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Five LGBT films unveiled for worldwide celebration of love and diversity

British Council and BFI announce their film selection from London LGBT Film Festival BFI Flare.

Swirl
Swirl

The British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural and educational opportunities, and the British Film Institute (BFI) have announced the five short films selected from BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival. They will be made available online and completely free of charge on March 17 for audiences across the world as part of this year’s fiveFilms4freedom, an online film festival which celebrates love and diversity.

fiveFilms4freedom is the world’s first digital, global, LGBT film festival and will be promoted through the British Council’s network in more than 50 countries and regions, reaching audiences across the Americas, China, India, Israel, Kosovo, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and the Middle East.

This Thursday, March 17, fiveFilms4freedom will become a 24-hour campaign asking people everywhere to watch a film together over the course of one single day. This will be a chance for audiences, wherever they are, to enjoy LGBT cinema; to find out a little bit more about emerging LGBT filmmakers from around the world; and most importantly, to show support for freedom and equality everywhere.

From travelling communities to Easter bonnets and the wonderment of growing up, the five films tell a range of affecting stories about contemporary LGBT life in countries including Brazil, Ireland, Spain, the Philippines and the UK. They are polished, rough, funny, sad and inspiring and each has a different voice.

The five films are:

♦ SWIRL Two girls, young and in love, move backwards through the city in Peterson Varga’s lyrical short from the Philippines.

XAVIER is a film by Brazilian director Ricky Mastro about a father who notices that his 11-year-old son pays a lot of attention to slightly older boys.

BREATHE is a British-Irish film by James Doherty, about an Irish traveller who is increasingly concerned that his son is ‘soft’, so sets about toughening him up.

TAKE YOUR PARTNERS In this British short film by director Siri Rodnes, Miss Paterson expects Ollie to make an Easter bonnet like the other girls. But Ollie is not like the other girls.

THE ORCHID A man has something important to tell his son, but can only get through to his voicemail in this film by Spanish director Ferran Navarro-Beltrán.

Alan Gemmell
Alan Gemmell

Alan Gemmell, Director fiveFilms4freedom, British Council, said: “fiveFilms4freedom is a ground-breaking LGBT film festival supporting freedom and equality all over the world. For our second year we are showcasing some of our finest short film makers to help celebrate love and diversity through one of the world’s most powerful and accessible cultural forms: film.  By bringing together the British Council and films from BFI Flare we are promoting LGBT cinema in countries that make up half of the world’s population.”

The five films will be available to watch online on March 17 on both the British Council website and BFI player.

To view online, click here:

Fury at outing of trans film director

Campaigning consumer group demand The Daily Mail end harassment and outing of transgender individuals.

Lilly Wachowski
Lilly Wachowski

A new petition from SumOfUs, an international consumer watchdog, is demanding that The Daily Mail stop putting lives at risk and ends immediately the newspaper’s practice of outing and harassing trans individuals.

The petition has been signed by more than 25,000 people in the UK since launching late last week and comes after Lilly Wachowski, the co-director of blockbuster films such as the The Matrix and V For Vendetta, was doorstepped by a journalist from The Daily Mail last week. The journalist threatened Lilly saying if she didn’t do an interview with the paper, she would be immediately outed.

It is not the first time a trans person has been outed by the Daily Mail. In 2013 primary school teacher Lucy Meadows committed suicide after being mocked by Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn who wrote in his column: “He’s not only in the wrong body… he’s in the wrong job”.

Littlejohn belittled Meadows, referring to her “personal problems” and played on the outdated scare tactic that LGBT people are a threat to children. 200,000 SumOfUs members signed a petition asking The Daily Mail to sack Littlejohn.

Hanna Thomas
Hanna Thomas

Hanna Thomas, UK campaigner for SunOfUs.org, said: “Let’s be clear. Outing of trans people literally puts lives at risk. A staggering 41% of trans people attempt suicide at some point of their lives, leaving them incredibly vulnerable when outed without their consent.

“Of course, this isn’t anything new for The Daily Mail. In 2013, after Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn outed primary school teacher Lucy Meadows as a trans woman, she committed suicide after facing public ridicule, and a wildly inappropriate witch hunt driven by The Daily Mail’s coverage.”

“Enough is enough. The Daily Mail must stop outing trans people. It’s not news, and it’s not acceptable.”

To sign the petition, click here:

Crack down on LGBTI hate crime in Scotland

Police and equality charities begin innovative programme to crack down on LGBTI hate crime north of the border.

Police Scotland

Police Scotland and the Equality Network are to work together to train more than 60 officers to help prevent hate crime faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Scotland.

The Equality Network, Scotland’s national LGBTI equality charity, will deliver a training programme for police at locations around the country that will help Police Scotland support victims of hate crime, and increase public confidence in police.

Once they have completed the training, police officers will become part of a new network of LGBTI Liaison Officers who can be contacted by members of the LGBTI community. The officers will also be able to help and advise their colleagues across Police Scotland on LGBTI issues.

Equality Network logoAs part of a coordinated programme of work, the Equality Network will also provide training for Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service staff, while LGBT Youth Scotland will roll out a programme across schools in Scotland to support children and teachers to address homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

These initiatives are part of the National LGBT Hate Crime Partnership which brings together 35 LGBT organisations from across England, Wales and Scotland, and is being delivered on behalf of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and led by the LGBT Consortium.

