My fascination with the Argentine men's volleyball team led me to dive into whatever Argentine culture I could get my hands on. The early years of PELÍCULA>PELIKULA, the Manila Spanish Film Festival provided the Argentine culture fix that I needed at the time when the watching entire movies online wasn't a thing yet. If I remember correcly, it was Daniel Burman's El abrazo partido at the 4th edition back in 2005 when I first patronized the festival for the very obvious reason that it was an Argentine film.
After more than two decades later with dozens of Argentine films screened since then, PELÍCULA>PELIKULA now celebrates 25 years of bringing the best of Spanish language cinema and more to the country this October 4-11, 2026.
Presented by the Instituto Cervantes de Manila, in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain, AECID Cultura, and other institutions, this year's festival will feature a total of 23 movies from eight different countries including the Philippines. The films range from recent Goya Award winners, titles from various Latin American countries, and a selection of shorts.
On October 4, 2026, Instituto Cervantes in Intramuros, Manila will serve as host to La Previa, a four movie marathon serving as a prelude before the main program screenings begin at the Power Plant Cinema in Rockwell, Makati on October 5-11, 2026.
As always, audience members get to vote on their favorite films and the one that gets the most votes will be screened again closing out the festival.
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| Ronnie Lazaro |
New for this year is the inaugural Galardón XXV Aniversario (XXV Anniversary Award) to be presented to Filipino actor Ronnie Lazaro for his significant contribution in strenghtening the ties between the Philippines and the Spanish-speaking world through his work in cinema.
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| Nick Deocampo |
PELÍCULA>PELIKULA is more than just the film screenings. Scheduled this year is a music performance by Merienda Jazz to kick of the festival on October 2, 2026, a film talk by film historian Nick Deocampo on October 6, 2026, 1:00 PM at the Power Plant Cinema, and a series of film-inspied workshops by Mexican artist Juan Pablo Chipe on October 4, 2026, 9:00 AM at Instituto Cervantes at Intramuros, Manila and October 6, 2026 at the SoFA Design Institute, 2nd level, Proscenium Retail Row, at the Rockwell Center in Makati.
Participation to Juan Pablo Chipe's workshops are free, but slots are limited. Interested participants can register at the links below:
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| Juan Pablo Chipe |
October 4, 2026
Modeling Clay Workshop for Children
October 6, 2026
Recycling Workshop for Adults
Here are the films lined up for the 25th edition of PELÍCULA>PELIKULA.
El cautivo | The Captive (2025, Spain)
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Cast: Julio Peña, Alessandro Borghi, Miguel Rellán, Fernando Tejero, José Manuel Poga, Luis Callejo, Roberto Álamo, Albert Salazar, César Sarachu, Luna Berroa
1575 Algiers, Miguel de Cervantes, a wounded 28-year-old Spanish Navy soldier, is held prisoner by Ottoman corsairs. Faced with a ticking clock, a cruel death awaits him should his fellow countrymen fail to pay his ransom soon; but within the confines of his cell, Cervantes discovers a surprising refuge - the art of storytelling. Crafted from resilience and hope, his stories enthral his fellow captives, and captures the attention of Hasan, the enigmatic and feared Bey of Algiers. Igniting a secret affinity between captor and captive, suspicions rise amidst growing tensions in the city, and Cervantes, driven by an unwavering sense of optimism, devises a daring plan for freedom.
La cena | The Dinner (2025, Spain)
Director: Manuel Gómez Pereira
Cast: Mario Casas, Alberto San Juan, Asier Etxeandia, Nora Hernández, Oscar Lasarte, Elvira Mínguez, Carmen Balagué, Eva Ugarte, Martín Páez, Carlos Serrano, Toni Agustí, Ferran Gadea, Eleazar Ortiz, Antonio Resines
April 15th, 1939. Two weeks after the end of the Spanish Civil War, lieutenant Medina bursts into the Hotel Palace with an unexpected announcement: Franco will dine there that night with his top generals. What they don’t know is that the dinner will be prepared by a group of Republican chefs who have just been given their last chance to escape the country.
