The rainbow, from east to west, and from north to south

How the status of the LGBT community has changed over the last 20 years! In 1995, when Casal Lambda launched the first festival devoted to gay and lesbian films in Spain, the countries that recognised domestic partnerships could be counted on the fingers of one hand and none had yet approved equal marriage. Today, in 2015, 21 countries have regulated gay marriage, whilst another 23 have established forms of civil union or recognition of same-sex couples. This is a great advance, of course, but it is still far from sufficient: 75 countries have anti-gay laws, and homosexuality is punishable by the death penalty in 6. There is, then, still long way to go, the struggle continues and help must be provided to the needier countries. LGBT film festivals play an important role in this respect, as do gay pride marches, and we should like to take this opportunity to welcome more recently-established events, such as Side by Side in St. Petersburg, which fights against a particularly hostile environment, suffering insults, attacks and frequent boycotts of film sessions.

Our documentaries reflect this diversity of situations, these gaps that exist in the rainbow from one cardinal point to another. Alex and Ali provides the first dramatic testimony of the enormous divide that exists between West and East, portraying the attempts of a couple formed by an American and an Iranian, torn apart by the Islamic revolution, attempt with great difficulty, 35 years later, to rebuild a semblance of intimacy. We also see more comfortable situations amongst the gay community, with people able to talk about the subject openly, as a question that even represents part of their work as artists or writers as is the case of both Nan Goldin and Susan Sontag. The documentary about the American actor Tab Hunter suggests a contrast that is less geographic than temporal: the years that separate the Tab we see today from what he was in the Hollywood of the fifties, when the tyranny of the major movie studios banned all attempts to come out of the closet. Nonetheless, Tab's tranquillity and joy when speaking about his homosexuality today contrast sharply with the situation of gays and lesbians in Cameroon in Born this Way. In that country the extraordinary lawyer and activist Alice Nkom, fights to contain the flood of homophobic attacks that the LGBT community suffers daily. This global review of homophobia, or of hope, is crowned by another superb documentary, Out in the Line-Up: beginning with a description of the homophobia that governs the world of Australian surfing, this film takes us on a fantastic journey around the world to learn how other gay members of this great sporting community are faring. This leads us to the discovery that they are all on a much more relaxed, more multi-colour wave. One merely wishes that similar progress could be achieved in the 119 countries that still refuse to recognise same-sex couples..

Antoine Leonetti, Mostra FIRE!! Coordinator

We burst through the screen!

Going beyond showing positive models with regard to transsexuality, this cycle is aimed at inviting spectators at the festival to meditate on their stance with regard to the trans experience and what they think and know about that world. To stop seeing trans people as "other", different, and even exotic, and dare to think about the trans question from the perspective of everyday life, based more on what we have in common than on what makes us different. To think about what makes us different from these people who have decided to live life differently, from a different place. More than merely showing trans characters and stories that avoid stereotypes, focus on illness or on the "monster", and more than merely explaining that there is much more to the lives of trans people than a medical diagnosis, this time we want to burst through the screen to focus on the imaginations and thoughts of those who observe us from the outside. In short, we trans people want you cis* people to take a little bit of us away with you. And we want to remind the trans people who will no doubt fill the theatre that visibility is what gives us collective strength and that, behind each of these films is a celebration of trans pride.

This is the third edition of the Pantalla Trans ("Trans Screen") cycle, organised by FIRE!! in cooperation with the Cultura Trans project. Come wide-awake and ready to have fun!

*Cis: a term that has emerged in recent years for people who do not identify as trans.

Pol Galofre and Miguel Missé
Cultura Trans

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

As every year, the FIRE!! Festival presents an educational program to discuss topics related to the visibility of the LGBT community. For this, our twentieth anniversary, we've invited a variety of professionals who tirelessly work to highlight positive and enriching references of homosexuality for the LGBT community and for society in general. Adding to this approach of highlighting the positive, we will also be screening varied audio-visual works which address aspects of our reality such as the discovery of homosexuality (Get Real), gay-parenting (Naître père), LGBT visibility in schools (It's elementary) and LGBT issues particular to seniors (Flores de otoño). This educational program will also be the launch pad for the first Short Films Against Homophobia contest, organized by Casal Lambda.

Jordi Samsó, Educational program coordinator

FIRE!! ON STAGE

FIRE!! EN ESCENA