Decrimalisatn changed the way homosexualy and gay culture were portrayed on screen.
Contents:
10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
From Victim to Weekend, we remember some of the bt Brish gay films. * british short gay films *
This may e as a surprise om a untry where male homosexualy was illegal until as recently as 1967, and where gay marriage ntu to ffle right-wgers, swivel-eyed or otherwise. We’ve narrowed down the list to films easily available on DVD, although honourable mentn mt go to the über-rare Two Gentlemen Sharg (1969), a swgg slice of the 60s that hted at terracial homosexualy.
Sign up to BFI Flare emailsGet the latt #BFIFlare news and ticket release list should really be a Top 11 – the omissn of Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), the first Brish film to feature a gay kiss, is borrle excable. Tom Shkolnik’s betifully observed The Comedian (2012), which a possibly gay, possibly bi thirtysomethg (Edward Hogg) tri to make as a standup the pal, also narrowly missed cln.
A few d homosexuals n be found Aled Hchck’s early work (check out the swishy drsmaker 1925’s The Pleasure Garn), while Ivor Novello’s films play up the flamboyant star’s androgyny, playg very odd, allegedly heterosexual men The Lodger (1926) and The Man whout Dire (1923). The ma tr may be straight, but the mera’s love of Pl Robon’s torso – the film was directed and produced by gay men – hts at an even more taboo love story.
10 GREAT GAY ROMANCE FILMS
Celebrate the bt gay movi wh our list of the 50 most sential LGBTQ+ films ever ma * british short gay films *
Victim (1961)Dirk Bogar, an actor who never acknowledged the mours of his homosexualy durg his lifetime, took a real reer risk playg a lawyer who, followg a strg of blackmail attempts agast gay men, begs to realise his own sexualy. Victim was released four years after the publitn of the Wolfenn report, a paper which remend that male homosexualy no longer be regard as a crimal offence.
It took another 10 years before partial crimalisatn took effect wh the Sexual Offenc act 1967, which allowed homosexual acts, private, between two men over the age of 21 – many feel Basil Dearn’s film helped liberalise attus and pave the way towards tolerance towards gay people. The Leather Boys (1964)The Brish ‘kchen sk’ dramas, foced around workg-class liv, that prevailed the late 50s and early 60s ocsnally ntaed sympathetic gay characters, such as Murray Melv’s stunt A Taste of Honey (1961) and Cicely Courtneidge’s ageg actor The L-shaped Room (1962).
A newlywed (Col Campbell) havg marriage problems fds pe through mararie wh a biker gang – and don’t realise that his dynamic and fatly misogynist bt iend (Dudley Sutton) is gay. The last scene, set a gay bar, featur a nga le of unlikable stereotyp, but at least Sutton across more sympathetilly than Ra Thgham, playg Campbell’s shrewish wife. Now Nighthawks n be re-evaluated as an valuable time psule of the late 1970s gay scene, the liberated perd between crimalisatn and the outbreak of AIDS.
* british short gay films *
Ken Robertson is very good as the antihero, pecially the film’s bt scene, when the teacher out to his homophobic class and nonts their prejudic.
Homosexualy is jt one of the topics vered Hanif Kureishi’s amb, Osr-nomated screenplay, which also tak on racism, culture clash, and the state of Thatcher’s Bra.
That's right — not every gay movie has to end wh heartbreak. * british short gay films *
Betiful Thg (1996)This favoure remas one of the sweett of all gay films, tellg the story of two troubled boys – one bullied at school, the other at home – who fd love each other’s arms.
It’s a super play, but the film jt about tmps , thanks pecially to the performanc – Glen Berry retired om actg, Stt Neal played another gay role The Bill, while the scene-stealg Lda Henry beme a fixture on Bad Girls and EastEnrs. Dirk Bogar’s landmark role the 1961 crime thriller Victim is the touchstone, a film that actually helped change public opn and the law, when the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act partially crimalised male homosexualy. In the wake of this first step towards equaly, we were treated to unpleasant stereotyp galore The Killg of Sister Gee (1968) and Stairse (1969), but the 1970s saw progrs wh the sophistited bisexual love triangle of John Schlger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), Derek Jarman’s homoerotic Sebastiane (1976) and Ron Peck and Pl Hallam’s Nighthawks (1978), the first explicly gay Brish feature set the gay muny.
Sign up to BFI Flare emailsGet the latt #BFIFlare news and ticket release raged agast the renewed ti of state-sanctned homophobia the 80s, while the 90s brought the much-loved Betiful Thg (1996). Ser Charge (1959)Two years before Victim tackled the subject head-on, Ser Charge was the first mastream Brish feature to obliquely al wh homosexualy. A very slight relaxatn of dranian censorship l allowed a smatterg of hts that this man of the church is queer, that certa othg homophob know and are jumpg at the chance to get him the stocks.
The urse of gay love rarely ns smooth on screen, but happy endgs are not as rare as they once were. Wh Merchant-Ivory’s Mrice currently back cemas, we celebrate gay films at their most romantic. * british short gay films *
Dream A40 (1965)Wh mastream cema still reluctant to tackle gay characters and plots the mid-60s, Jamain actor-director Lloyd Reckord took matters to his own hands wh this extraordary unrground short that terrogat the psychologil impact of persecutn.
Ma on a shotrg, the film follows a young gay uple as a road trip out of their smopolan bubble scends to a horrifyg ‘guilt fantasy’ when a cur youngster spi them holdg hands. Andrea Weiss wtily unpicks gay and lbian reprentatn Brish film and TV, om early d glimps to breakthroughs like Victim and the mastream mpery of the Carry Ons. The origal ‘Gay Bgo’ crew of Jonny Woo, John Sizzle and Ma Butcher are joed by performance artists Sttee and Pia, and Holtar, a trailblazer for female drag queens.
Short films particular hold a special place this nversatn as they have the unique abily to tell powerful and thought-provokg stori om a variety of film ftivals of 2022 were a ttament to the signifince of this movement, showsg some of the most ptivatg and spirg gay short films that left dienc around the world awe.