Welcome

From the LLGFF programmers

Our toe-tapping cover is inspired by this year's Festival celebration of queer dance. We hope it's a suitably scintillating image for a Festival which promises to be a thrillingly good vintage.

This is a strong year for films from Asia as we discover new stories and cultures from filmmakers who are taking bold steps to speak to the experience of lesbian and gay life with important new films from Taiwan, China and Singapore among others. We are celebrating some key creators with a retrospective by Su Friedrich and a focus on New Queer Cinema Now with some of the filmmakers of the early 1990s continuing to produce new and compelling work. Experimental work is another key focus with a wide range of dynamic non-narrative films featured in our Experimental focus.

A new film by Isaac Julien exploring the genius of Derek Jarman will have a special screening. Jarman is a continuing inspiration to the Festival, as a creative artist prepared to take risks, who was not afraid of political protest. There are many rights and privileges which we here in London take for granted. It's important to realise, as many of the films in our Festival vividly point out, that there are many battles still to be fought. In Russia, in Israel, in Latvia there are bold and brave individuals and groups willing to make a stand for the right to free association. In schools there are many children who are not being given access to the support they need to help them understand their developing sexuality, which is addressed in our screening of the Academy award-winning It's Elementary, made in 1996, now with a follow-up film. We will host a young person's filmmaking workshop and there will also be a focus on the growing number of films reflecting the lives and artistic creativity of the transgender community.

Our Centrepiece screenings are A Jihad for Love, a ground-breaking study of gay Muslim life which makes a major contribution to debates around sexuality and religion; and XXY a powerful and sensitive drama from Argentina about an intersex teenager and the challenges to be faced with family and friends.

We'll also be celebrating Bette Davis' 100th birthday, thinking about the problems of growing older, making pom-poms with Amy Lamé, going wild with Erasure: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, having fun with Rupaul and staying up late for all-night musicals in the BFI IMAX as well enjoying Queer Silents and Dance in film alongside a very fine crop of new features and shorts from around the world.

And don't forget that the LLGFF tour of the best of the Festival will travel to more than 40 towns and cities across the UK from May - September.

Michael Blyth, Topher Campbell, Anna Dunwoodie, Brian Robinson, Kyle Stephan

From the BFI

Once again the BFI is delighted to present the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, which this year combines an assuredness born out of its maturity with a still youthful curiosity and energy.One of the BFI's core aims is to present the broadest spectrum of film, video and the moving image to the most diverse range of audiences, and for 22 years the LLGFF has been one of our most successful and far reaching ways of doing just this, bringing the best in queer cinema to audiences in London and across the UK. The array of work selected by our tireless and talented programmers is remarkable - from dramatic features, thrillers and musicals, to witty shorts; from incisive and insightful documentaries and topical debates to craft workshops and tea dancing. Year on year, the Festival aims to be inclusive and welcoming, a place where cultural engagement and celebration can co-exist. All thanks then to the many people whose contributions shape the Festival and make it possible - to the filmmakers whose creativity and commitment inspire us; to the Festival staff, whose work is truly a labour of love; to our funders and sponsors whose support is so valuable to us; and to our audiences, who bring the Festival to life and make it such a pleasurable and vital event.

Sandra Hebron, Head of Festivals, BFI
Amanda Nevill, Director, BFI