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Festival MIX MILANO di Cinema Gaylesbico e Queer Culture
Formerly known as: Milan International Lesbian & Gay Queer Film Festival
Thursday, 18 September 2025 until Sunday, 21 September 2025
Since 1986, MiX – International Festival of LGBTQ+ Cinema and Queer Culture has been the Milan based event of lesbian, gay and transgender films, and over the years it has become one of the most relevant Italian festivals in terms of public attendance.
MiX Festival thrives for high quality content and performances, blending the beauty of words and drama with its film programme.
Where the best of the visions in circulation are gathered around the themes of identity. MiX Festival is a special opportunity to see films of international independent productions and Italian premieres, avant-garde and innovative films.
Telling the past, exploring the present, imagining the future.
Dal 1986, il MiX - Festival Internazionale di Cinema LGBTQ+ e Cultura Queer è l’evento milanese dedicato alla proiezione di film a tematica lesbica, gay e transgender, e nel corso degli anni è diventato, per affluenza di pubblico, uno dei festival italiani più rilevanti.
Il MiX Festival è una miscela di qualità, dove ai film si uniscono le pagine dei libri e le parole del teatro. Dove intorno ai temi dell’identità si raccoglie il meglio delle visioni in circolazione. Il MiX Festival è un’occasione speciale per vedere film di produzione indipendente internazionale e anteprime italiane, opere all’avanguardia e innovative. Raccontando il passato, esplorando il presente, immaginando il futuro.
Best Feature Film: 1.500 €
Best Documentary: 1.500 €
Best Short Film: 250 €
Best Music Video
Audience Award
It is the faculty of the jury to award further prizes or special mentions for the most deserving works.
2025 films...
DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES
Shatara Michelle Ford, USA, Taiwan – United Kingdom, 2024, 128’
After losing her job, Z embarks on a journey through the American Midwest along with her two tightest friends, the stiff Tasha and solar Lauren, looking for a friend who seems to have lost all traces of herself.
REEF BUILDERS
Stephen Shearman, United Kingdom, 2025, 76th
Reef Builders tells the renaissance of coral reefs through stories of communities united by hope and love for the environment. A journey between oceans and people, which celebrates the collective strength and harmony between diversity and nature.
TRIPOLI / TO SUCH OF THREE CITIES
Raed El Rafei, Lebanon, 2024, 88'
In Tripoli/A Tale of Three Cities, Raed El Rafei returns to his hometown to explore his political and social contradictions. Through meetings with queer artists, activists and will work, the film tells the story of a city suspended between economic crisis, revolutionary tensions and collective fears, reflecting the challenges of a fragmented but still determined to resist.
FATHERHOOD
G. Benestad and August B. Hanssen – Norway, Iceland, Germany, 2025, 77th
Fatherhood follows Kristopher, David and Sindre, three men in a polyamorous relationship waiting for their first child. Kristopher, a transgender man who will be the biological father, is a pioneering case in Norway after years of forced sterilization. Documentary of Even G. Benestad and August B. Hanssen, presented as the world premiere at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, transforms an extraordinary personal experience into a universal story about parenting, love and resistance against injustice.
SAD JOKES
Fabian Stumm, Germany, 2024, 96
Sad Jokes follows Joseph and Sonya, close friends who grow up their son Pino together. He's a director in crisis, she struggles with depression. When Sonya heads to the clinic, Joseph just stays to handle everything. Between responsibility, desires and fragility, the film mixes irony and melancholy, restoring with authenticity all the ambiguity and beauty of contemporary relationships.
ALMA OF THE DESIERTO
Manica Taboada – Tapia, Colombia, Brazil, 2024, 87th
Alma del desierto, Queer Lion in Venice 2024, transcends the traditional documentary to strongly address the issues of gender identity, ethnicity and civil rights. In the landscapes of La Guajira, Georgina, a transgender woman Way?u, fights for the official recognition of her identity, interweaving her stoic battle with the pursuit of legitimacy of her people. A story of hope and struggle for justice.
