Set in a remote mining town in the Chilean desert, this flamboyant 80s neo-western centers on a commune of queer outcasts, where 11-year-old Lidia lives with her mother. When her mom’s abusive ex-lover reappears in their lives, leading to a tragic outcome that robs the little girl of her closest confidante, the rest of the group bands around her to guide her through grief, anger, and need for revenge.
Recipient of Un Certain Regard’s top honour at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Diego Céspedes’s exquisite, uniquely textured feature debut is as cutting as it is tender in its portrait of a marginalized community standing in their power. The tragedy at its core is handled with tremendous poise and insight, unapologetically mining the fascination and resentment that the mystery of otherness invites. Artfully threading surrealist touches and singularly eccentric narrative solutions, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo is one of cinema’s latest gems.
Best Film: Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2025; Oscar Submission: Chile
Community Partner
Tamara Cortés, Matías Catalán, Paula Dinamarca, Claudia Cabezas, Luis Dubó
Chile/France/Germany/
Spain/Belgium
2025
In Spanish with English subtitles
Bullying, domestic violence
At VIFF Centre
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Giancarlo Nasi, Justin Pechberty, Damien Megherbi
Screenwriter
Diego Céspedes
Cinematography
Angello Faccini
Editor
Martial Salomon
Production Design
Bernardita Baeza
Original Music
Florencia Di Concilio
Diego Céspedes
Diego Céspedes is a Chilean filmmaker. 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 screened at major international festivals such as Sundance, Palm Springs, Biarritz, and AFI Fest. In 2022, his second fiction short film The Melting Creatures had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival’s Semaine de la Critique. The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (2025) is Céspedes’s first feature and was selected for the Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Filmography: The Summer of the Electric Lion (2018); The Melting Creatures (2022)
Photo by Tom Chenette
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.
Schindler Space Architect
RM Schindler is now recognized as one of the most important modernist architects of the era, the man who laid the groundwork for what is now considered the epitome of California indoor-outdoor living. This doc sheds light on a previously unsung genius.
VIFF+ Members' Early Bird Day Screening: Late Fame
Join us at the VIFF Centre on August 6 for a free VIFF+ members-only screening of Late Fame! Catch up with your fellow cinema fans and hear from VIFF's Director of Programming. Not a member? You can join now!
Crash
Sex drive, David Cronenberg-style. The car-crash fetishists who orbit Cronenberg's metrosexual Toronto (they include James Spader, Holly Hunter, and Deborah Unger) obsessively seek a fusion of metal and flesh... Fender bender as the ultimate orgasm.