The recent Spanish Film Festival had a hefty 32 films as their offering. From this, I am picking 16 of them as my personal best of the lot. These films got my five-star approval rating so catch them when you can when they get a cinema release.
The following are the films ranked in order of preference.
THE SAME BLOOD (Drama/Thriller) – Takes the top spot. Really well-structured, sleek, unpredictable, dark family murder with a violent jaw-dropping ending.
THE GOOD GIRLS (Drama) – My second top favourite is a period piece from Argentina that is quite timely and classic. A well-explored downfall of its high society set.
BREAK (Drama) – Third spot goes to another Argentinian film on friendships, infidelity and examining the approaching midlife crises.
PETRA (Drama) – Stylish, great cinematography and an unpredictable storyline of a woman in search of her father.
VIRGIN AND EXTRA: JAÉN, THE LAND OF THE OLIVE OIL (Documentary) – Everything you wanted to know about Spain’s olive farming industry.
THE DAYS TO COME (Drama) – A riveting drama of a young mother’s actual pregnancy and birth.
TREMORS (Drama) – Explores Guatemala’s bleak, repressive culture against homosexuals and their own religious style of conversion therapy.
CHAMPIONS (Comedy) – Really funny take on disability within a basketball team competition.
BETWEEN TWO WATERS (Drama) – Languid, slow burn piece of the trying relationship between two brothers.
CARMEN AND LOLA (Drama) – A hidden lesbian love affair among Spain’s gypsy community.
THE QUIETUDE (Drama) – Dysfunctional family relationships tear apart a well-to-do Argentinian family.
HOPELESSLY DEVOUT (Comedy) – A dark comedy on Catholic devotion.
70 BIG ONES (Thriller) – Highly riveting bank robbery thriller that will keep you at the edge of your seat.
THE LONGEST NIGHT (Drama/Thriller) – A call girl gets involved with the bad elements.
MY MASTERPIECE (Drama) – This is for art lovers and those who create art.
CRIME WAVE (Comedy/Thriller) – A riotous sex comedy in this mother and son murder cover-up.
Hope you get to see all these diamantes preciosos. Viva las peliculas de España!!!
The recent French Film Festival featured a generous 54 films in their lineup. Out of this eclectic collection, I am recommending 23 of them as the best of the lot.
Oscar 2026 nominations have been announced, with Sinners leading the field with 16 nominations (an all-time record), followed by One Battle After Another with 13. Next came a tight cluster: Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, and Sentimental Value each scored 9, while Hamnet landed 8. Other noteworthy Best Picture contenders rounding out the lineup were Bugonia, F1, The Secret Agent and Train Dreams — with The Secret Agent standing out as the “international crossover” pick that showed up in both Best Picture and International Feature.
