This year, Zinegoak boasts a new artistic director – namely, artist Alaitz Arenzana, one of the few women heading up a film festival in Spain. The gathering shines a spotlight on the myriad possibilities when it comes to constructing one’s identity, demanding the freedom and the legitimacy to decide who we are from a point of view of being open to sexual diversity, and the construction of gender identity or any other element linked to sexuality. This Bilbao-based event is growing year on year, and is always adapting to new challenges, eschewing labels and establishing itself not just as an important cultural rendezvous, but also as a tool of social transformation. Its 19^th edition kicks off today, 28 February, and will wrap on 7 March, when the awards will be handed out. From that day until Sunday 13 March, the films in the official section will be viewable on Filmin.

Standing out on its programme are European titles of the likes of The Divide [+lire aussi :
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interview : Catherine Corsini
fiche film] by Catherine Corsini (France), Moneyboys [+lire aussi :
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interview : C.B. Yi
fiche film] by CB Yi (Austria/France/Belgium/Taiwan), Small Body [+lire aussi :
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interview : Laura Samani
fiche film] by Laura Samani (Italy/Slovenia/France), Nos corps sont vos champs de bataille by Isabelle Solas (France), After Blue [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Bertrand Mandico (France), Moon, 66 Questions [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jacqueline Lentzou
fiche film] by Jacqueline Lentzou (Greece/France) and Rebel Dykes by Harri Shanahan and Siân Williams (UK), among others.

This year marks the 40^th anniversary of the discovery of HIV, which will be one of the themes of the festival: Women Do Cry [+lire aussi :
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interview : Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
fiche film] (Bulgaria/France) by Mila Mineva and Vesela Kazakova broaches the subject in the context of the stifling of women’s rights, while Feast [+lire aussi :
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interview : Tim Leyendekker
fiche film] (Netherlands) by Tim Leyendekker reflects on an event that took place in the Netherlands, when participants in a sexual encounter were purposefully infected with the virus. Also worth mentioning is the participation of two Georgian works about the shameful rise of LGBTI-phobia: the documentary How the Room Left by Katevan Kapanavadze and Instructions for Survival [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Yana Ugrekhelidze.

Shining bright among the special screenings at the 19^th Zinegoak are a number of works helmed by women, the short-film strand, the documentary Sediments [+lire aussi :
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interview : Adrián Silvestre
fiche film] by Adrián Silvestre, the capers of Berlin-based Catalonian director Noel Alejandro, Antony Hickling’s presentation of the French production Down in Paris, and the retrospective dedicated to Argentina’s Albertina Carri, who will receive this edition’s honorary award.

Zinegoak’s programme once again incorporates Incoproduction, a digital market for film and TV projects, which is expanding with the creation of the ZG/PRO Work in Progress (WIP) platform. Furthermore, it is hooking up with Próxima, the association of original-language independent and arthouse film distributors. Also taking part are the Queer Cine Lab run by the Madrid Lesgaicinemad Festival, and the FIRE!! Lab of Barcelona’s FIRE!! Mostra, both of which are spaces dedicated to providing consultancy for the development of LGBTI+ projects. This sidebar has secured the support of Music Library & SFX, the Basque Creative Europe – MEDIA Desk and Zineuskadi.