Marking Pride month 2022, we’re presenting QUEERIOUS, inviting you to get curious and explore a multitude of desires on screen in ways all too rarely seen in cinema. Through stories of sexual awakenings and re-awakenings, and queer love through a feminist lens, this curated season from aims to help you to question, learn and enjoy your sexual selves.
We’re pleased to be partnering with BFI Player, to bring to you a Queerious selection available to stream online now. An exciting taste of what’s to come in our in-cinema programme this July, where different selection of films will be touring to select #ReclaimTheFrame participating cinemas across the UK, learn more about Queerious and the July films, here.
Use code QUEERIOUS to receive one month BFI Player subscription for free.
GIRLS IN UNIFORM (Mädchen in Uniform) by Leontine Sagan (Germany 1931, 95’)
“What you call sin, I call the great spirit of love, which takes a thousand forms.” In a strict Prussian boarding school for girls, sensitive student Manuela von Meinhardis develops a forbidden love for one of her teachers in this pioneering lesbian love story.
ROSEBUD by Cheryl Farthing (USA 1991, 14’)
Kay moves into a new flat and finds herself unexpectedly intrigued by the open sexuality of the lesbian couple next door. An erotic tale of voyeurism and fantasy, and about seeing, and being seen.
XXY by Lucia Puenzo (Argentina 2007, 91’)
A tale of sexual awakening set against a backdrop of the Uruguayan shoreline. Alex is an intersex teenager who has been raised as a girl and begins to explore her sexuality a young woman. Álvaro is the 16-year old friend of the family who comes to stay. Sparks fly between the two, and their parents must confront their fears.
VIVA by Anna Biller (USA 2008, 116’)
“You’re not only a whore, you’re a filthy lesbian!” Inspired by Playboy magazine photo shoots, Anna Biller’s radical sexploitation satire follows bored housewife Barbi as she searches for adventure in predatory 1970s Los Angeles.
TOMBOY by Celine Sciamma (France 2011, 82’)
Gender identity and expression are explored in this tender coming-of-age drama from Celine Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Petite Maman). 10-year-old Laure navigates a new identity as ‘Mickael’, a new neighbourhood in Paris and a new friendship when Laure meets a local girl Lisa.
GIRLS LOST by Alexandra-Therese Keining (Sweden 2015, 106’)
Drawing on elements of magical realism to explore notions of fluid sexuality and identity, the story of three girls who get to temporarily experience life as boys on discovering a curious plant. Its nectar, once consumed, results not only in a change to their gender, but to the world around them and their response to it.
APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR by Desiree Akhavan (USA 2015, 86’) (SDH)
Desiree Akhavan (The Miseducation of Cameron Post) directs and stars in this fearless quick-witted comedy about a twenty-something bisexual Iranian-American woman on a journey to self-discovery and struggling to conform to traditional Persian standards along the way.
THE THIRD WIFE by Ash Mayfair (Vietnam 2018, 92’)
Fourteen year old May finds herself in a forced marriage to an older polygamous man, facing pressure to bear him a baby boy while still coming of age herself. She finds compassion in her husband’s second wife, developing in a forbidden love in this beautifully understated tale set in 19th Century Vietnam.
RAFIKI by Wanuri Kahiu (Kenya 2018, 83’) (SDH)
Popping with colour and energy, Rafiki tells the story of young Nairobi women Kena and Ziki, whose immediate connection blossoms into romance. This brave film was banned in Kenya, where gay sex is punishable by 14-years in jail, following director Wanuri Kahiu’s refusal to change the ending.
Queerious is part of Film Feels Curious, a UK-wide cinema season, supported by the National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network. Explore all films and events at filmfeels.co.uk. #FilmFeelsCurious