la verdadera identidad de los gusanos de seda
2019 · 3m · Cuba
Directed by Javier del Álamo
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, LGBTQ+
Tones: contemplative, provocative, tender
Sara discovers her gender identity through curiosity and through approaching places not intended for her sex, in a context that does not allow the proper development of her own identity.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The title promises one thing (silk worm taxonomy?) and delivers something completely different—a quiet provocation about a kid claiming space in the wrong bathroom. It's the kind of subversive misdirection that makes consensus critics uncomfortable, which means it's probably doing something right.
Del Álamo's three minutes sit within a lineage of European coming-of-age cinema that prizes restraint and spatial metaphor; the formal decision to frame identity through forbidden thresholds rather than explicit declaration shows real curatorial sophistication.
The entire film pivots on one camera choice—how del Álamo frames Sara's entrance into that space—turning a potentially didactic premise into something genuinely felt; it's the kind of decision-making that proves constraint breeds invention.