Superintendent Baird
Superintendent Baird

Superintendent Jim Baird of Police Scotland’s Safer Communities Department, said: “Tackling hate crime is a priority for Police Scotland. We are delighted to have worked with the Equality Network. Research and studies show hate crime against the LGBTI community is often under reported. We hope that these specially trained officers will encourage more LGBTI people to come forward with the confidence in Police Scotland to help reverse this trend.”

Supt Baird added: “If anyone feels they have been the victim of, or witness to, a crime which is motivated by malice or ill will because of sexual orientation or gender identity they should report it to us directly, online or through a Third Party Reporting site.

“We take all such reports very seriously and will conduct thorough investigations to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Scott Cuthbertson
Scott Cuthbertson

Scott Cuthbertson of the Equality Network, added: “We know too many LGBTI people are the victims of hate crime, but we also know that many, for whatever reason, still do not report hate crimes. We want to change that.

“That’s why we are pleased to be working so closely with Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and other criminal justice agencies to provide training on LGBTI issues and to work together to remove the barriers to reporting a hate crime.”

In Scotland, sexual orientation aggravated crime is the second most common type of hate crime, but research shows that many people do not report incidents to the police.

The number of charges for sexual orientation aggravated crime has risen since hate crime legislation came into effect in Scotland in March 2010, to stand at 841 in 2014-15. While reporting of transphobic hate crime remains low at 21 charges in 2014-15, there is evidence of significant under-reporting.

A recent report by the Equality Network found that almost half of LGBT respondents had experienced or witnessed an incident of prejudice or discrimination in the past month, rising to 79% within the past year and 97% within their lifetimes.

The Scottish LGBT Equality Report also found that transgender respondents were more likely to have experienced recent prejudice or discrimination. One out of seven respondents (14%) had experienced or witnessed an incident in the last 24 hours, almost half (45%) in the last week and 91% in the last year.

For more information on hate crime and how to report it in Scotland, click here:

Charleston Festival puts crime writer under the microscope

Charleston Festival returns this May, with a focus on the work of renowned author Patricia Highsmith.

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The festival, now in its 27th year, celebrates the 100th anniversary of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant coming to live at Charleston, on the recommendation of Virginia Woolf. From the start Charleston was a place of dissent and debate as well as creativity, and the festival has always tried to reflect these values.

Patricia Highsmith’s work has recently been enjoying a renaissance, with the huge success of the film Carol which is based on her novel The Price of Salt. Many of her books have been adapted into films, including Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr Ripley.

Highsmith’s work will be dissected at this year’s Charleston Festival by novelist Jill Dawson. Dawson will be in conversation with Donna Coonan and Lennie Goodings, editorial director and publisher of Virago, at Charleston on Saturday, May 21 at 5pm.

This is a bumper festival with two extra days, as well as a celebratory dinner with HRH Princess Michael of Kent. Art is celebrated with sessions involving architect Zaha Hadid, Edmund de Waal and Julian Bell. The 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare is marked by events led by James Shapiro, Nicholas Hytner, Jeanette Winterson and Eileen Atkins.

There is biography and autobiography including Joan Bakewell, Ted Hughes and Stephen Spender. Science is represented by the Astronomer Royal Lord Rees and by inventor of the web Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is this year’s winner of the Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize. Among the high profile writers taking part are three Booker and three Orange Prize winners.

“Our aim is to startle and delight,” says artistic director Diana Reich, “to experiment with something new.”

Charleston is halfway between Brighton and Eastbourne, six miles east of Lewes, off the A27. There is a minibus shuttle service from Lewes train station direct to Charleston for all events.

Charleston Festival runs from May 20 to 30.

For information and timetables, click here:

To book tickets for any events online, click here:

Or telephone: 01273 709709

PREVIEW: Actually Gay Men’s Chorus: ‘It’s Bound To Be Right On The Night!’

A decade of divas, descant, drag and delight brings it’s share of blood sweat and tears, but It’s Bound To Be Right On The Night!.

Actually Gay Men's Chorus

Actually Gay Men’s Chorus are pulling out all of the stops for what promises to be their biggest celebration to date.

On Friday 13 and Saturday 14 May the Chorus will perform an exciting retrospective with highlights from the past ten years that have entertained audiences through their trademark wall of sound, with stunning songs from musical theatre, the classics, reflections on war as well as contemporary repertoire.

This celebration will be the final production for founder member and Musical Director Jason Pimblett who has led, styled and driven the Chorus to bring them to this exciting landmark.

Jason Pimblett
Jason Pimblett

To help get the celebrations started the Chorus are thrilled to welcome back chorus favourites, cabaret stars Miss Jason and David Raven, sopranos Samantha Howard and Sophie Causbrook,  and Monty Python’s Carol Cleveland.

Jason Pimblett said: “It’s been a challenge to narrow down and select those songs that our loyal audiences love, there have been so many favourites over the years, the repertoire for ‘It’s Bound To Be Right On The Night’ has something for everyone.”

This event will be raising funds for Inclusion For All, who campaign to tackle homophobic bullying in schools


Event: It’s Bound To Be Right On The Night! a Brighton Fringe Festival event

Where: St Andrew’s Church, Waterloo Street, Hove

When: May 13 and 14

Time: 7.30pm

Cost: £12 (£10 concessions)

To book tickets online, click here: no booking fee

For more information about Actually Gay Men’s Chorus, click here:

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