Marine Atlan’s debut feature film, La Gradiva, was the big winner at the 30th edition of Queer Lisboa – International Queer Film Festival, having won not only the Best Feature Film Award but also the Audience Award.

 

In the words of the jury – cultural manager Kathleen Gomes, film programmer Maria João Madeira and actor Miguel Nunes – the film is “a Journey to a contemporary Italy that follows a group of teenagers at a decisive moment in their transition to adulthood. Amidst ruins, tectonic shifts and the vibrancy of nature, the characters question themselves, fall in love and hurt one another, navigating a landscape as ancient as it is unstable. The archaeology of history, the formation of identities and the search for a sense of belonging converge as the vital force behind this dazzling debut work, which touches on the fragility of human nature”.

 

Following her breakthrough in 2018 with Daniel fait face, Marine Atlan crafts, in La Gradiva, a sweeping portrait of the vicissitudes of youth. It marks the confirmation of the cinematographer of choice of French filmmakers such as Jonathan Vinel, Caroline Poggi and Alexis Langlois; the film won the Best Film Award at the Cannes Critics’ Week and was one of the five finalists in the race to be France’s entry for the 2027 Oscar for Best International Feature Film. The film is represented in Portugal by NOS Audiovisuais.

 

The winner of the Documentary Competition also received two awards, taking home the Best Documentary Award and the Audience Award. The Spanish documentary Corren las Liebres, by Lorena Ros, offers a candid look at the accumulation of marginalisation and homelessness amongst the trans ex-prisoner population, set in the centre of Barcelona.

 

In the words of the jury – comprising film programmer Diana Cipriano, journalist Filipe Santa-Bárbara and Luis Rosado from the RTP2 editorial team – the film won “for the generosity and respect shown through the camera’s lens, for the magnetism of the women it portrays, particularly Noa, and the way it allows their character to rise above all their vulnerabilities”. The director took to the stage at Cinema São Jorge to receive the prize, sponsored by RTP2, for the acquisition of the film’s screening rights, worth €3,000.

 

In the same section, the jury also awarded a special mention to the Vietnamese documentary Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava, by Nông Nhật Quang. The film, which premiered at the Visions du Réel, takes a journey into the past through the director’s diaries and family photographs.

 

The Best Film Award in the Queer Art Competition – a section dedicated to works that explore the boundaries of cinematic languages and genres – was awarded to the Mexican documentary Nuestro Cuerpo Es una Estrella que Se Expande by the siblings Semillites Hernández Velasco and Tania Hernández Velasco, a reflection on trans sensibilities intertwined with the landscape and family ties.

 

The jury, comprising Brazilian director Leonardo Mouramateus, curator Marta Mestre and German filmmaker Matthias Müller, also awarded a special mention to Life Is about Losing Everything, by brothers Benjamin Ramírez Pérez and Stefan Ramírez Pérez, a fascinating and colourful hybrid that serves as an adaptation of the highly distinctive universe of Canadian poet and feminist writer Lynn Crosbie, presented as a world premiere at the festival.

 

In the Short Film Competition, Je veux qu’on se souvienne de nous, by the French writer Hélène Giannecchini, won the Best Short Film Award, and Fronteriza by Nay Mendl and Rosa Caldeira won the AltContent Award. Seek No Favor, by the North American filmmakers Elle Clay and Leilah Weinraub, received a special mention from the jury, whilst Xylella Fastidiosa, by the French filmmaker Thomas Colineau, was the audience favourite.

 

In the ‘In My Shorts’ Competition, dedicated to short films from European film schools, Ãsheghetam by the Iranian Filmsaaz won Best Film, whilst Sunday Lunch by Lyndon Henley Hanrahan was awarded a special mention by the jury. Across both sections, the festival screened 32 short films, judged by Brazilian cinematographer Aline Belfort, filmmaker Caio Amado Soares and programmer Lou Loução.

 

With a programme strongly characterised by themes of family, romantic and sexual relationships, and a hopeful future, the festival team highlighted throughout the event the excellent shape of contemporary queer cinema, in particular the impressive range of the 2026 ‘harvest’ of new films, which led to nine sold-out screenings, notably of The Man I Love, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Amarga Navidad, The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions, Orlando, La conscience politique, A Paixão segundo G.H.B. and Jim Queen.

 

On the closing night, held on Saturday 26 September, which featured a screening of Leah Nelson’s animated feature film Tangles, the organisers announced that the 30th anniversary edition of Queer Lisboa had been the most popular ever, attracting the highest number of attendees in its history, with over 11,500 people attending the festival’s 67 screenings held over nine days at Cinema São Jorge and the Cinemateca Portuguesa – a 53% increase on the figures from 2025 – and the presence of 38 national and international guests, most of whom were filmmakers. A selection of the winning short films will be screened on 1 October at 7.30 pm at Garagem da Vizinha in Lisbon, in a free admission screening. The 31st edition will take place between 17 and 25 September 2027. Meanwhile, the 12th edition of Queer Porto will take place between 3 and 7 November at the Batalha Centro de Cinema, Casa Comum and Passos Manuel. The programme will be announced in October.

