“IUS of Time”, a short film directed by Roberto F. Canuto & Xu Xiaoxi, has been selected for competition at the 16th edition of Écrans Mixtes – Queer Film Festival of Lyon, one of the most important LGBTQI+ film festivals in France and Europe. The festival will take place from March 4 to 12, 2026, in Lyon and its metropolitan area, featuring an extensive international programme of feature films and short films spanning fiction, documentary, and experimental cinema.
More information about the festival can be found on its official website.
Within the short film competition, “IUS of Time” takes part in the European programme, which brings together a total of ten works from different countries across the continent. In this section, the film is the only Spanish title selected, sharing the programme with works from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, and Italy.
The Écrans Mixtes 2026 short film selection is completed by an international programme featuring six works from Iran, Brazil, Lebanon, and Cambodia, as well as a French section comprising five titles, forming a diverse selection that reflects the aesthetic, political, and cultural plurality of contemporary queer cinema.
A Key Festival for Queer Cinema in France and Europe
Founded in 2011, Écrans Mixtes has established itself over the course of its sixteen editions as one of the most relevant queer film festivals in the French and European landscape. Based in Lyon and its metropolitan area, the festival is known for an ambitious programme that combines contemporary cinema, retrospectives, talks, and parallel activities, placing questions of gender, sexuality, identity, and representation at the centre of cultural debate.
Beyond its cinematic dimension, Écrans Mixtes is defined by a critical and political approach, with a particular focus on feminist, trans, and dissident film practices, as well as by its commitment to creating spaces for dialogue between filmmakers, audiences, and contemporary thought. In this context, the selection of “IUS of Time” in competition represents a particularly significant recognition within the European circuit of specialised festivals.
Official Short Film Competition and Awards
The participation of “IUS of Time” entails its inclusion in one of the festival’s most significant sections, evaluated by an international professional jury. Within this competition, the festival awards the Écrans Mixtes Prize for Best Short Film, as well as an Audience Award, reinforcing both artistic recognition and a direct connection with audiences.
The selection of “IUS of Time” within this competitive context highlights the festival’s attention to auteur-driven works that explore identities, affects, and memories through non-normative approaches, and positions the short film within a selection that engages in dialogue with some of the most active voices in contemporary European and international queer cinema.
Screening of "IUS of Time" at Écrans Mixtes 2026
The screening of “IUS of Time” will take place on Saturday, March 7, 2026, as part of the European Short Film Programme – Programme européen 2, as part of the festival’s official competition.
This session brings together a selection of European works that explore queer experience from diverse cultural, generational, and aesthetic perspectives, fostering a dialogue between territories and contemporary sensibilities. In this context, the short film is included as the only Spanish production in the programme, reinforcing its distinct position within the selection.
The festival unfolds its programme across multiple cultural venues throughout Lyon and its metropolitan area, promoting a decentralised exhibition model that broadens the encounter between the films, audiences, and the city’s cultural fabric.
A European Short Film in Dialogue with the Queer Present
Within the context of Écrans Mixtes—a festival that has historically fostered a space for reflection between cinema, body politics, and sexual dissidence—"IUS of Time" aligns itself with a strand of European queer cinema that privileges observation, duration, and lived experience over normative and accelerated narratives.
The film shapes its perspective around the encounter between two men from different generations, exploring how desire, care, and memory are passed on—or silenced—within contexts shaped by tradition and the passage of time. This intergenerational dimension, still uncommon in contemporary queer cinema, invites identity to be understood not as something fixed, but as a process constructed in relation to the other.
Shot entirely in the rural landscape of Asturias, "IUS of Time" also reflects on the countryside as a possible space for queer experience, moving away from dominant urban representations. In this sense, the landscape, traditional trades, and the rhythms of manual labour do not function as a backdrop, but as active elements that shape forms of relationship, intimacy, and resistance.
The selection of the short film in competition within the European programme at Écrans Mixtes highlights the festival’s interest in works that expand representations of queer experience through situated, sensitive perspectives that are deeply rooted in their territory.
A Sustained International Journey Across Diverse Contexts
Since its premiere, IUS of Time has developed an international trajectory that has positioned it within a circuit of generalist festivals as well as festivals specialising in queer and independent cinema, combining competitive sections with exhibition contexts that foster a sustained relationship between films and audiences. This circulation has enabled the short film to maintain a continued presence across diverse cultural, institutional, and community settings, organically expanding its international reach.
Beyond its participation in European competitions, the film has been screened in 2026 at festivals such as the 4th Silicon Valley Queer Film Festival (United States), the 14th Pink Life QueerFest (Ankara, Turkey), the 27th ReelOut Queer Film Festival (Canada), or the 45th Thomas Edison Film Festival (United States), a touring festival that awarded "IUS of Time" the Director’s Choice Award, recognising its artistic singularity and narrative strength.
This journey reflects the short film’s ability to engage with very diverse audiences and to place an intimate story—written by Roberto F. Canuto, Xu Xiaoxi, and Enrique Pérez Romero, and deeply rooted in the rural world—within contemporary conversations around identity, memory, and queer representation.
The international trajectory of "IUS of Time" thus continues in line with a filmography that has previously explored other cultural contexts and forms of dissidence, such as Sunken Plum, the most awarded short film to date by its directors, consolidating a coherent presence within contemporary independent queer cinema.
For more information about the short film, its full synopsis, and the complete list of selections and awards, please visit the official page for “IUS of Time” on the Almost Red Productions website.
Official Trailer of “IUS of Time”
Below, you can watch the official trailer of "IUS of Time", a short film produced by Almost Red Productions, which accompanies its international festival journey and offers a first glimpse into its visual and emotional universe.
Through a restrained mise-en-scène and a close attention to time, gestures, and spaces, the trailer anticipates the film’s intimate gaze on memory, desire, and queer experience in the rural world—elements that have shaped its reception at international festivals.
Header image: photograph taken during the filming of "IUS of Time" in Asturias, used for illustrative purposes.
