Tamara Cortés as Lidia
Already with his second short film ‘Las Criaturas se derriten bajo el Sol’ (2022- Children melt under the Sun), Céspedes has explored alternative family relationships and groups that are marginalized and do not feel they belong anywhere in particular as they search for their survival through love
“I wanted to understand how a mother-daughter relationship in which there are no blood ties, can be much deeper than an idealized love story!”
This also applies to his debut feature movie ‘THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO,’ (La Misteriosa Mirada del Flamenco) which was well-received at the festivals, winning the ‘Un Certain Regard’ Award when it premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. It also carried off the Special Jury Prize, Honourable Mention and Best Debut Film at the 2025 Lima Film Festival, and then picked up the San Sebastian International Film Festival Drama Youth Award. Chile submitted it for Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Oscars, but it was not nominated. Nevertheless, it has won 7 awards and had 16 nominations. This is good going for a director with little feature film experience.
Paula de Dinamarca as Mama Boa & Luis Tato Dubó as Clemente
“Es el enigma de tus ojos, la razón que anima causa de mis ser! ( The enigma of your eyes are the reason that arouses my very being)- the lyrics of the bolero track that they dance to in the bar tells the story in a sentence.
Tamara Cortés as Lidia and Matías Catalán as Flamingo
A little in the mould of ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’, ‘The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo’ comes across as a western with a twist, perhaps a “queer or travesti western,” all be it with the poetic intimate voice of Céspedes and his ‘desert-dry surrealism’
This film challenges bigotry in a dusty, unyielding and otherworldly remote village that’s lost in the isolated depths of the Atacama Desert. This is one of the driest and most forbidding areas on the planet imbued with the shadow of a ghost town. Unsurprisingly, it is home to only a few lost souls, miners, and those who retired but having nowhere to go, just remained. Among them, a motley group of transvestites and trans women who survive running a small café bar offering some entertainment and warmth to those who want it.
The story unfolds mainly through the eyes of a little orphaned 11-year-old-girl Lidia (the talented Tamara Cortés) who is rescued and cared for by the vibrant queer household led by drag performers and trans women, in particular Flamingo, who becomes her mother.
The film is set in 1982, just as an unknown and misunderstood plague (HIV) was beginning to infect people one by one. Having no idea how this deadly disease is transmitted, the locals become hysterical and obsessed with the belief that it’s transmitted by the homosexual gaze of love from a trans woman or a gay man. So falling in love could be a death sentence. This belief focusses all their resentment on the group of queers and transvestite entertainers who run the small café-bar.
Lidia is determined to find out the truth, but can you shoot a dead man?
In this other worldly universe, all humanity survives on the edge. There are no rules other than those made by themselves. With humour and empathy, Céspedes’ astounding debut film encompasses a deep humanity expressed by the people who inhabit this community. The existence of the small group of transvestites is threatened more and more dangerously, as this unknown disease gradually begins to affect more people.
Luis Tato Dubó as Clemente
Diego Céspedes grew up in the fairly marginalized area on the edges of Santiago city that sits at the foot of the Andes. That great wall dividing the continent of South America. He did not come from established stables, such as that of the Larraín brothers, who have successfully dominated the Chilean film industry output for some time, bringing it firmly onto the world stage.
Tamara Cortés as Lidia & Vicente Caballero as Julio
This haunting fable, almost unreal with a surrealistic atmosphere, harbour no illusions, and although people can be loving, it reveals they can also be violent and cruel. The colourful characters have all been baptized by the imposing matriarch Mama Boa, a thoroughly captivating Paula de Dinamarca, according to their personalities: -
“I could be a whore, I could be a thief, I could be a liar but never a deserter” (Flamingo)
So, we have Flamingo (Matías Catalán), the lead performer in their ‘Miss Alaska Show’, we also have Leona, (the Lioness) (Bruna Ramírez), Águila (Eagle) (Alexa Quijano), Piranha (Francisco Díaz) and Estrella (Star) (Sirena González). Everything is turned upside down when Yovani (Pedro Muñoz) a miner, who has fallen for Flamingo, falls sick, and his despair knows no limits.
Leader of the local posse is retired miner Clemente (Luis Tato Dubó), but their attack on the bar to try to protect the villagers, does not turn out quote as they had expected.
Writer/director Diego Céspedes
The film is a co-production of Chile, France, Belgium, Spain and Germany, which came after he participated in the Cannes Cinéfondation Residence in 2019. Later this project also participated in the Ikusmira Berriak held during the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Céspedes fought hard to get his film made and participated at every opportunity including the Producers Summit at the Sundance Institute in 2020. He has brought his talent and personal voice to the Chilean film industry and it will be interesting to see where this remarkable debut will lead to, in future productions
THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO will be launched on MUBI this coming summer.
Writer / Director: Diego Cespedes / Production: Damien Megherbi, Giancarlo Nasi, Justin Pechberty / Original music: Florencia Di Concilio / DOP: Angello Faccini/ Editor: Martial Salomon/ Production Design: Bernardita Baeza/ Sound Recorder: David Ferral/ Sound Mixer: Gilles Benardeau/ Visual Effects Supervisor: Jump Cats, Sebastien Launay and Rolf Muetze / Company credits: Quijote Films & Les Valseurs.
Cast: - Lidia: Tamara Cortés / Flamingo: Matías Catalán / Mama Boa: Paula de Dinamarca / Yovani: Pedro Muñóz / Clemente: Luis Tato Dubó / Julio: Vicente Caballero / Leona: Bruna Ramírez/ Estrella: Sirena Gonález / Águila: Alexa Quijano / Piraña: Francisco Díaz / Chinchilla: Peter Patrick Legrand
