Latin American cinema continues to demonstrate its strength on the international stage. This time, it was the debut of the Chilean director Diego Céspedes, The mysterious gaze of flamenco, which has won the Sebastiane Latino Award, an award granted by the Basque association Gehitu (the association of gays, lesbians, transsexuals and bisexuals of the Basque Country) within the San Sebastián Festival.
The jury highlighted the bravery of the film in addressing, from a travel and fantasy story, such universal themes as love, fear and discrimination. “A road-trip of revenge and a Chilean dream that remembers that love should never be a reason for punishment, neither social nor divine,” they stressed in their minutes.
A mirror of our fears
Beyond the award, what is surprising about the film is its ability to challenge us. To what extent do we continue to let prejudices outweigh empathy? Why does the fear of what is different become an excuse to raise barriers?
The jury recognized in the film a reflection of the disbelief and hatred that the unknown still generates, and how these emotions, when not questioned, get in the way of love and solidarity.
The path of flamenco
The mysterious look of flamenco does not appear out of nowhere. Céspedes had already been awarded at Cannes with his short film The Summer of the Electric Lion (2018), and later returned to the festival with The creatures that melt under the sun (2022). Now, his first feature has passed through Ikusmira Berriak in the project phase, it won the post-production award and this same year it won Un Certain Regard at Cannes. All this before closing the Latin Horizons section in San Sebastián with a flourish.
Competence and resonance
The Sebastiane Latino award each year distinguishes the feature film from the region that best represents the defense of the rights and values of the LGTBIQ+ community. This 2025, the Chilean film won over other high-quality proposals:
- Ato noturno, by Marcio Reolón and Filipe Matzembacher
- The Innocents, by Germán Tejada
- It Rains on Babel, by Gala del Sol
- A world for me, by Alejandro Zuno
Each of them raises different questions, but they all share the same horizon: telling stories that question and expand the margins of the possible.
Cinema, community and future
Céspedes’ career reminds us that cinema continues to be a space to resist and transform. Sometimes he does it from pain, others from fantasy. The important thing is that it connects. And the truth is that there are no magic formulas: what does it mean today to make truly diverse cinema? Is it enough to represent, or do we need narratives that bother and provoke?
The San Sebastián Festival has once again put the focus on these issues, with an award that not only celebrates the talent of a young filmmaker, but also invites us to imagine more just worlds, where loving—whatever it is and whoever it may be—is never seen as a punishment.
