Chicago!!

Thrilled to announce that the short film GALLINA, directed by Fernando Reinaldos, has been accepted into the 44th edition of Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, which will be held in person September 17 – 27.

GALLINA is a short film that had its world premiere at the New Hampshire Film Festival in the US.

Since then, it has competed in the official selection at numerous festivals that serve as qualifiers for the Hollywood Oscars and the Goya Awards.

GALLINA is one of the short films in the running to take centre stage in the upcoming awards season, which begins in September.

GALLINA has won awards at festivals in Europe and America.

Fernando Reinaldos will be travelling to Los Angeles to compete at the HollyShorts Film Festival, one of the most important short film festivals in the US.

GALLINA kicks off the Goya Awards race, organised each year by the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Director Statement

As a queer child, I remember the constant feeling of being trapped between two worlds: my feminine and masculine sides were always in conflict. Many times I tried to figure out where I belonged, without understanding why I had to make a choice at all. The warmth of my supportive family was not always enough to help me stand up to the harshness of the toxic masculinity outside. At that time, my deep admiration for my best friend led me to make choices against my instincts, betraying the special bond I shared with my dearest ones.

Gallina is my attempt to better understand that time in my life. The day when I came to understand something irreversible about myself and the world around me. When my silence began to shape the person I would become. The same silence that many queer children carry to protect themselves from being seen.

Through Pablo’s story, I wanted to examine how toxic masculinity shapes a boy’s identity in today’s world, and to explore the cost of remaining silent in the face of everyday violence. The silence that takes over at the end of the film is the same silence that, heartbreakingly, has become a defining feature of our time.