Cyclone (2025, Brazil)
Director: Flávia Castro
Cast: Luiza Mariani, Eduardo Moscovis, Karine Teles, Luciana Paes, Magali Biff, Ricardo Teodoro, Helena Albergaria, Rogério Brito
Dayse, a Brazilian playwright known as Cyclone, wants to study in Paris. Having a career in theater is unthinkable for a woman in São Paulo in 1918. But her director doesn’t want her to go, as he would lose his mistress and ghostwriter. When she becomes pregnant by him, her dream starts to fade. An artist’s struggle for self-determination in a patriarchal society, based on the true story of Daisy Pontes and modernist Oswald de Andrade.
El desencanto | The Disenchantment (1976, Spain)
Director: Jaime Chávarri
Cast: Felicidad Blanc, Juan Luis Panero, Leopoldo María Panero, Michi Panero
Following the death of the official poet of the Francoist regime, Leopoldo Panero, his widow (Felicidad Blanc) and his three sons (Juan Luis, Leopoldo María and Michi) meet to remember his figure. Shot in the final stages of the Franco era, the film became an unwitting metaphor of a country that was starting to air its secrets and into an emblem of the Spanish Transition.
Los domingos | Sundays (2025, Spain)
Director: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
Cast: Blanca Soroa, Patricia López Arnaiz, Miguel Garcés, Juan Minujín, Mabel Rivera, Nagore Aranburu
A young woman faces personal crossroads while exploring career possibilities, much to her family's concern.
Gigantes, una aventura extraordinaria | Giants of La Mancha (2024, Argentina)
Director: Gonzalo Gutiérrez
Cast: Micke Alejandro Moreno Lamprea, Cassie Glow, Mathew Moreno Lamprea
Alfonso Quixote is an 11-year-old boy with a big imagination. As the rightful descendant and legitimate heir to Don Quixote and just like his great, great, great, great, grand-father, he is constantly protecting his beloved town in La Mancha from monsters, which no one else can see.
La habitación de al lado | The Room Next Door (2024, Spain)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola, Juan Diego Botto, Raúl Arévalo, Victoria Luengo, Alex Høgh Andersen, Esther McGregor, Alvise Rigo, Melina Matthews
Martha's strained relationship with her mother fractures completely when a misunderstanding drives them apart. Their mutual friend Ingrid sees both sides of the rift.
Lapönia | Welcome to Lapland (2026, Spain)
Director: David Serrano
Cast: Natalia Verbeke, Julián López, Ángela Cervantes, Vebjørn Enger
Nuria, who now lives in Lapland with her husband and daughter, decides to invite her sister Mónica, her husband, and their son to spend a dreamlike Christmas at her home. The plan seems perfect until her daughter tells her cousin that the white‑bearded man who supposedly leaves gifts for children doesn’t actually exist. The evening spirals into a full‑blown family battle that brings to light unspoken secrets and sparks a debate about what is more appropriate: telling the truth at all costs or preserving the illusion, even if it relies on lies.
L'Olívia i el terratrèmol invisible | Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake (2025, Spain)
Director: Irene Iborra Rizo
Olivia, navigates through her tumultuous life after her family's facing eviction from their apartment. Olivia conjures up a cinematic universe to protect her younger brother Tim from their harsh reality.
Mariposas negras | Black Butterflies (2024, Spain)
Director: David Baute
Tanit lives in Turkana, northern Kenya, where extreme drought forces her to move to Nairobi with her family. Valeria, from the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, must flee after the devastating impact of Hurricane Irma. And Shaila, on the Indian island of Ghoramara, sees her home and crops destroyed by rising sea levels, compelling her to migrate to the city. These moving stories of loss are bound by the shared experience of climate migration—fragile like butterflies, they struggle to survive in a world that no longer sustains them. A necessary look at the human impact of climate change.
Maspalomas (2025, Spain)
Directors: Aitor Arregi, Jose Mari Goenaga
Cast: José Ramón Soroiz, Nagore Aranburu, Kandido Uranga, Zorion Eguileor, Kepa Errasti
Nuria, who now lives in Lapland with her husband and daughter, decides to invite her sister Mónica, her husband, and their son to spend a dreamlike Christmas at her home. The plan seems perfect until her daughter tells her cousin that the white‑bearded man who supposedly leaves gifts for children doesn’t actually exist. The evening spirals into a full‑blown family battle that brings to light unspoken secrets and sparks a debate about what is more appropriate: telling the truth at all costs or preserving the illusion, even if it relies on lies.
