare before (e.g. The Adventures of Felix and Cote d’Azu) and this sounds likely to gain a similar level of popularity, with the chance to break out in a major way. (Weekend meets Shortbus?)

Rebel Dykes (Harri Shanahan, Sian Williams)

A work in progress project due to be presented at the festival, Rebel Dykes is a documentary about rebellious lesbian subcultural movements that lit up, and tore down, 1980s London. In some way and form, and seemingly with a lot of love and attention, doc-makers Shanahan and Williams will profile the women who amongst many other activities, squatted in Brixton and Hackney, lived at the Greenham Common Peace Camps. wrote feminist ‘zines, and ran sex positive Lesbian S/M clubs. A great chance to learn about the production process and offer feedback on a project in gestation.

From Afar (Lorenzo Vigas)

This Locarno prize winner played London Film Festival recently, but comes home to Flare for a victory lap having been established as a festival favourite over the last few months. A tense, psychological romantic thriller, Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas’ debut film looks slow, smart and effective. Moving between arthouse and genre modes, From Afar traces the developing relationship between two generations amidst an atmosphere of violent risk and repression.

Sisters of the Plague (Jorge Torres-Torres)

Another American Indie, first time director Jorge Torres-Torres’ debut stars fellow director Josephine Decker. A New Orleans’ set oddity that look stylistically assured and generically unclassifiable, the film mixes horror elements with a story surrounding female relationships, much like the film of its star actress Decker.  Fitting well into a group of lo-fi American directors doing interesting, challenging work with limited means, Torres-Torres film could prove to be a small hit of the festival, if the interesting sounding pieces fit together.

The full Flare programme is here.

Email us if you would like 20% off (£40 instead of £50) the industry accreditation, which gives full access to press and industry screenings, and the range of events and networking opportunities on offer.