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From his eight‑minute 2014 short to this full‑length debut, writer‑director Dennis Shinners revisits Barrio Boy with fresh ambition. Released in February 2025, the film follows Quique (Dennis Garcia), a Puerto Rican barber whose scissors sculpt more than hair—they carve out moments of refuge in a tightly knit Brooklyn block. Shinners keeps one foot in sensory detail and the other in emotional undercurrents, weaving city sounds—the metallic clink of tools, distant traffic, muted chatter—into Quique’s hidden world.

At its core, Barrio Boy tracks a single spark: Quique’s chance encounter with Kevin (James Physick), an Irish newcomer drawn into the barber’s orbit through a stray basketball and shared glances. This simple premise—an unexpected attraction igniting in a community where any hint of difference breeds suspicion—becomes the film’s engine. Quique must weigh his longing against the rigid expectations of Cuz (Keet Davis), his homophobic cousin,...

Charismatic lead aside, a sketchy script and surfeit of stereotypes blight this tale of a secret gay love affair among New York’s Latino community

The opening scenes of this film, written and directed by Dennis Shinners, have the sensorial feel of a city symphony; the sights and sounds of New York’s Brooklyn are all here. From the gentle chugging of a cargo barge along the East River to the clanking jingle of an ice-cream truck, the rhythm of life in this diverse neighbourhood bursts with vibrancy.

From this panoramic view of the city, Barrio Boy closes in on a hair salon, where Quique (Dennis Garcia) works as a barber. The place is charming: airy, full of light, yet also witnesses the paradoxes that exist in the local Latino community. Quique shares a strong camaraderie with his male peers, but as a closeted gay man is forced to put on a macho front,...

Italian sales agent racks up deals during busy Cannes market.

Italian sales agent The Open Reel has scored North American deals for three titles on its slate: Swsx-prize winner A Place Of Our Own, Julián Hernández’s The Trace Of Your Lips and Dennis Shinners’s Barrio Boy.

Indian drama A Place Of Our Own by grassroots group Ektara Collective has been acquired by Dark Star Pictures for North America. Set in Bhopal, the drama follows two trans women as they seek to find alternative accommodation when their landlord evicts them without notice. It won the global audience award at Swsx in March.

Slate includes Nicolás Herzog’s Elda and the Monsters and Radu Potcoavă Good Guys Go to Heaven.

Italian sales agent The Open Reel is bringing a slate of new films to Cannes market, including Damien Manivel’s The Island.

The Island centres on a group of friends and the events that take place in the last party of the summer. It is produced by Mld Films and stars Damoh Ikhetah and Olga Milshtein.

Manivel’s most recent film Magdala world premiered in Cannes’ Acid section last year. Isadora’s Children (2019) won him the best director prize at Locarno.

The Open...