Flesh and Fuel stems from a simple desire: to see two relentless workers experience a great love story. I wanted to give these two truckers the right to beauty and freedom. I wanted all these non-places specific to the truckers’ world—originally designed to regulate the flow of goods—to be overtaken by my characters’ feverish love… The golden rule was to tell a sensory, physical story. Emotions had to come foremost from looks, gestures, bodies, and the editing of scenes. I wanted the mise-en-scène and music to convey to the audience the sensations we feel when we fall in love: a racing heart, excitement, longing, solitude… The action scenes, the surging synth, the breathless editing, the ecstatic bodies, and the sheer scale of the trucks: it was all designed with generosity to offer the audience a rich cinematic experience! — Pierre Le Gall
Queer truckers are on a cinematic roll. As a place to grab a bite, catch a nap, and score a bit of rough trade, truck stops are a perennial locus of action in the gay imaginary, but not so much on screen. But in 2026, festival goers have partaken in David Pablos’s En el Camino (opening commercially this November), a voyage of the damned on eighteen wheels across the Mexican desert. On a more romantic note, AFI Fest 2026 presents the directorial debut of screenwriter Pierre Le Gall’s Flesh and Fuel. When Étienne (Alexis Manenti)—resigned to the occasional rest-stop trick—meets Bartosz (Julian Świeżewski), something out of the ordinary sparks, and soon the men are juggling schedules and making detours to reconnect.
This European road trip won the Queer Palm Revelation Award at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Filmmaker Le Gall will introduce his film at AFI Fest 2026, and participate in a post-screening Q & A. For details, see info and link below.
FLESH AND FUEL
Directed by Pierre Le Gall
AFI Fest 2026 presented by Canva
Saturday, October 24, at 5:45 pm
Post-screening Q & A with Pierre Le Gall
Chinese Theater
6801 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles
fest.afi.com/2026/flesh-and-fuel
Pierre Le Gall quotation from his interview with Chloé Caye, Cannes 2026, Semaine de la critique.
Pierre Le Gall, Flesh and Fuel / Du Fioul dans les artères (2026), from top: Alexis Manenti; Julian Świeżewski (foreground) and Manenti; Świeżewski and Manenti.
Stills courtesy and © Pyramide International.
