The FIRE!! sample becomes a festival

BarcelonaThis year's edition of FIRE!! will take place from June 4th to 14th, with its main venue at the Institut français de Barcelona. The quintessential LGBTIQ+ film event in the Catalan capital is no longer a showcase and is now recognized as a festival: the economic endowment of two thousand euros foreseen by the new Ventura Pons award for best feature film is the element that elevates the status of FIRE!!, an initiative launched in 1995 by Casal Lambda of Barcelona. “The percentage of LGBTIQ+ films worldwide is still lower than the ratio of non-strictly heterosexual people,” assured the festival director, Antoine Leonetti, at the presentation of the 31st edition to the media.

The screening of films (documentary and fiction, features and shorts; 56 in total) will be divided into thematic sections. "A Thousand and One Queer Stories" is the slogan of this year's edition: a tribute to Arab and Persian cultures that continue to nourish the FIRE!! program year after year, despite the repression suffered by the LGBTIQ+ community in most countries in this region. The graphic image was created by one of its star guests, the French-Lebanese film director and fashion photographer Hadi Moussally, who will star in the performance I am love at the opening. Moussally will also dedicate a special session to his creative universe, which explores Arab queer identity through cinema –up to four of his films will be screened– and a drag alter ego.

(2025), by Iranian filmmaker Shand Kabiri, is one of the main draws of the programming; but also The crowd (2025), by Iranian filmmaker Shand Kabiri, is one of the main draws of the programming; but also On sera heureux (2025) by Léa Pool, which explores the escape of a young man from the ayatollah regime. The festival opening will feature the screening of Bouchra (2025), an animated film by Moroccan filmmakers Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani.

The other sections that make up the festival are Pantalla Trans, with thirteen films focused on transgender realities, such as the Irish production Girls & Boys (2025) or the Australian Jimpa The revolution of Arab and Persian queer cinemaMontréal, ma belle (2025), by Xiaodan He, the story of a married Chinese immigrant with children, who falls in love with a young Canadian woman. The festival also includes other parallel activities that will address the production of LGBTIQ+ cinema in regimes where the expression of identity and sexual dissidences is subjected to severe moral and political persecution. The revolution of Arab and Persian queer cinema is the title given to one of the round tables that will discuss the context and narratives that permeate this year's edition.