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
Sentimental Value
A once-revered director crashes back into his family’s lives, eager to recruit his daughter for a film role. When she declines, he finds a new muse in an eager but unpolished Hollywood star, sending his botched reconciliation spiraling into chaos.
The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes
A beautiful portrait of E.J. Hughes, who quietly helped reshape the artistic landscape of British Columbia in the 20th century. This extraordinary documentary explores Hughes’s legacy not only as an artist, but as a devoted, humble human being.
Cutting Through Rocks
Winner of Sundance's World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize, Cutting Through Rocks follows Sara Shahverdi — motorcyclist, midwife, and first-ever councilwoman elected in her Iranian village. A vérité triumph by Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni.
A Poet
When embittered poet Oscar Restrepo takes a job at a local high school, he meets Yurlady, a talented student from a poor background. Seeking to help her cultivate her art, he draws her into the poetry world — to disastrous and comedic results.
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and Special Jury Prize Winner, Sundance, 2025, this exposé shot by a Russian primary teacher shows how the Putin propaganda machine works to militarize children.
Cousin Harley + Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Come join Local Hillbilly heroes Cousin Harley, for a night of traditional Rockabilly, Western Swing and early Rock n Roll before reveling in the rock n roll biopic excess of John C Reilly as the legendary Dewey Cox!