07/06/2023 - During the 11-day celebration of LGBTI film in Barcelona, there will be a lab with projects on this theme and preview screenings of movies such as Te estoy amando locamente

The 28th edition of Fire!! Barcelona LGBTI Film Festival is all set to unspool from 8-18 June and will be opened by the premiere of Eismayer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Wagner
film profile], a film by Austrian director David Wagner that tackles the topic of homosexuality within the army, and which is being released in Spanish commercial movie theatres the day after, Friday 9^th, courtesy of Surtsey Films. The gathering will be brought to a close by the screening of the US movie Chrissy Judy by Todd Fraherty, and in between, there will be standout moments, such as a special screening of Te estoy amando locamente [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the feature debut by Seville-born director Alejandro Marín, starring Ana Wagener (see the news), plus a revival of the lesbian feature from 1977 I Feel Deadly Compass by Enrique Martí Maqueda, toplined by Rocío Dúrcal and Bárbara Rey.

Standing out in the official section are European titles of the likes of the comedy-drama El Houb (The Love) (Netherlands) by Shariff Nasr, which addresses culture shocks; the family drama revolving around acceptance Continental Drift (South) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lionel Baier
film profile] (Switzerland/France) by Lionel Baier; the collision of tradition and sexual freedom captured by Marion Desseigne Ravel in Besties [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France); and co-productions such as Pornomelancolía [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Manuel Abramovich
film profile] (Mexico/France/Brazil/Argentina), in which Manuel Abramovich shows how to construct an online sexual character; and Petit Mal (Colombia/Spain), or the unexpected conflicts of polyamory, according to filmmaker Ruth Caudeli.

This strand is rounded off by the Israeli flick Concerned Citizen by Idan Haguel, South Korea’s A Distant Place by Park Kun-young and Peafowl by Byun Sung-bin, Chile’s Phantom Project by Roberto Doveris, Argentina’s Sublime by Mariano Biasin and Horseplay by Marco Berger, and the US titles Two Eyes by Travis Fine and American Parent by Emily Railsback.

In addition to the short-film and documentary sections – and the channel that the Filmin platform is dedicating to the festival – one particular highlight on the programme is “La mirada del cine suizo” (lit. “The Gaze of Swiss Cinema”), in which four fiction features, two documentaries and five short films will be screened, all broaching LGBTI topics and produced in the alpine country.

Meanwhile, in Fire!! Pro, an area dedicated to audiovisual industry professionals, we should highlight the development lab for films on LGBTI topics, which seeks to foster their production and marketability, and which celebrates its third edition from 12-14 June. The screenwriters, directors and producers of the selected projects will receive valuable advice on their script, direction and production strategies, courtesy of prominent professionals from the national and international audiovisual industry.

The titles selected for this edition of the lab are as follows: La pastora, directed by Lázaro Cienfuegos and produced by Charli Bujosa Cortés; La mala estiba, directed by Dave Jackson and staged by Claudia Clot; Paloma brava, directed by Nerea Guitart and produced by Camila Montaldo; Un país lejano, directed by Jorge Trujillo, written by Sergio Granda and produced by Cristina Escobar; El baile del estornino, directed by Bárbara Fernández; and Tentadora, directed by Carmen Aumedes and produced by Greta Díaz Moreau.

(Translated from Spanish)