Voices from the Rainbow

By Beverly Andrews

London’s LGBTQ+ film festival, Flare, returns to the capital this year. Like many others around the world, the festival has had to adapt to our new normal—moving the entire event online. However, Flare rose to the challenge with aplomb, managing to showcase some of the best films from around the globe, each documenting the lives of queer, gay, and transgender people. These films highlight just how far the community has come. Below is a selection of some of the most compelling works featured.

Cowboys, directed by Anna Kerrigan, is a charming and timely feature that explores the emotional journey of Joe, the biological daughter of a Midwestern family. Joe is, in fact, a transgender adolescent boy, but his well-meaning mother refuses to acknowledge his true identity. His father, Troy, however, listens to Joe and chooses to act—by taking him on a desperate and increasingly perilous journey to Canada, where Troy believes Joe will find the acceptance he deserves.

What begins as a heartfelt attempt to support his son quickly spirals into something more dangerous. Troy, who is bipolar, loses his medication along the way—medication he desperately needs to manage his condition and stabilize his mood swings.

With transgender rights and access to healthcare for trans teens under renewed threat across America—amid laws so draconian that some even require teachers to address students by their birth names—this poignant film arrives at a crucial moment. Cowboys not only underscores the importance of respecting the rights of trans youth but also presents a moving portrait of a man grappling with mental illness. Ironically, despite Troy's psychological struggles, he is the only parent who truly hears and validates Joe’s experience.

Open-hearted and deeply empathetic, Cowboys suggests that children may be more progressive and accepting than we give them credit for. In a powerful moment, when Joe returns to school dressed in alignment with his gender identity, he braces for rejection on the school bus—only to be met with acceptance and curiosity from his peers, eager to hear about his adventure with his dad. The film subtly suggests that, beyond the noise of America’s right-wing politicians and headline-chasing pundits, there is a quieter, more compassionate reality.

Featuring an astonishing performance by Sasha Knight—who is transgender himself—in the lead role, Cowboys is a must-watch.

Firebird offers a rare and poignant glimpse into what life was like for gay men in the former Soviet Union, tracing a forbidden romance between two members of the country’s elite military forces. Set at the height of the Cold War—a time when the world seemed poised on the brink of a catastrophic third world war—the film follows the love affair between a career air force officer and a young new recruit.

Based on a true story and directed by Peeter Rebane, Firebird is a beautifully rendered account of love that managed to blossom amid intense political and personal danger. Filmed in Estonia, it stars Tom Prior and Oleg Zagorodnii as the lovers and poignantly illustrates how, when nations feel threatened, they often retreat into their most conservative and repressive ideologies.

The film is clearly a labor of love for both Rebane and Prior, the latter not only starring in the film but also serving as co-writer of the script and music supervisor. While Firebird is a historical drama, its closing credits serve as a stark reminder of the present, referencing recent Russian legislation banning so-called “homosexual propaganda.” The message is clear: for many gay men in Russia today, life in the shadows remains the grim reality.

P.S. Burn This Letter Please is an extraordinary and deeply moving documentary, sparked by the discovery of a cache of letters written by some of the country’s most prominent drag artists—or, as they preferred to be called, “female impersonators”—to a young DJ who had recently left New York in pursuit of fame and fortune in Hollywood.

Beginning in the 1950s, the film explores a time when it was still illegal for men to wear women’s clothing. The director tracks down the authors of these evocative letters, and through candid interviews, we are transported into the magical, defiant world these courageous individuals inhabited—a world where prejudice was countered with dazzling glamour. Every performance carried the risk of arrest, yet these men bravely stepped onstage in pursuit of their art and identity.

Now in their eighties and nineties, the interviewees offer charming, insightful, and often dramatic recollections of an era when living authentically meant battling a system stacked against them. P.S. Burn This Letter Please also reveals the era’s stark hypocrisies—while drag was criminalized, many of the world’s most famous actors sought out underground clubs to witness the brilliance of these performers.

These men are remarkable survivors from a time when even the concept of a “gay community” was unfamiliar. The film ultimately uncovers the identity of the man who safeguarded these letters for decades: the young DJ who ran off to Hollywood, and who would later become one of the entertainment industry’s most powerful agents, representing global stars. Despite his success, he never forgot the friendships he forged with these bold and beautiful performers.

The film ends on a poignant note, revealing its most captivating letter writer—a man now in his eighties, whose cheekbones could still rival those of any modern supermodel. P.S. Burn This Letter Please is a stunning documentary that delivers a heartfelt, powerful punch.

Sublet is, without question, my personal favourite—a tender cross between Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Sofia Coppola’s Oscar-winning Lost in Translation. Lovingly directed by Eytan Fox, Sublet explores a cross-generational encounter between a jaded travel writer in his fifties and a young, cash-strapped Israeli filmmaker. The writer, in Tel Aviv for a five-day assignment, has long stopped truly seeing the cities he visits, relying instead on guidebooks and well-worn routines.

When he rents an apartment for his stay, he meets his host—a passionate twenty-something who, lacking alternative accommodation, is reluctantly forced to share the space. Though initially skeptical of each other, a quiet understanding develops. The older man, moved by the younger man's vulnerability and cynicism—especially his disbelief in happy endings—invites him to stay and hires him as an informal guide.

What unfolds is a hypnotically beautiful film that seems to suspend time. As the two men walk and talk through the streets of Tel Aviv, they begin to discover unexpected common ground. Their connection slowly deepens into something more profound than either could have anticipated—part friendship, part awakening, part emotional rescue.

Sublet is quietly powerful and deeply human. It lingers in the heart long after the credits roll—and could very well be the festival’s breakout hit.

An unexpected gem in the lineup is Kiss Me Before It Blows Up (Kiss Me Kosher), a riotously funny and sharply observed comedy about what happens when a bold Israeli lesbian brings her German fiancée home to meet her very liberal—but not that liberal—family. While her relatives are entirely comfortable with her sexuality (and even joke about the number of partners she’s had), her falling in love with a German woman proves to be a bridge almost too far.

Directed by Shirel Peleg, this feature is as hilarious as it is insightful, deftly revealing how deep historical wounds—particularly those rooted in trauma—are not easily healed. The best outcome, it suggests, may simply be learning to live with them, together, in progress.

At a time when some battles have been won and others are still being fought, Flare is a vital and uplifting reminder of how far the LGBTQ+ community has come in carving out a place in society—and how cinema continues to play a crucial role in telling those stories.

form-idea.com London, 14th April 2021.