20,000 Species of Bees

A beautiful, gentle film about family, identity and so much more, which won its star, Sofia Otero the Best Actress award at the Berlin Festival… not bad for an 8 year old. Sofia plays Cocó, the youngest son of Ane, who is having problems with her marriage. When Ane takes her family to visit her own mother Lita in Spain, her own identity as a sculptor is thrown into doubt by Lita. Coco meanwhile is more and more sure he is a girl in a boy's body; the only person to accept this is her great aunt Lordes, who is happy with her bees, and with calling her Lucía. So...Pretty well the whole family have identity problems of their own.

The first film by Basque director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, this is a heart-warming attempt to look at some of these huge issues with an open mind, letting Lita tell Ane that she is being too soft on her son, that he just needs putting in his place, while Ane is allowed to support Coco/Lucia without making any real decisions, leaving only Lourdes to take Lucia's side, while she gets on looking after her thousands of bees...

"And Lucía's grandmother is unlikely to be the only person who will push back against the idea of an eight-year-old questioning their gender identity. It's the most scalding of hot-button topics and a brave choice for a debut film. But with this gentle, empathic picture, Urresola joins a conversation that usually plays out as a screaming match, and tones it down to a murmur. It turns out that you hear a lot more that way" - Wendy Ide, Guardian.