 

 

QUEER LISBOA 30 AWARDS

 

FEATURE FILM COMPETITION

 

BEST FILM
La Gradiva, Marine Atlan (France, Italy, 2026, 145’)

 

“The Jury Award for Feature Films goes to “La Gradiva”, by French director Marine Atlan, a contemporary “Journey to Italy” that follows a group of teenagers at a decisive moment in their passage to adulthood. Amidst ruins, tectonic shifts and the pulse of nature, the characters question themselves, fall in love and hurt one another, moving through a landscape as ancient as it is unstable. The archaeology of history, the formation of identities and the search for a sense of belonging converge as the vital force behind this dazzling debut work, which touches upon the fragility of human nature.”

AUDIENCE AWARD
La Gradiva, Marine Atlan (France, Italy 2026, 145’)

 

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

 

BEST FILM
Corren las Liebres, Lorena Ros (Spain, 2025, 71’)

 

“Corren Las Liebres”, for its generosity and respect in the way it uses the camera, for the magnetism of the women it portrays – particularly Noa – and the way it allows her character to rise above all her vulnerabilities. And yes: this, too, is a political choice.”

 

SPECIAL MENTION
Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava, Nông Nhật Quang (Vietnam, South Korea, 2026, 105’)

 

“It is not only the themes portrayed, but also the courage and confidence of the filmmaking that make “Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava” a film that needs to be seen. Given the complexity of family dynamics, the film’s ability to offer an intimate yet objective perspective lends it a rare sense of balance.”

 

AUDIENCE AWARD
Corren las Liebres, Lorena Ros (Spain, 2025, 71’)

 

QUEER ART COMPETITION

 

BEST FILM
Nuestro Cuerpo Es una Estrella que Se Expande, Semillites Hernández Velasco, Tania Hernández Velasco (Mexico, 2025, 84’)

 

“Drawing from a deeply personal theme, this film – with its highly inventive visual language – unfolds into a powerful reflection on trans: fluid sensibility and interconnected with other organisms. It arises from the bond between two siblings and extends to the family and to non-human beings, tracing an arc that stretches from geology to the cosmos, from salt to glitter.”

 

SPECIAL MENTION
Life Is about Losing Everything, Benjamin Ramírez Pérez, Stefan Ramírez Pérez (Germany, Netherlands, 2026, 100’) 

 

“The jury also wishes to honour, with a special mention, a film of great stylistic precision and elegance, whose fidelity to its underlying literary source captivated us. Through its unconventional episodic form, punctuated by the words of the ‘real’ author, Lynn Crosbie, a distinctive cinematic portrait emerged that also captured our attention.”
 

SHORT FILM COMPETITION

 

BEST FILM
Je veux qu’on se souvienne de nous, Hélène Giannecchini (France, 2026, 26’) 

 

“The jury wished to award the Best Short Film Award to a film that understands the preservation of memory as a political act. Drawing on a visual and sound archive built over more than fifty years, the film brings back the lives of lesbian and trans people, many of them queer and working-class, who found in community, activism and human connection ways of existing in a world that so often pushed them to the margins. By revisiting the work of Donna Gottschalk, the film does more than document or preserve this archive: through an inventive cinematic approach, it allows these images, voices, letters and photographs to become present once again. Because remembering those who came before us is also a way of resisting their erasure and recognising these lives as part of our collective history.”

 

ALTCONTENT AWARD
Fronteriza, Nay Mendl, Rosa Caldeira (Brazil, Paraguay, 2025, 21’)

 

“The jury gives this award to a film that takes the border as a starting point to explore questions of identity, love and belonging, bringing together its geographical dimension with the social and political boundaries that shape our bodies and condition the ways in which we are able to exist. We were particularly drawn to the way the film creates this parallel between territory and identity, turning the margins into a space not only of separation, but also of encounter and transformation. It is precisely in this space, where boundaries become less rigid, that the film finds its form and shows us the possibility of imagining other ways of existing and relating to one another.”
 

SPECIAL MENTION
Seek No Favor, Elle Clay, Leilah Weinraub (USA, 2025, 14’) 

 

“We’d like to give an honourable mention to Seek no Favor, by Elle Clay and Leilah Weinraub, for its camp, playful and humorous filmic language, which offers an interesting reflection of infighting within the Black community in hypercapitalist US. Within this reflection develops a story of romance, mutual support and justice seeking, in a fond reminiscence of Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames.”

 

AUDIENCE AWARD
Xylella Fastidiosa, Thomas Colineau (France, 2025, 21’)

 

IN MY SHORTS COMPETITION – EUROPEAN FILM SCHOOL SHORT FILMS

 

BEST FILM
Ãsheghetam, Filmsaaz (France, Switzerland Iran, 2026, 21’)

 

“When we get exposed to a grim reality in film, we often expect light at the end of the tunnel. But the reality shown in this film shows a present war situation in which it gets difficult to keep seeing anything. This is just a prize in a film festival in Portugal. But let it be part of a global reaffirmation of resistance. Rarely does a fictional animation feel so much like a documentary. For this feat, and for its daring and innovative visual language, the jury awards Ãsheghetam, by Filmsaaz.” 

 

SPECIAL MENTION
Sunday Lunch, Lyndon Henley Hanrahan (UK, 2026, 15’)

 

“A film that stayed with us and that, from the very beginning, was a unanimous choice among the jury. Among a selection of films that confronted us with complex and urgent realities, we also wanted to recognise a work that showed us how such a delicate subject can be approached with great subtlety and humour, giving voice to something that is so often difficult to say.”