Three accomplished OSD Alumni are set to captivate audiences, starring in short films selected for the British Film Institute’s celebrated Flare Festival. Gemma Barnett Arthur McBain, and Nisha Emich all star in films selected to appear at the festival from the 19th to the 30th March at London’s BFI Southbank.
BFI Flare is a celebration of queer cinema, showcasing bold and diverse storytelling. Now in its 39th year, BFI Flare provides a space for community, thought and discussion through film. This year, selected films fall into one of the festival’s three thematic strands – Hearts: Films about love, romance, and friendship; Bodies: Stories of sex, identity and transformation; and Minds: Reflections on art, politics and community.
Please Carry On starring Gemma Barnett has been selected as part of the Minds strand of the festival, Quickie starring Arthur McBain has been selected has part of the Bodies strand of the festival, and Before I Do starring Nisha Emich has been selected as part of the Hearts strand of the festival.
Gemma Barnett: Please Carry On
Gemma Barnet is a graduate of the One Year Course, completing her training in 2017. Since then, she has worked extensively on stage in shows such as A Hundred Words For Snow where she won an Off-West End Award for Best Actor in a Play (a later production of which fellow OSD grad Aiyana Bartlett also starred), A Midsummer Nights Dream, and most recently the Fringe First-winning production Revenge: After The Levoyah.
Barnett is also an award-winning poet and writer, having appeared on BBC Woman’s Hour to perform her Poetry For Good winning spoken word piece The Front Desk. She also wrote and starred in the short film Bridge, which the BBC commissioned as part of their Talent Development Scheme. Bridge has been selected for numerous film festivals and has won multiple Best Film and Best Actress prizes. In a nice OSD connection, Bridge was produced by Cat White, a fellow OSD alumni, through her company Kusini Productions.
Please Carry On follows an introverted data analyst, Catherine, who is deeply invested in the love lives of her next-door neighbours. This short film is a modern love story exploring our desire for intimacy in a post-lockdown world. Written and directed by Elizabeth Connick, and starring OSD alumni Gemma Barnett as Catherine.
Please Carry On has been selected in the BFI Flare Minds category as part of the Day Dreamers short film collection. Day Dreamers is a collection of films which ‘all focus on the people amongst us who spend their waking hours dreaming and desiring’. Please Carry On will premiere on the 20th of March at 3 pm, with a second showing on the 29th of March at 11 am. You can book tickets here from the 27th of February.
Arthur McBain: Quickie
Arthur McBain is a 2013 graduate of the Three Year Course. Since then, he has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre of Scotland and featured in screen projects such as the TV adaptation of Interview With The Vampire, ITV’s The Trouble With Maggie Cole (also featuring fellow OSD Alumni Lee Boardman), the critically acclaimed ABC television series Friday On My Mind, and the Oscar-nominated films Judy and Napoleon. Off-stage, McBain is also a children’s author, having published In The Dead of Night in 2019 and Night of the Living Pasta in 2023.
Most recently, he has finished shooting the forthcoming feature film The Flaw alongside David Dawson (The Last Kingdom, My Policeman). Set in a dystopian world, The Flaw follows a brutal interrogator who is ordered to prove that a suspect is guilty. Based on the 1965 novel by Antonis Samarakis, the story examines truth, state oppression, democracy and power, themes that remain as potent and visceral in our daily lives as they were in 1965 for Samarakis. McBain stars as the “Suspect” at the centre of the plot.
Quickie is presented by writer and director Antonio Perricone. The short film takes us inside a moment of post-coital melancholy, offering us a glimpse into an intimate moment between two men. It stars Arthur McBain and Lewis Grimshaw.
Selected in the Bodies category, Quickie features in the short film collection Brief Encounters. This collection is a series of fleeting moments that capture the intimacy, connection, and vulnerability of men, exploring passion, desire and the complexities of transient encounters. Quickie is premiering as part of Brief Encounters on Saturday, 22nd March at 11 am, and you can get tickets here once they go on sale on the 27th of February.
Nisha Emich: Before I Do
Nisha graduated from the One Year Course in 2022. During her time at OSD, Nisha met other OSD students with whom she would go on to form the theatre company Baby Lamb Productions. Baby Lamb Productions are ‘committed to making shows that make you laugh’; they have sold out fringe venues with their Offie-nominated adults-only adaptations of Robin Hood and The Emperor’s New Clothes. You can keep up with all things Baby Lamb by following their Instagram @babylambproductions
Outside of her work with Baby Lamb Productions, Nisha has worked with the BBC, featuring in projects such as the wildly popular comedy Ghosts and the long-running TV show Doctors.
Before I Do is written by afshan d’souza-lodhi and directed by Gitika Buttoo. The pair were awarded BFI funding to create the film, which now features as part of the BFI Flare Festival. The short film follows Mona, a British-Indian woman who, on the morning of her wedding, questions her rushed marriage and reflects on a liaison from her past. You can find out more about the film, and see some beautiful behind-the-scenes shots from the shoot on afshan d’souza-lodhi’s website.
We love finding OSD graduate connections here at blog writing HQ – another fun connection is that afshan d’souza-lodhi also co-wrote Santi & Naz which fellow OSD grads Aiyana Barlett and Farah Ashraf recently toured.
Before I Do is part of the To Your Souls collection in the Hearts strand of the festival. This collection features stories beautifully capturing the breadth of LGBTQIA+ experiences in the UK and Ireland. Before I Do is being screened on Sunday, 23rd March at 10:45, Wednesday, 26th March at 20:50, and Sunday, 30th March at 17:00. All but one of these dates are now sold out! You can get tickets for the Sunday 30th screening here.
BFI Flare Festival is a BAFTA qualifying festival, meaning that all the films selected will be eligible for BAFTA consideration for next year’s ceremony. An incredibly exciting time for the teams behind Please Carry On, Quickie, and Before I Do.
It’s great to see OSD alumni doing well in all the various facets of screen work. Keep your eyes peeled for our regular OSD grad news round-ups for both stage and screen, where we celebrate the diversity of work our grads go on to do. Congratulations to Gemma, Arthur, and Nisha – we hope the festival goes well!
