K evin Hegge’s documentary feature TRAMPS! will world premiere as the closing film of BFI Flare in London.

Produced by Hegge, who wrote and directed the film, and Brian Robertson of Toronto prodco Low End, TRAMPS! uses archival footage and interviews to examine the New Romantics movement in the 1980s, looking at it through the lens of an art movement instead of an exclusively pop culture.

The British Film Institute’s LGBTIQA+ film festival will run from March 16 to 27, opening with coming-of-age drama Girl Picture, directed by Alli Haapasalo.

Game Theory Films holds Canadian rights to TRAMPS!, while international distribution rights remain open ahead of its world premiere. Financial support was provided by Telefilm and the Ontario Council of the Arts.

Tramps! is Hegge’s second feature documentary, following the film She Said Boom: The Story of Fifth Column, about the ’80s queer feminist band.

“This film would not have existed if it weren’t for BFI Flare programming my debut feature documentary in 2013,” said Hegge in a statement, noting he met musician Verity Susman at that same festival, which manifested in her collaborative original soundtrack with Matt Simms for Tramps! The musicians’ histories in bands like Electrelane and WIRE, respectively, “have had a major impact on me personally,” he said.