The theater has only 60 seats and is located inside the Malvina House Hotel, one of the few venues with a large screen in all of Puerto Argentino . There, a few days ago, something happened that had never occurred since the dispute over the sovereignty of the Malvina Islands claimed hundreds of lives in 1982: an Argentine filmmaker screened his film for members of the island community.

Luciano Nacci arrived in the islands with another mission. A documentary filmmaker born in Viedma, Río Negro, Nacci was in the archipelago to film a new work about the daily life of the Kelper colony in the territory.

What he did not imagine was that he would end up becoming the first filmmaker in the country to exhibit an Argentine work in the Malvinas, an event with a symbolic weight that is difficult to ignore.

The chosen film was "Firestorm," a documentary he co-directed with Axel Emiliem that reconstructs the devastating fire that ravaged more than 14,000 hectares in 2021 in the town of El Hoyo, in the Argentine province of Chubut . That tragedy left three dead and more than 500 homes destroyed, in what is considered the largest peri-urban fire in Latin American history .

The chance that made history

The screening was not the result of diplomatic efforts or an official cultural program. It arose almost by chance, as small milestones often do .

While exploring Puerto Argentino, Nacci struck up a conversation with the programmer at the Malvina House Hotel's cinema, a man originally from Sri Lanka. When he mentioned he had a finished film, the response surprised him: "We've never shown an Argentine film." The informal investigation that followed this conversation confirmed the fact: no Argentine production had ever been screened in the islands usurped by Great Britain .

The event was announced via social media and community bulletin boards. The response was immediate. The room was almost completely filled with a diverse mix of attendees: islanders born in the archipelago, British residents who arrived after the war, and foreign workers from around the world who now live there.

To make the experience accessible, the filmmakers subtitled the documentary in English. They also prepared the poster in that language. Small decisions that, in such a sensitive area, take on particular significance.

The echo of the fire on the island

"Firestorm" does not address international politics or the sovereignty dispute. Its focus is elsewhere: the pain of those who lost everything to the relentless advance of the flames in Patagonia.

The documentary delves into the testimonies of victims and brigade members, into the desperation of those who saw their homes consumed in a matter of hours while waiting for state aid that, as they denounced at the time, never arrived on time.

During the screening, the room was completely silent . Afterward, a discussion opened up for more than half an hour. Some islanders pointed out the similarity between the devastated landscape of Patagonia and their own, although with one notable difference: there are no trees in the Malvinas. Others simply expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to learn about a story that, despite occurring thousands of kilometers away, felt close to them in its starkness.

Cinema, a meeting place

For Nacci, the experience transcends the cinematic . In his reflections, he highlighted the symbolic value of what happened: screening an Argentine film in the Malvinas doesn't erase the wounds of 1982 nor does it alter the status quo of the diplomatic dispute, but it does open a window of opportunity . "This demonstrates that culture can be a space for encounter," he maintained.

The filmmaker is currently focused on his new project, a documentary that seeks to portray daily life in the archipelago.

The work is not easy . The memory of the war is still present, and not everyone is willing to speak in front of a camera. But Nacci insists on the need to build bridges: to listen to the island settlers, to record their stories, to extend a thread where there is only distance.

Meanwhile, the screening of "Firestorm" is now part of history . One night, in a small theater in the Malvina Islands, Argentine cinema turned on its projector and, for the first time, the islanders saw a film made by Argentinians.