LOVE IS A BASIC RIGHT!

In partnership with BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, the British Council makes five LGBTIQ+ themed short films available for the world to watch online for free, over an 12-day period each year.

Through our global network in more than 100 countries, we encourage people to watch the films in solidarity with LGBTIQ+ communities particularly in places where freedom and equal rights are limited. We ask audiences to share the films using the hashtag #FiveFilmsForFreedom in recognition of the fact that Love is a Basic Right.

Running since 2015, the programme has seen more than 15 million people viewing one of the films in over 200 countries and principalities, including many parts of the world where homosexuality is criminalised, and in some cases, punishable by the death penalty.

The programme, which features work by emerging filmmakers from across the world, is selected from and coincides with BFI Flare.

Join us on Twitter.#FiveFilmsForFreedom. 

 

Five Films for Freedom 2021

Our 2021 programme

  1. Pure
    (USA / Directed by Natalie Jasmine Harris)
    On the eve of her cotillian ball, a young Black girl grapples with her queer identity and questions her purity.
  2. Victoria
    (Spain / Directed by Daniel Toledo)
    A bittersweet reunion between a trans woman and her ex sparks tension and a long buried resentment.
  3. Trans Happiness is Real
    (UK / Directed by Quinton Baker)
    A transgender activist takes to the streets of Oxford to fight anti-trans sentiment through graffiti.
  4. Bodies of Desire
    (India / Directed by Varsha Panikar, Saad Nawab)
    Using Varsha Panikar's poetry series of the same name, Bodies of Desire is a visual poetry film capturing four sets of lovers amid passion.
  5. Land of the Free
    (Swede / Directed by Dawid Ullgren)
    David and his friends celebrate his 25th birthday with a swim at the beach. The good mood quickly changes after two straight couples walk by and laugh. But was the laughter directed at them? And who owns the truth of what exactly happened?
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