In Pictures: LGBTQ London On Film

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 78 months ago
In Pictures: LGBTQ London On Film

LGBTQ films have been shot in London for longer than you might think. BFI Player's impressive online collection includes an Edwardian drag competition, and a 1930s ditty about gender bending — alongside myriad documentaries, features and shorts through the decades, and into the 1990s.

Check out these stills from some of the best LGBTQ films available on BFI Player, then click thorugh to watch them for free, or rent.

The Angelic Conversation (1985). Derek Jarman conjures an evocative and radical visualisation of Shakespeare’s love poems, with narration by Judi Dench and music by Coil.
What's a Girl Like You… (1969). Scintillating look at the 1960s drag renaissance, with a visit to London's Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
David Is Homosexual (1976). A lonely gay man discovers friends, love and activism in this rediscovered educational film made by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality
David Is Homosexual (1976).
A Boy Called Mary (1986). The fabulous life and times of queer writer Kris Kirk, who became one of the UK’s most influential music journalists.
Gay Black Group (1983). Reasserting culture and identity on two levels.
Gay Black Group (1983).
Gay Geography (Gay Life) (1980). The LGBT current affairs series visits the new Heaven nightclub, contrasting it with other parts of London’s gay scene.
Gay Geography (Gay Life) (1980).
Gay Geography (Gay Life) (1980).
21st Century Nuns (1994). Street protest transvestite nuns perpetually indulge in this 1993 doc featuring Derek Jarman.
Homosexual Equality (1974). The Campaign for Homosexual Equality is given airtime in the first ever community access series on British TV.
Homosexual Equality (1974).
How Percy Won the Beauty Competition (1909). Percy drags up to scoop the top prize in this Edwardian short - but will he be found out?
Illegal Tender (1987). Queer psychedelic portrait of a young man’s desires in an industrial wasteland.
Illegal Tender (1987).
The Important Thing Is Love (1971). "I'm no man-hater": lesbian women discuss their lives, relationships and struggles against discrimination in this TV documentary.
Male Sexuality (1981). Gay men discuss sexuality, masculinity and relationships in a documentary filmed just before the outbreak of Aids.
Male Sexuality (1981).
Male Sexuality (1981).
Miss Norah Blaney (1932). A risqué music hall ditty uncovers the pioneering gender-bending ways of 1930s young things.
One in Five (1982). Endearingly right-on concoction bringing together lesbians and gay men for dancing and debate at Heaven nightclub.
One in Five (1982).
Oscar Wilde (1960). Gripping TV recreation of Wilde's 1895 trial for gross indecency, starring Micheál MacLiammóir.
Quentin Crisp (1970). Join the original Naked Civil Servant in his London bedsit for a lesson on life, love and gender politics.
Tall Dark Stranger (1986). Are you ready to strut your stuff? Take a bracing, sexy cruise around the diverse 1980s gay scene.
Tall Dark Stranger (1986).
We Who Have Friends (1969). A fascinating and important film on attitudes towards homosexuality, and what it was like to be gay, shortly after it was partially legalised.
True Romance, Etc. (1982). Hackney teenagers - black, white, gay and straight - talk sex, love and marriage in this compelling drama-documentary.

Last Updated 18 September 2017