In 1988 the conservative Thatcher government proposes Section 28, a law which equates gays and lesbians with pedophiles and bans the promotion of homosexuality in public. Sports coaches are the first victims of the resulting homophobic attacks and Jean is forced to live a double life. On weekdays she is popular with her high school students and colleagues, but on the weekends she and her girlfriend Viv venture into the nightlife of Newcastle’s queer clubs. When a pupil confronts her in a lesbian bar, Jean’s “secret life” is upended.

A brilliant debut film from British director Georgia Oakley. Alongside Charlotte Wells, who brilliantly explored a father-daughter relationship in Aftersun (2022), the two directors herald a bright, new generation of British cinema. Blue Jean won the Audience Award at the Venice Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori section, screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival as well as gracing many other festivals exposing the tangles of social hypocrisy and a climate of intolerance. A perceptive reconstruction of an era, this identity drama will sway to the rhythms of New Order dressed in torn jeans, shimmering in red and blue lights in search of better days.