The film Jone, Sometimes arrives as a first feature from director Sara Fantova, centering on a 20-year-old woman navigating summer romance and the responsibilities of caring for an ailing parent. Set in Bilbao, the story juxtaposes youthful joy with the sober demands of family life: Jone balances late-night parties and a budding relationship with the reality of her widowed father’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease. The film is anchored by a striking performance from Olaia Aguayo, whose portrayal gives the character emotional nuance and authenticity.
Ahead of the film’s UK premiere at BFI Flare, Fantova spoke about why this portrait of love, illness and identity felt necessary to make, and what she hopes LGBTQIA+ audiences will take from it. The conversation highlights how deeply personal material—like family diaries—can be shaped into cinematic narratives that speak to broader communities.
From private journals to public cinema
Fantova explains that the film’s inception came from a private, intimate source: her father’s youth notebooks. Those texts offered a way to glimpse another side of a parent and became the creative seed of a feature exploring intergenerational connection. Transforming those pages into a screenplay required sensitivity: the director wanted to portray caregiving, grief and fear of loss without resorting to melodrama. The result is a film that treats the subject of illness with empathy and restraint, letting small moments accumulate into a powerful emotional landscape.
Crafting realism through detail
Because this is her debut, Fantova aimed for honesty and precise depiction. She chose to show quotidian responsibilities—shift work, household routines, medical appointments—alongside scenes of flirtation and youthful spontaneity. This approach renders Jone’s life believable: the character’s queerness exists as part of her everyday world rather than the film’s central conflict. Fantova notes that depicting a young lesbian’s romance without framing it as a struggle was an important creative choice.
Queer visibility without spectacle
Fantova stresses that representation matters: queer experiences should appear as natural, varied and ordinary within cinema. She cites films that influenced her perspective, naming the Israeli film Bar Bahar (In Between) for its intimate study of women seeking autonomy, and the American teen comedy Booksmart as an example of how queer characters can exist in mainstream narratives without their identity being a crisis point. For Fantova, these works demonstrate two complementary possibilities: deep social probing and lighthearted normalization.
What this means for audiences
At BFI Flare—which celebrates its 40th anniversary—Fantova hopes LGBTQIA+ viewers will feel seen and comforted that Jone’s sexuality is portrayed as a component of her life rather than a drama engine. Film festivals like BFI Flare play a crucial role in giving space to films that might not find immediate access to larger commercial circuits, allowing diverse narratives and underrepresented voices to reach curious audiences.
Legacy, influences and a personal wish
Asked to imagine an older queer cinematic figure attending the screening, Fantova chooses Victorina Durán, a Spanish costume designer from the 1920s, as a kind of imaginative companion. This gesture speaks to Fantova’s interest in linking contemporary queer storytelling with cultural histories and artistic forebears. She also reflects on whether a film like hers would have existed in 1986, the early days of the festival, and imagines that past audiences might have embraced its tenderness.
Jone, Sometimes premieres at BFI Flare on 21 March as part of the festival running from 18 – 29 March at BFI Southbank. Fantova’s debut is a reminder that cinema can house many voices simultaneously: a young person’s search for love, the quiet burden of caring for a family member with Parkinson’s disease, and the need for visible queer characters who are allowed to live outside conflict-driven narratives. The film’s intimate scale and careful attention to detail make it both specific to its creator’s experience and resonant for wider audiences.
For readers who follow queer media, the conversation around this film also highlights institutional support: publications like DIVA and charitable initiatives such as the DIVA Charitable Trust continue to champion work by and for LGBTQIA+ women and gender-diverse people, ensuring stories like Jone’s can find platforms and viewers across generations.