Official section: Short Films

A very special program featuring the most beautifully-made and thought-provoking shorts; optimistic, introspective, funny… In short, everything that we want FIRE!! to be!

Spain, queer territory brings together some of the most evocative, sensitive, and vibrant national short films of the program. Amidst abyssal forces, summer village roads with squares brimming with shared secrets, village festivals permeated by the extraordinary, football fields laden with grief and lineage, and bedrooms where desire conjures visions and spells, this program draws a queer map of the territory and of new national filmmakers: intimate, strange, political, and profoundly alive.

With this title, which naturally alludes to the famous tales of One Thousand and One Nights, we offer you the best of contemporary queer cinema from Arab countries—or Muslim countries, in the case of the Turkish film Hi Mom, It’s Me, Lou Lou. These are all stories that speak of the power of identity and the yearning for freedom, brought to you by filmmakers who use their incredible creativity to change societal perceptions of LGBTQ+ communities in their countries.

Hadi Moussally is not just any artist: a Lebanese photographer, performer and film director, he combines an artistic multifaceted approach with a very clear discourse on what it is to be gay and Arab, both in his country of origin and in his adopted countries: Spain and France. Through her drag alter ego Salma Zahore, she takes us to a colourful world and a hilarious countryside – offering the LGBTIQ+ community in the SWANA region one of those valuable spaces for freedom and expression – without losing sight of the adverse social and legal environment with which they have to coexist. This year, Hadi has been the soul of our festival, dedicated to Arab and Persian queer cinema: he has designed not only the poster for this edition, but we have prepared this session with him with some of his works and also Tea with Adonis, by Selim Mourad, with whom he shares a vision and impetus to highlight the creativity of the Arab queer collective and establish its visibility.

Some of the festival’s feature films and documentaries have won awards! With the previous screening of one of these surprising short films.

Cinema can change the way we see the world! As part of FIRE!!, the Casal Lambda Educational Program presents Shorts that Educate, a special session featuring some of the short films that have accompanied the festival’s educational activities with secondary and high school students over the past few years.

These are moving, courageous, and profoundly human stories that address identity, diversity, memory, self-discovery, discrimination, and freedom from a sensitive, contemporary, and engaged perspective. This is an opportunity to discover some of the audio-visual works that have most deeply moved and prompted reflection among thousands of young people within the FIRE!! Educational Program, an initiative launched by Casal Lambda that, since 2019, has been working to bring LGBTQ+ cinema into classrooms and create spaces for dialogue, respect, and critical thinking. This session is open to all audiences, offering a chance to be moved, reflect, and celebrate the enormous transformative power of cinema!

The short films included in this session are:

● Des oranges en été, Cameron Felipe, France, 2024, 17’
● Adeline, Audrey Biche, France, 2018, 10’
● Valentin, Violette Gitton, Paul Marques Duarte, France 2017, 6’
● Tu propósito, Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, Spain, 2019, 4’
● Antes de la erupción, Roberto Pérez Toledo, Spain, 2021, 9’
● Còlera, José Luis Lázare, Spain, 2025, 10’
● El que no es veu, Lamberto Guerra, Spain, 2017, 4’
● Cocodril, Jorge Yúdice, Spain, 2019, 5’