‘The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo’ wins LGBT Sebastiane Latino Award

The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (La misteriosa mirada del flamenco), the debut feature film from Chilean moviemaker Diego Céspedes, has won the Sebastiane Award given by Gehitu, the Basque Association of Gays, Lesbians, Transsexuals and Bisexuals, and presented at the upcoming San Sebastian Festival.

The jury gives the award to a “Chilean road trip of revenge and fantasy reminding us that love must never be a reason for punishment: whether social or divine”. “We give the award to this film for its reflection of the scepticism and hatred prompted by fear of the unknown that we allow to take precedence over empathy and love”, reads the jury statement.

The award goes to the Latin American feature film that best defends the LGBTIQA+ demands and values. The film from Céspedes bested the other four finalists at the post: Night Stage (Ato noturno) by Marcio Reolón and Filipe Matzembacher; The Innocents (Los inocentes), by Germán Tejada; Llueve sobre Babel, by Gala del Sol, and Newborn (Un mundo para mí) by Alejandro Zuno.

While still at its project stage, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo participated in the 2020 Ikusmira Berriak, where it won the post-production award. This year it will close San Sebastián Festival’s Horizontes Latinos section after having won the Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes.

Diego Céspedes won the Nest Award with his first short film El verano del león eléctrico (2018), and with the second, The Melting Creatures (Las criaturas que se derriten bajo el sol) (2022), participated in the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes as well as opening Zabaltegi-Tabakalera.

Thirteen films compete for the 26th edition of the Sebastiane Award, the recognition by Gehitu of a film in any of the San Sebastian Festival sections to best reflect the values and realities of LGBTIQA+ persons: one in the Official Selection (Maspalomas); another in New Directors (Foreign Lands (Chuzhie Zemli)); two in Horizontes Latinos (The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo and Dolores (La misteriosa mirada del flamenco)); four in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera (Two Times João liberada (Duas vezes João liberada), Strange River and Lurker (El último arrebato, Estrany Riu) and five in Made in Spain (White Roses, Fall! (¡Caigan las rosas blancas!), The Imminent Age (L’edat imminent), Queen of Coal (Miss Carbón), Away (Molt lluny) and A Free Man (Un hombre libre).