To celebrate the 26th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, we have added new free films to Beautiful Things, our landmark collection showing queer British lives on screen across the last century, which can be accessed at pop-in Mediatheques across the UK. New additions include Dream A40 (1965), Lloyd Reckord’s mesmerising underground short given a new lease of life by the BFI National Archive, while Dame Judi Dench and Bill Nighy escape dreary post-war austerity in a crumbling Soho drinking den in tragicomic TV treat Absolute Hell (1991). Contemporary work includes Tick Tock Lullaby (2007), Lisa Gornick’s witty follow-up to her debut feature Do I Love You? (2002), Nathan Evans’ series of short films featuring cult performance artist David Hoyle, and the dreamlike Delphinium: A Childhood Portrait of Derek Jarman (2011).

With over 100 films and television programmes, from Victorian drag queens and singing lesbian highwaywomen to Fingersmith (2005) and The Line of Beauty (2006), Beautiful Things celebrates Britain’s rich legacy of LGBT representation on big and small screen alike.

BFI Southbank’s Mediatheque is the place to explore the BFI National Archive for free. You can also find Mediatheques at Cambridge Central Library, the Discovery Museum, Newcastle, QUAD, Derby and Wrexham Library.

Image: Tick Tock Lullaby