BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival Formerly: London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

The British Film Institute's annual gift (thank you?) to the LGBT community and its followers since 1986 ranks as one of the world's most adventurous queer film festivals. Normally held around March, the event completely takes over the BFI Southbank's three screens (and Studio) [see separate entry] for two weeks with the full spectrum of international cinema, from polished Hollywood productions to documentaries, experimental shorts and shoestring-budget obscurities you're not likely to see anywhere else. Plus talks, debates, club nights, rediscoveries and celebrations of dead stars and directors who who were possibly gay and/or had a certain gay appeal, from Eve Arden to Dusty Springfield. The festival also runs programmes in conjunction with the V&A, Tate Modern and Curzon Soho [see separate entries]. In 2014 the BFI changed the name from London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival to BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival.