Mark Finch

For the rest of his life he was afflicted with severe bouts of depression and it was in his attempts to escape from these that he developed a passionate interest in film and, to a lesser extent, comics.

In 1975 he began to publish a photocopied film fanzine entitled Worlds, which also included reviews of comics and science fiction.

Even with income from a part-time job at the Arts Picture House in Cambridge, Finch realised that he could not afford to publish magazines so he joined CAPA, a recently formed amateur press association, which soon merged with the larger BAPA.

After living a short while in a friend's flat on Long Acre, Finch moved in with his established partner, an Anglican clergyman, in Walworth.

His gently camp affectation would occasionally dissolve into tantrum socially but such outbursts were not part of his professional life, which was characterised by lively industry, incisive wit and a passionate affability.

Finch worked from offices at St James's Church, Piccadilly, from which he developed a huge network of contacts far greater than had been the case at BFI.

With his extensive contacts and honed promotional skills he was able to effect huge increases to the number of films screened by the Festival and broaden the range of places that showed the subsequent touring programme each year.

Tess Martin was brought in as executive director in October 1994 and promptly reduced the payroll and the size of the forthcoming festival.

Ten years after his death Olson made a film, The Joy of Life, of which the second half addresses his suicide and the part played in it by the Golden Gate Bridge.

Although the loss of his unstinting support of new work was a huge blow to many LGBT filmmakers, the festivals and the market that he developed have provided an enduring structure for the promotion of such films.

His body of writing continues to be cited widely and he appeared as an actor in two films: Gregg Araki's gay road romance The Living End (1992) and (posthumously) in Todd Verow's dramatization of the controversial Dennis Cooper novel Frisk (1995).