Rising director Mel Estaba’s upcoming short film Res a Fer (No Option) has received funding from the Catalan government’s ICEC program. Production is set for spring 2026.
The film follows Gabriela, a migrant mother without legal recognition, and Vicenç, the elderly father of her deceased girlfriend. Gabriela must convince him to pretend they are a functional family to keep custody of her son, Gael, Vicenç’s grandson. Set in a roadside guesthouse, Res a Fer is a queer-social- drama-comedy that explores the search for home within a system that marginalises non-normative families.
“This story is for anyone who has felt the fragility of their rights, or had to invent families outside traditional molds,” says Estaba.