Film description

Northern Chile, the 1980s. In the middle of the desert stands a house run by Mama Boa, inhabited by a group of colourful, queer characters — among them Flaming and Lidia, an eleven-year-old girl taken in by Mama Boa years earlier. For Lidia, Flaming is like a mother. When a mysterious, deadly disease begins to spread through the nearby village, the small commune’s residents are accused of transmitting it through their gaze. Torn between two worlds, Lidia tries to understand the events unfolding before her eyes.

“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo”, the feature debut of Diego Céspedes, won the main award in the prestigious Cannes “Un Certain Regard” section. Over forty years after the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, the director has crafted an unconventional western about prejudice and the consequences of giving a deeply real phenomenon — disease — metaphorical meanings. Above all, however, he has created a story about love that transforms people and, through them, the world.

Creators and cast

• Director: Diego Céspedes
• Screenplay: Diego Céspedes
• Cinematography: Angello Faccini
• Music: Florencia Di Concilio
• Cast: Luis Dubo, Matias Catalan, Paula Dinamarca, Claudia Cabezas, Tamara Cortes

About the film

• Age: 16+
• Duration: 104′
• Polish subtitles
• Chile, Germany, France, 2025

Film scholar’s recommendation

The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, dir. Diego Céspedes (Chile et al., 2025).
The feature debut of this young Chilean filmmaker, winner of this year’s Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes. The story unfolds in the Chilean desert, where, among miners’ cottages, a cabaret called Alaska House emerges — a micro-community of drag queens and trans people. It takes us back to the time when AIDS, little understood and untreated, was claiming countless lives. Céspedes dresses the story in a multi-genre costume: western iconography takes centre stage, but elements of fairy tale, revenge cinema, melodrama, and allegory — where the disease becomes a mysterious plague — all intertwine. The film nods to the works of Pedro Almodóvar, Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game (1992), and many other masterful queer narratives, among which Céspedes’ film surely deserves a place.

Trailer

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