Mensaje en una botella | Message in a Bottle (2025, Argentina)
Director: Gabriel Nesci
Cast: Luisana Lopilato, Benjamín Vicuña, Benjamín Amadeo, Luciano Cáceres, Rafael Spregelburd, Eduardo Blanco, Inés Estévez, Gabriel Corrado, Luis Machín, Valeria Lois, Marina Bellati
A sommelier discovers she can send messages to the past-through bottles of wine-to fix a bad decision. But each change in the past, makes her present worse. Trapped in a spiral of cause and effect, she risks losing the life she truly wants.
Rondallas | Band Together (2025, Spain)
Director: Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
Cast: Javier Gutiérrez, María Vázquez, Judith Fernández, Tamar Novas, Carlos Blanco, Fernando Fraga, Xosé A. Touriñán, Marta Larralde, Lola López Rodríguez, Marcos Pereiro
A small town on the coast of Galicia, is shaken two years ago by the shipwreck in which seven of its nine crew members died. After two years of mourning, they decide to return rondalla, which brings a lot of joy and excitement.
Sirāt (2025, Spain)
Director: Óliver Laxe
Cast: Sergi López, Bruno Núñez, Richard Bellamyun, Stefania Gadda, Joshua Liam Herderson, Tonin Javier, Jade Ouki
A father, accompanied by his son, goes looking for his missing daughter in North Africa.
Tengo sueños eléctricos | I Have Electric Dreams (2022, Costa Rica)
Director: Valentina Maures
Cast: Daniela Marín Navarro, Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez, Vivian Rodríguez Barquero, Adriana Castro García, José Pablo Segreda Johanning, Mayté Ortega, Jeniffer Fernández Cornejo, Sara Lefèvre
Eva can't stand the fact that her mother wants to renovate the house and get rid of the cat, which, disoriented since the divorce, pees everywhere. Eva wants to go and live with her father, who, disoriented like the cat, is experiencing a second adolescence. But like someone who crosses an ocean of adults without knowing how to swim, Eva has to face the rage that gnaws at her father. And now it is going through her too.
Los tigres (2025, Spain)
Director: Alberto Rodríguez
Cast: Antonio de la Torre, Bárbara Lennie, Joaquín Núñez, José Miguel Manzano Bazalo “Skone”, Silvia Acosta
Antonio and Estrella are siblings. Their father was a diver. They have spent their whole lives at sea. Antonio is known as The Tiger, an indomitable diver and the perfect buddy to have with you when you risk your life in only a few seconds, every day. Estrella helps her brother on the barge where they work. She keeps him grounded; out of the water, Antonio is a real mess. He has always lived in the moment, never thinking about the future, leaving him with barely a penny to his name. When Antonio has an accident, he is told that his diving days will soon be over. The future looks dark and complicated. However, this situation may just change when they find a stash of cocaine hidden in the hull of an oil tanker. Antonio sees no other option, but his sister Estrella has her doubts. As always.
Vino la noche | Night Has Come (2024, Peru)
Director: Paolo Tizón
A group of young men, many of them teenagers, voluntarily enlists in a rigorous military program within the Peruvian Armed Forces. They are driven by their desire to engage in an ongoing armed conflict in the VRAEM, an area with military intervention framed by a ‘war on drugs’ policy.
They aspire to become ‘men of war’ and embark on a transformative journey from hopeful adventurers into soldiers. Amidst the violence in the secluded military environment in Peru, intimate moments unfold beyond a prejudiced gaze, where compassion and care blossom among them.
We the Hispanos (2026, Spain)
Director: José Luis López-Linares
Documentary that explores and vindicates the diversity and depth of the Hispanic American legacy, proposing a journey through its intellectual, religious, artistic and political influence in the construction of the United States. At the same time, it analyzes the contemporary challenges facing the Hispanic community as a global actor, emphasizing its current role and projection within the United States.
Here are the short films for the Encunetros en el cine: En corto section of the festival.
