Five to see at LFF 2014... LGBT cinema

The Duke of Burgundy

The Duke of Burgundy (2014)

What’s it about?

Peter Strickland’s sapphic tale is a bold and sensual exploration of the power dynamic between two women who live cut off from the outside world.

Who made it?

Strickland followed his debut Katalin Varga (2008) with Berberian Sound Studio (2012), one of the most startling British films of recent years, starring Toby Jones as a timid British sound engineer whose world alters disturbingly when he goes to work on a violent Italian horror film. He also co-directed this year’s Sonic Gala screening – Björk: Biophilia Live.

What critics are saying

“Peter Strickland’s sapphic giallo dream is a tied up and twisted masterpiece … Strickland’s third feature cements his status as a world talent while also assimilating shades of early Fassbinder and a diffuse (but palpable) giallo atmosphere into its cheeky exploration of relationships and their performative nature.” David Ehrlich, Little White Lies

• Buy tickets for The Duke of Burgundy, screening in the Official Competition strand

Jamie Marks Is Dead

Jamie Marks Is Dead (2014)

What’s it about?

A bullied teen, whose dead body is discovered naked by a river, returns as a spectral vision to haunt a sensitive jock at his school, and undercurrents of queer longing slowly come to the fore.

Who made it?

Carter Smith, whose electrifying queer horror short Bugcrush (2006), in which a loner becomes obsessed with the cool kid at his school before things start to turn dark and disturbing, was an astonishing hit at the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (since renamed BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival). This was followed by another horror film, The Ruins (2008).

What critics are saying

“A spooky rendition of teenage passion and shame. It has requisite angst and melodrama, but they’re guided by the film’s immersive atmosphere and sense of place.” Kyle Burton, Indiewire

• Buy tickets for Jamie Marks Is Dead, screening in the Cult strand

Something Must Break

Something Must Break (2014)

What’s it about?

A young transgendered teenager begins an intense relationship with a straight man, set in Stockholm.

Who made it?

Ester Martin Bergsmark, whose debut documentary Maggie in Wonderland (2008), about an eccentric woman living in Sweden, was followed by the extraordinary, beautiful She Male Snails (2012), a portrait of people living beyond the male/female binary.

What critics are saying

“With its throbbing soundtrack and dirty glamour, Something Must Break is the sort of confident Nordic transgender narrative we’ve been waiting for. This isn’t a work of well-meaning, friendly activism. This is a blood- and urine-soaked love story and it is awesome.” Daniel Walber, filmschoolrejects.com

• Buy tickets for Something Must Break, screening in the First Feature Competition

Margarita, with a Straw

Margarita, With a Straw (2014)

What’s it about?

This Indian drama charts the struggles and freedom experienced by a Delhi teenager with cerebral palsy (Kalki Koechlin) when she wins a scholarship to New York. There she falls for a fiery young activist (Sayani Gupta).

Who made it?

Shonali Bose, whose first feature, Amu (2005), explored the repercussions of genocide attacks against Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. She co-wrote Chittagong (2012), Bedabrata Pain’s film about the 1930 uprising at Chittagong in British India (now in Bangladesh).

What critics are saying

“Avoiding the pitfalls of cheap sentiment on the one side and moral instruction on the other, Margarita, with a Straw is a consistently rewarding portrait of a young woman coming of age, making mistakes, and finding the unpredictable path of her own desire.” Cameron Bailey, Toronto Film Festival

• Buy tickets for Margarita, with a Straw, screening in the Love strand

Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)

What’s it about?

A group of women who used to be members of the James Dean fan club reunite two decades after his death to reminisce about the past and reflect on the present in this nearly forgotten 1982 drama, screening at the LFF in a new restoration. The cast includes Cher (in the role that got her taken seriously as an actor), Sandy Dennis, Kathy Bates and Karen Black as an enigmatic newcomer. Why is the film in an article on LGBT films? The answer would give away a major plot twist.

Who made it?

Robert Altman, master of the ensemble piece, whose previous work includes MASH (1970), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) and Nashville (1975). He would go on to make modern classics such as Short Cuts (1993) and Gosford Park (2001).

What critics are saying

“Startlingly successful translation from one medium to another, with Altman turning the first of his theatrical adaptations into a cinematic tour de force.” Geoff Andrew, Time Out

• Buy tickets for Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, screening in the Love strand