Free, English-friendly film comes to Prague in support of the LGBTQ community

For the third year in a row, Prague’s boutique cinema Edison Filmhub joins hands with the British Council to bring to audiences five stories showcasing the diversity, universal aspirations and need for self-expression of the LGBTQ+ community from around the world.

Taking place this Friday, March 20, Five Films for Freedom is a carefully curated selection of five short films from the BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival.

The program “champions the power of storytelling to spark deeper understanding and change, showcasing diverse voices and perspectives that remind us that, no matter who we are or where we are, the need for love and self-expression is universal,” writes the British Council.

While the films will be made available online for about two weeks, Prague audiences will be one of the few to be able to screen them in an actual cinema.

“We’re lucky enough here to be able to actually screen them on a big screen, which doesn’t happen in many countries,” says Ryan Keating, project manager at Edison Filmhub.

“We hope that by doing this, we’re promoting new LGBTQIA+ filmmakers from around the world, and having a dialogue about the films, their themes, and how they relate to the Czech Republic and its queer community,” he tells Expats.cz.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with three special guests: trans-activist Lenka Králová, performer and music artist Miss Petty, and actor and writer Ivan Lupták.

“As an ex-teacher from the British Council myself, I am always really excited to bring these two worlds together,” Ryan says. “Both the British Council and Edison Filmhub have a passion for sharing culture, and the fact that we get to do this event free of charge for the audience just makes it so much more accessible.”

This year, the selected movies come from Brazil, Vietnam, France, the UK and USA/Mexico:

Directed by Katie Lambert, I Hate Helen (UK) explores the “tidal wave of gay lust some girls feel in school,” and how to let those feelings just wash over you.

In Rag Dolls (USA-Mexico), director Amy Adler follows the daily routine of a lesbian couple facing disability, discrimination, homophobia, and poverty in Puebla, Mexico.

From France we have Room 206, where filmmaker Laura Bisceglia invites viewers to accompany Clair who just received gender-affirming surgery and embarks on a path toward self-recognition and emotional renewal.

Directed by Monica Palazzo and Jo Galvv, Theo (Brazil) follows a 7-year-old boy during the 1986 World Cup “quietly navigating school life while defying rigid gender expectations”.

And finally from Vietnam, Sweat (Mô Hôi) by Edward Nguyen tells the story of worker Hung who, on the eve of his leaving rural Vietnam, finds a new understanding of love and intimacy through his final day spent with fellow worker Hoang.