The 31st edition of FIRE!!, the Barcelona International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, has announced its winners after eleven days of cinema, cultural activities, and professional gatherings. Ivona Juka’s Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day emerged as the big winner, taking home both the Ventura Pons Award for Best Feature Film and the Audience Award.
The film, a co-production spanning Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, and Serbia, is a reflection on freedom, friendship, and resistance in the face of repression. It connected with both the jury and the public, making it the standout title of this year’s programme.
Under the motto A Thousand and One Queer Stories, this edition focused on the cinematography and LGBTQ+ realities of the SWANA countries (South West Asia and North Africa), bringing stories of resistance, identity, and love from contexts often absent from mainstream cultural circuits.
The Festival Award for Best Documentary went to El prado y la luna by Cayetana H. Cuyás, a Spanish production from 2025 praised for its sensitivity and its handling of memory and identity. The Audience Award for Best Documentary went to Fatherhood (Tres papás) by Even Benestad, a Norwegian film from 2025 that moved viewers with its human look at new forms of family. The Best Short Film award went to Stallion y la bola de cristal by Christián Áviles, a Spanish production from 2026 described as fresh and full of personality.
FIRE!! LAB, the festival’s laboratory for developing LGBTQ+ audiovisual projects, has consolidated itself as a key space for emerging talent. This year’s LAB Award went to Madre B, directed by Gerard Gil Obradors and produced by Júlia Mur Bárzano, valued for the solidity of its proposal and its sensitivity around family relationships and identity. The SSIFF Award went to Cólera, directed by Jose Luis Lázaro and produced by Mila Luengo, recognised for the strength of its narrative and its potential within the international circuit.
After the response to this year’s edition, FIRE!! is already working on the next instalment of the festival and the LAB, encouraging new creators to submit projects to a platform that has become a reference for new LGBTQ+ narratives.
