The countdown to FIRE!! 2026 begins with the motto, the graphic image and 5 programming advances!
The edition of the FIRE!! 2026 Festival will take place this year from 4 to 14 June . An edition marked by a very special theme: the gaze of Arab and Persian queer cinema. Under the slogan “A thousand and one queer stories“, this edition will make us see and reclaim the experiences of the LGBTIQ+ collective in this part of the world!
We present the graphic image dedicated to this look, prepared with great love by our beloved Lebanese director and photographer Hadi Moussally, where he presents himself characterized by his famous alter ego, Salma Zahore. If you want to know more about his work, you can see his exhibition The Arabs Who Live in Me at the French Institute, and also enjoy, on the opening day of his performance I Am Love.
And now we preview 5 FIRE titles!! 2026:
Bouchra – ***Opening film*** – Thursday 4, 8pm / Saturday 13am, 4pm
Directed by: Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani – Morocco, Italy, United States, 2025, Drama, 83′
Cast: Ariana Faye Allensworth, Fayçal Azizi, Orian Yani Barki, Yto Barrada, Meriem Bennani
Bouchra, a 35-year-old lesbian Moroccan filmmaker based in New York, is paralyzed by the fear of the blank page. A phone call with her mother, a cardiologist based in Casablanca, brings up many memories between them. Bouchra, a 35-year-old lesbian Moroccan filmmaker based in New York, is paralyzed by the fear of the blank page. A phone call with her mother, a cardiologist based in Casablanca, brings up many memories between them.
On the Sea – Friday 5, 10 p.m. / Thursday 11, 4 p.m.
Director: Helen Walsh – United Kingdom, 2025, Drama, 111′
Cast: Barry Ward, Lorne MacFadyen, Liz White, Henry Lawfull, Celyn Jones, Danny Webb
Jack has been married to Maggie for more than half of his life. He works as a collector in the mussel banks of North Wales. He has always taken it for granted that his son, Tom, will join the family business when he finishes school, but Tom’s resistance to following in his footsteps creates tension in the family. The situation is aggravated by the arrival of an itinerant sailor, Daniel, who reveals his feelings for Jack. In his remote rural community, where life revolves around church and fishing, Jack faces an impossible dilemma.
Jimpa – Saturday 6, 4 p.m. / Saturday 13, 10 p.m.
Directed by: Sophie Hyde – Australia, 2025, Drama, 113′
Cast: Olivia Colman, John Lithgow, Aud Mason-Hyde
Hannah, a filmmaker, travels to Amsterdam with her husband and her non-binary teenage son, Frances. Upon reuniting with Jim, his father, who is gay, politically engaged, HIV-positive and affectionately nicknamed “Jimpa”, hopes to talk about his plans to tell his story on the big screen. However, when Jimpa’s health, a fiercely independent man, begins to deteriorate, Hannah and her sister must talk about the future.
Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day – Saturday 6, 10 pm / Wednesday 10, 10 pm
Directed by: Ivona Juka – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, Serbia, 2024, Drama, 137′
Cast: Emir Hadžihafizbegović, Elmir Krivalić, Dado Ćosić, Slaven Došlo, Đorđe Galić, Goran Grgić, Asja Jovanovic
Four close friends, all homosexual, fought during World War II against the Ustasha and the Nazis, joining Tito’s National Liberation Struggle. 16 years later, they have become renowned filmmakers, making films that criticize the society of their time, while living their sexuality freely. But the Emir, a loyal member of the Communist Party, is tasked with sabotaging his career and his life…
The meadow and the moon – Sunday 14, 10 p.m.
Directed by: Cayetana H. Cuyás – Spain, 2025, Documentary, 98′
Cast: Pepe Cabrera Cuyás, Tana Cuyás Gómez, Cayetana H. Cuyás, Tolina Puscassiu, Ángeles Montesdeoca
Cayetana H. Cuyás’ tribute to her uncle, Antonio Gómez, who was Valentino’s chief designer. Always in the shadow of the great Italian designer, he died of AIDS in 1991, when he was beginning to emerge alone. Cayetana found an unfinished film script of his own and decided —from his lesbian identity and also playing with the homosexuality of his own brother, who brilliantly plays Uncle Antoni— to shoot that film as a family that he could not finish in life, inevitably reminding us of a generation of artists who disappeared in full creative expansion.