¡Abre las piernas! | Spread Your legs! (2025, Mexico)
Director: Águeda V. Flores
Cast: Irina Bravo, Tony Corvillo
Paula, a martial arts enthusiast, attends a gynecological appointment with a weird and insensitive doctor.
Agapito (2025, Philippines)
Directors: Arvin Belarmino, Kyla Romero
Cast: Nour Hooshmand, Andre Miguel, Anton Nolasco, Jeremy Mayores, Veronica Reyes, Joel Garcia, Bullet Dumas, Rhon Mercene, Zee Narciso
It's the last day of the month. Bowlers flock to the lanes of a bowling alley that has seen better days. Mira, the manager, decides to close early. She's awaiting the arrival of a special visitor.
Elenita, Elena, Elaine (2025, Philippines)
Director: Gabriela Serrano
Cast: Agot Isidro, Gabby Padilla, Mariana Serrano
A pop idol prepares for what will become her final TV performance. A young graduate packs up her room to go work abroad. A call center agent lets her voice fade against a wall of noise. On this long night, in a reality where people have ceased to dream, three women’s mundane routines and subconscious worlds collide – revealing wishes, regrets, and versions of themselves that they keep from one other. Will dawn bring more silence, or a shimmering song?
Gilbert (2024, Spain)
Directors: Arturo Lacal, Alex Salu, Jordi Jiménez
Gilbert and Sullivan are neighbours on a small archipelago in the middle of the ocean where Sullivan plays the fiscorn, practicing all day long in front of his house, and Gilbert distributes the packages that fall from the sky. But one day Gilbert decides to keep a package that was intended for his neighbour. Inexplicably, that morning, Gilbert leaves his duty to one side and decides not to deliver the parcel to its addressee. This decision changes the course of their friendship forever.
Voz de trompeta | Trumpet Voice (2023, Chile)
Directors: Pilar Smoje Gueico, David Monarte, Serna
A middle-aged trumpet player, unable to communicate with the world in any other way than through his music. One day his trumpet is stolen by the demons with whom he lives every day and he will have to travel inside his mind, reliving his greatest fears and traumas in order to fight his demons and recover his precious trumpet.
PELÍCULA>PELIKULA screening schedule
October 4, 2026 La Previa
10:00 AM Gigantes, una aventura extraordinaria
12:30 PM L'Olívia i el terratrèmol invisible
2:00 PM Mensaje en una botella
4:30 PM Mariposas negras
October 5, 2026
2:00 PM Rondallas
5:00 PM La cena
7:30 PM El cautivo
October 6, 2026
2:00 PM El desencanto
5:00 PM La habitación de al lado
7:30 PM Maspalomas
October 7, 2026
2:00 PM Los domingos
5:00 PM Tengo sueños eléctricos
7:30 PM Vino la noche
October 8, 2026
2:00 PM Lapönia
5:00 PM Cyclone
7:30 PM Sirāt
October 9, 2026
2:00 PM We the Hispanos
5:00 PM El cautivo
7:30 PM Los tigres
9:45 PM Mensaje en una botella
October 10, 2026
2:00 PM Mariposas negras
5:00 PM Los domingos
7:30 PM La cena
October 11, 2026
2:00 PM L'Olívia i el terratrèmol invisible
5:00 PM Encuentros ne el cine: En corto
7:30 PM Premio del Público
Admission to the film screenings at Intramuros and Power Plant Cinema is for free. Films to be shown in their original language with English subtitles.
PELÍCULA>PELIKULA 2026 is a project of Instituto Cervantes de Manila, the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, and AECID Philippines, in collaboration with the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the Film Academy of the Philippines, the National Book Development Board, Intramuros Administration, QCinema, Quezon City Screen Commission (Screen QC), the Embassy of Argentina in the Philippines, the Embassy of Brazil in the Philippines, the Embassy of Chile in the Philippines, the Embassy of Peru in the Philippines, Power Plant Cinema, Ayala Museum, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Mapúa University, MINT College, CIIT, FEU Manila - Institute of Arts and Sciences, UP Diliman Department of European Languages, UP Círculo Hispánico, UP Film Institute, the UST Department of Modern Languages, and SOFA Design Institute.
The Festival is sponsored by Acciona, Boysen, and Fundador.
