This year’s Spanish & Latin American Film Festival offers audiences a season of cinematic escapes, from culinary adventures in Peru and São Paulo to gripping thrillers, passionate Spanish romances, documentaries tracing salsa’s New York origins, and even an uplifting true story about the pioneering girls who changed the course of women’s football in Spain.
Opening at Palace Cinemas, Palace Nova and Luna Palace Cinemas around the country this month and continuing into July, the festival is now in its 29th year in Australia.
Opening the festival is the Australian premiere of Mistura, a drama revered for its vivid portrayal of Peru’s gastronomy and people. Featuring beautiful cinematography and elegant settings, the film centres on a woman whose life unravels after her husband leaves her, inspiring her to embark on a transformative culinary journey.
Diversity in Peruvian cuisine
It’s the first time a Peruvian film has opened the festival, a matter of great pride to Peru’s Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Vitaliano Gallardo Valencia, who attended the opening in Canberra and spoke about how Peruvian gastronomy reflects the country’s rich cultural diversity. His speech has definitely inspired us to visit this beautiful country and experience its highly acclaimed cuisine first-hand.
The festival Centrepiece is Sundays (Los domingos), winner of the Golden Shell (Best Film) at the 2025 San Sebastián Film Festival. Writer/director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s quietly spellbinding drama deftly captures the rupture within a family after a young woman chooses to enter a convent. The coming-of-age drama has already drawn widespread critical acclaim on the festival circuit.
The 2026 Special Presentation is The Tigers (Los Tigres), starring Antonio de la Torre and Bárbara Lennie as professional divers and siblings. In this critically acclaimed maritime thriller from award-winning director Alberto Rodríguez, the pair discover the proceeds of a crime and are met with a huge dilemma about what to do next.
A second Special Presentation is epic historical adventure The Captive (El cautivo), a thrilling drama that follows a young Miguel de Cervantes, who went on to write Don Quixote, as he finds an unexpected refuge in the art of storytelling while imprisoned in 1575 Algiers.
Featuring the much-loved Mexican star Gael García Bernal, (The Motorcycle Diaries, Y tu mamá también), Nothing Between Us (Nada entre los dos) is an intimate and charming love story set against the backdrop of a corporate crisis. Bernal is joined by Natalia Oreiro as they explore desire, choice, and the fragile balance between personal freedom and social expectations.
Spanish cinema classic
To close the festival, and marking its 60th anniversary with a new restoration, is The Hunt (La Caza). Considered a landmark classic in Spanish cinema, the film delivered Carlos Saura his first international success when he was awarded Silver Bear for Best Director at the 1966 Berlin International Film Festival. A thrilling psychological drama set over the course of a single scorching summer day, tensions rise between friends on a rabbit hunt, acting as a skillful allegory of the wounds of the Spanish Civil War and subsequent Franco dictatorship.
Other highlights in the festival include the best-reviewed film of the 2025 Berlinale, The Blue Trail (O Último Azul), which follows a remarkable Brazilian woman who secretly sets out on a trip down the Amazon to fulfil a long-held dream.
Continuing the theme of journeying is Emilio Estevez’s touching drama The Way, celebrating its 15th anniversary and screening with an exclusive pre-recorded Q&A with Estevez and actor Martin Sheen.
São Paulo’s fine-dining scene
Another to put on your must-see list is Isabel, fresh from its premiere at the Berlinale, centred around a talented sommelier in São Paulo’s fine-dining scene who dreams of opening her own wine bar.
This is just a small taste of what’s on offer in the festival’s wonderfully diverse program. For information about others in the line-up and to purchase tickets, visit the festival website here.
The 2026 HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival takes place nationally from June 10 to July 12 (dates vary) in Melbourne, Ballarat, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney, Byron Bay and Ballina.
