If you live anywhere near London (or if you travel to London often), allow me to strongly recommend to you the British Film Institute’s new Mediatheque. Well — new is a relative term. The service was first launched in March of 2007. But I hadn’t heard of it until recently, so there’s a possibility that you may not have, either. Anyway, the point is that it’s awesome.

Basically, the Mediatheque is a room with about 20 viewing stations in it. You stroll in, you register for a two-hour viewing session at the reception desk, and then you sit down and watch something from their archives of films, TV dramas, and documentaries — many of them lesbian-themed — at your own individual screen. It’s possible to book in advance, but based on my own experience this past weekend, your chances are quite good of getting a screen even if you just turn up on the day. You don’t have to be a member; you don’t have to be anything. It’s just there, and it’s free of charge. Nice, huh?

Take a look at the complete list of of archived films available to view. They’re not all lesbian-themed, of course (and I’ll admit I don’t quite understand the process by which they’ve been selected). But if you scan down the list, it won’t take you long to find a range of British lesbian favourites. There are classic dramas, like Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, A Village Affair and Fingersmith.

And there are short films — including the fantastically titled Came Out, It Rained, Went Back in Again, which I watched this weekend. Made in 1991, it features Absolutely Fabulous actress Jane Horrocks as a young “learner lesbian” who travels down to London for the first time and goes through a range of dilemmas that will be utterly familiar to anyone who’s gone through the coming-out process. … continue reading

I have very, very mixed feelings about the upcoming big-screen version of Brideshead Revisited. On the one hand, I want to hate it with every fiber of my being. It’s a remake of a television version from the '80s that seemed perfect to me the first time round. The screenwriter, Andrew Davies (he of Tipping the Velvet fame) has stated in interviews that his aim is to shift the focus of the story, from the memorably homerotic bond between university friends Charles and Sebastian, to the tragic affair between Charles and Sebastian’s sister Julia. Which is a great idea: because what the big screen has really lacked for a long time now is another love story about star-crossed heterosexuals.

On the other hand, the film stars Hayley Atwell.

Atwell probably isn’t known at all currently in the States. Twenty-five years old, she only recently got her start in the U.K., starring in the 2006 BBC drama The Line of Beauty as Catherine Fedden, a restless girl from a wealthy family who suffers from manic depression. Although the drama centered around another young British actor, Dan Stevens, who starred as Nick, it’s probably fair to say that it was Atwell who really caught the attention. … continue reading