The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo on Mubi new trailer – MUBI, the global distributor, streaming service, and production company, is thrilled to announce the streaming release of THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO, written and directed by Diego Céspedes and starring Tamara Cortés, Matías Catalán, and Paula Dinamarca available starting May 15, 2026. With this widely acclaimed feature debut, Céspedes emerges as a distinctive cinematic voice, crafting a poetic vision of love and resilience that also reflects the marginalization and violence faced by queer communities today.
Premiering at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Un Certain Regard Prize, the film quickly established a strong international presence. It went on to receive the Drama Youth Award at the 2025 San Sebastián International Film Festival and was selected for both the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2025 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, amongst others, confirming its global resonance and marking it as a standout debut within the international festival circuit.
THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO is produced by Quijote Films and Les Valseurs. Coproduced by Weydemann Bros, Irusoin and WrongMen. Producers are Giancarlo Nasi, Justin Pechberty and Damien Megherbi. Co-producers are Jonas Weydemann, Jakob D. Weydemann, Ander Sagardoy, Ander Barinaga-Rementeria, Xabier Berzosa and Benoît Roland.
Synopsis:
THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO unfolds in Chile, 1982 – in a dusty mining town nestled in the Atacama Desert, where eleven-year-old Lidia is the only child raised in a household of queer performers working at a local cantina. At the centre of this makeshift family are Flamingo, the cantina’s magnetic headliner, and Mama Boa, its formidable matriarch, who governs the household with a mix of discipline, tenderness, and hard-earned pragmatism, forging their own fragile sanctuary in the desert.
Performing nightly for the local miners, an unexplained illness soon sparks hysteria and moral panic and turns their refuge into a space of superstition. Rumoured to be transmitted through a gaze shared between men in love, the disease becomes a convenient excuse to persecute those already living on the margins. When the town’s fear escalates into ostracism and violence, Lidia embarks on a journey to confront the forces threatening her family — seeking truth and justice in a hostile place determined to erase them.
Blending elements of the western with magical realism, Céspedes’ debut feature reframes the AIDS crisis of the 1980s through myth and metaphor, centering trans and queer lives so often excluded from historical narratives. With its sensuous imagery, sharp irony, and emotional precision, the film explores how societies construct monsters out of desire, and how love can become both a refuge and a provocation.
Diego Céspedes’ Biography
Diego Céspedes is a Chilean filmmaker who studied Film and Television at the University of Chile. In 2018, he wrote and directed his first short film, The Summer of the Electric Lion, which won the Cinéfondation First Prize at Cannes and the Nest Prize at San Sebastián, and was selected for festivals including Sundance, Palm Springs, Biarritz, and AFI Fest.
In 2022, he returned to Cannes with The Melting Creatures, which premiered in the Semaine de la Critique and screened at festivals including Toronto, San Sebastián, and Clermont-Ferrand. In addition to directing, Céspedes has worked as a cinematographer and editor on several short films, including Non-Castus, which received a Special Mention at Locarno.
THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO WILL STREAM EXCLUSIVELY ON MUBI FROM MAY 15, 2026
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The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo on Mubi new trailer