1 GIRL INFINITE
Lilly Hu, USA, 2025, 102’
Between the alleys and lights of Changsha, Yin Jia has an all-encompassing bond with her friend Tong. But the prospect of a different life undermines that fragile universe, turning desire into obsession. 1 Girl Infinite is a vibrant and sensory debut that captures the emotional tensions that characterize adolescence.
3670
Park Joon-ho, South Korea, 2025, 124
Between the nights of Seoul, a young North Korean defector discovers for the first time the freedom to love and the warmth of a community that welcomes it. But a misunderstanding puts in crisis everything that has conquered. 3670 is a vibrant and delicate debut, which tells the desire to belong and the fragility of human bonds.
Such Feeling
Alex Baczynski-Jenkins, Poland, 2024, 76'
An intimate and political portrait of the queer community in Poland, in Such Feeling the director Alex Baczy?ski-Jenkins follows a group of amics between activism, art and daily life, returning a sensitive and fragmented experience that affirms the strength and complexity of queer existence.
Cherub
Devin Shears, Canada, 2024, 73
Harvey, an invisible man, accidentally discovers a magazine that celebrates bodies out of the box. An impulsive gesture leads him towards a surprising acceptance of himself. Debut to the direction of Devin Shears, it is a delicate visual comedy that transforms silences and images into a tale of desire and rebirth.
Odd Fish
Snavar Solvason, Iceland, 2025, 104’
The world of Hjalti falters at the arrival of Birna, a trans woman who discovers to be her best friend Bjorn. Odd Fish is a touching reflection on change, identity and the possibility of welcoming the other – and oneself – into a world that inexorably changes.
Nioxxs
Kani Lapuerta – Mexico, Germany, 2025 – 93
In Tepoztlan, Mexico, the fifteen-year-old Karla recounts with sincerity her path of growth and gender transition. Between teenage joys and social challenges, Kani Lapuerta’s film, the result of 8 years of filming, celebrates the identity, resilience and importance of a safe place to be us alone.
House With a Voice
Kristine Nrecaj, Birthe Templin Germany, 2024, 87th
House With a Voice is the story of six Burrneshas, Albanian women who take on the role of men for different reasons: defending themselves from misogynist violence, for the survival of the family, to avoid forced marriages, etc. Despite the courage to contest gender conventions, the film highlights how the feminine essence is still considered less valuable, in a journey that defies stereotypes and reflects on the condition of women.
Silver Star
Ruben Amar and Lola Bessis, United States, 2024, 102’
Billie tries to save her parents from the eviction with a robbery gone wrong. Along with Franny, a pregnant girl taken hostage, she embarks on a daring escape across the United States. Between the two women, with an opposing character and disposition, a stronger bond of danger will arise.
MARATONA CORTI “Mini MIX – Short & Proud”
Every short film is a spark. A fragment of the world that ignites questions, reverses narratives and reinvents the gaze. The MIX Festival 2025’s SHORT & PROUD program brings together diverse voices, hybrid forms and urgent stories that cross geographical, generational and identity boundaries.
la fille here explose – The Exploding Girl
The Nature of Invisible Things
Rafaela Camelo, Brazil – Chile, 2025, 90
The Nature of Invisible Things follows Gloria, a heart-move transplanted child, and Sofia, a transgender child, in their deep friendship between the hospital wards. Combined by the desire to escape and the ability to see the invisible, they face together death, identity and family with the lightness of magical realism. An opening film of the Berlinale Generation, Rafaela Camelo’s work transforms complex themes into visual poetry, celebrating the authenticity of queer childhood and the strength of the chosen bonds.
Somewhere in Love
Morgan Simon, Francua, 2024, 97th
Between economic precariousness and loneliness, Nicole struggles to stay afloat in the Paris suburbs along with her son Serge who can’t stand her anymore. The encounter with Norah opens an unexpected glimmer: a possible love, a new life. Somewhere in Love is an intense and queer portrait of female redemption, between tenderness, pride and desire to start over.