Presentation of the 2023 edition:
Love conquers all
“Amor vincit omnia, et nos cedamos amori”, wrote the Roman poet Virgil in his Bucolics when describing both heterosexual or and homosexual pastoral love affairs as well as events in society and politics. “Love conquers all, so we too shall yield to love” is a verse that still amazes us today due to the very current duality of its mandate. On the one hand, it urges us not to fight against the impulse of love, which does not understand reason or sex. On the other hand, it reminds us that the power of love surpasses any mundane, artistic or warlike considerations. The only thing that matters in life is love, and that is why we must surrender to it: to love our loved-ones and put aside any futile desire for glory. A verse that Caravaggio perfectly illustrated in Amor vincit omnia with a completely naked young angel, stepping on the attributes of art, science or government, and with the most mocking smile ever seen.
And indeed, the feared Sergeant Eismayer has no choice but to obey love when the new recruit Falak arrives. The same thing happens to Manuel with his friend Felipe in Sublime. In A Distant Place, the love between Jin-woo and Hyun-min prevails against their community. The force of love also pushes Karim to come out of the closet, already in his forties, before some his Muslim parents overwhelmed by the news, in El Houb (Love). In Les Meilleures (Besties), Nedjma and Zina, two French girls of North African origin, also fall in love, going against family tradition. I In Peafowl, when Shin, a trans dancer, has to go to her father’s funeral, her love will also reconcile her with her people. In La Dérive des continents, Albert can no longer fight the fact that his mother, Nathalie, is a lesbian. In Jimmy in Saigon, we investigate the love that drove the director’s brother to leave the US Midwest to lose himself in Vietnam. We find the same force of love, between married men and violating Turkish tradition, In This Is Not Me. And what else can be said about the power of love when it is the protagonist of a trie of girls in Petit mal?
In a year marked by the war in Europe and by the regression of fundamental rights in certain countries of the world (particularly LGTBI rights in the case of Italy or Uganda), it seemed important to us to highlight the strength of this irrepressible and polymorphous love that emerges from us unstoppably like a multicoloured lava flow, and to celebrate it with that famous verse of Virgil. This love that can help us overcome anything, if we truly believe in it.
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Mostra FIRE!! of this year. A quite mature edition, as always renewed and at the same time faithful to its founding spirit.
From last June until today, quite a few things have happened and we must say that, luckily, the vast majority have been positive. Unfortunately, LGTBIphobia does not return to the levels that we would like and we will need to fight it with all the tools at our disposal. Certainly, this scourge will stay with us until we can live in a society in which the LGTBIQ acronym is fully integrated. This however and being quite optimistic, will still need a few generations.
In this sense, it is necessary to thank and recognize the work of all the entities, associations, business community, initiatives and institutions that work to reverse this situation. Without all of us, LGTBIphobia would remain unpunished and would gain ground for the freedoms that, as people, belong to us.
Casal Lambda makes its contributions, you know, from many aspects. However, some of the fundamental ones are what we do with the Mostra FIRE!!. A festival with many intentions but the most outstanding is to reflect realities and help create imaginaries. Imaginaries of new models, new relationships, new recognitions and new ways of feeling and loving. Surely, there are as many ways to feel and love as there are people… The great power of feeling, love, affection, desire and pleasure make us think and go beyond imaginaries to become realities. And thus, transgressing everything that limits us and makes us more vulnerable. This year, you will find a program designed in this sense and in order to push us to be more authentic people!
As you know, the French Institute of Barcelona is our headquarters. A headquarters and a house, where so many editions with films, documentaries, shorts and invited people have accompanied us and have made us grow as people. The last four editions at the IFB, including a pandemic, have been pleasantly accompanied by the Director who says goodbye in this edition: Max Vasseur. We want him to take away a pleasant memory of our presence, just as we have of him. We want to sincerely thank him for his collaboration and we wish him the best of luck with his new destiny.
It is also necessary to give a special thanks to the entire professional team and all the volunteers who make the event possible. Without all of them, each and every one of the editions of the Mostra FIRE!! would have been impossible! We can only wish you to enjoy this edition. As much as, from the team, they have enjoyed choosing what you will find these days: very good cinema.
Happy festival and get ready to enjoy feelings, loves and wishes on FIRE!!
En attendant la pluie, j’ai accueilli des dizaines d’événements.
En attendant la pluie, dans mes murs, on a pensé, chanté, dansé, joué.
En attendant la pluie, j’ai parlé en français.
En attendant la pluie, j’ai accueilli des artistes de tous genres venus de 1000 horizons.
En attendant, la pluie, j’ai vu des dizaines de films.
En attendant, la pluie , je me suis instruit, je me suis émerveillé, j’ai contemplé.
J’attendais la pluie et c’est le FIRE!! qui est venu.
j’attends toujours la pluie mais, durant 10 jours, je me réjouirai du retour de toute l’équipe du FIRE!! parmi nous.
Bon festival à toutes et à tous.
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