Offering prizes to Almodóvar star Milena Smit (“Parallel Mothers”) and Spanish comedy icon Fernando Tejero (“Aquí no hay quien viva”), notable as the ethically spineless priest in Alejandro Amenábar’s “The Captive,” the resilient Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival bows November 14 with a powerfully enticing lineup of Latin American titles in the main competition, as a reminder. of the current power of Spanish cinema in the Acento section and five feature-length documentaries in Talento Andaluz.
10 explains why Huelva, a festival held in an Andalusian port, remains an essential part of the international film circuit:
The vital role of Huelva
The 51st edition of Huelva includes an innovation: Latidos (see below). Apart from that, he will continue to do what he does best: shed more light on titles – Latin American or Spanish and sometimes Andalusian – that have been critically acclaimed, but deserve much more international attention. This is now a pressing need. In 2003, Latin America and the Caribbean produced 179 feature films, according to Omdia. That figure climbed to 761 in 2023. Unless it wins a big prize at a major festival, like Cannes’ Un Certain Regard winner “The Mysterious Gaze of the Pink Flamingo” in Huelva this year, a Latin American film needs additional promotional platforms. Huelva is one of the most important.
Gender construction
Some of Huelva’s greatest pleasures this year are offered by genre, understood in a broader sense. Among the films in the competition, “The Reborn” is a gritty Argentine action classic, “A Bright Future” by Uruguay’s Lucía Garibaldi, a touching retro-futuristic sci-fi allegory, “Noviembre” by Colombian Tomas Corredor, a gripping siege thriller, “Isla Negra” from Chile, a hard-hitting home invasion suspense drama. That said, the four films retain the characteristic DNA of Latin American cinema: its social aspect. “A Bright Future” questions capitalism; in “Isla Negra,” we end up sympathizing with the invaders, victims of mass evictions from homes along the Chilean coast.
Huelva: not so far from Hollywood
Sean Penn came to defend the Oscar candidacy of the remarkable “Manas” from Huelva 2024, as executive producer. “It Should Be Night in Caracas,” part of this year’s Huelva competition, stars Edgar Ramírez (“American Crime Story”), who is also producing and behind the project, alongside Natalia Reyes (“Terminator: Dark Fate”). Reyes is also the most identifiable face in the hostage crisis thriller “Noviembre,” also in the Huelva competition this year. “The Mysterious Look of the Pink Flamingo”, performed out of competition in Huelva, is Chile’s nomination for the Oscars. Huelva is 5,500 miles from Hollywood. But even though most of the titles deserve a lot more attention, they’re not entirely off the radar of everyone in Hollywood.
Huelva Range
“Many Latin American filmmakers grew up with another generation of cinema, mixing social denunciation and formats more open to the public,” explains Manuel H. Martín, director of the Huelva Ibero-American Cinema Festival, about the rise of the Latin American genre. “What we’re trying to do is mix these films with others that may not be aimed at a wide audience but still have an audience,” he adds, citing “The Prince of Nanawa,” a 212-minute Paraguayan “Boyhood” of sorts by Clarisa Navas, which studies modern masculinity through a 10-year real-life coming-of-age tale. Likewise, JM Cravioto’s “Wheels, Weed & Rock n’ Roll” “gives a much broader and more diverse vision of Latin American cinema,” says Martín.
Rafael Cobos: the Spanish cinema campaign in Andalusia
Andalusia, like Catalonia and the Basque Country, is a driving force in Spanish cinema. This year alone, the Sevillian company Cobos co-wrote “Tigers”, one of the biggest films of 2025, and “The Anatomy of a Moment”, hailed as the Spanish series of the year. He also directed his first feature film, “Golpes,” an inspired mash-up of the early ’80s heist thriller “quinqui” and the brothers’ reconciliation drama with broad social significance. It is not only Latin America that presents this combination. Someone should erect a monument to him or give him an award; This is exactly what Canal Sur, the Andalusian public channel, will do in Huelva this year.
Spanish cinematic power
Rarely has Spanish cinema been running at full capacity. The Acento, Cine Español de Huelva section is a good example. There we find “Tigres” and “Golpes”, but also “Romería”, the actor admired by Carla Simón in the Cannes Competition, and “Sundays”, winner of the Golden Shell of San Sebastián by Alauda Ruíz de Azua, whose “Querer” won the Grand Prix of Series Mania in March, the largest television festival in Europe. Even his smaller films are great pleasures, like “Flores for Antonio,” a Goodfellas pickup. Spain promises to be a wonderful year 2026, with the films of Almodóvar, Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo in its hopper. Huelva offers a chance to sample his talent before international discussions erupt in the face of Spanish firepower.
Andalusian firsts
Talento Andaluz presents the best of recent Andalusian documentaries. Rafael Cobos. for example, he also produced and co-wrote the feature-length documentary “Ellas en la Ciudad,” a notable article in Huelva’s Talento Andaluz section, recognizing the role of women in the construction of Seville’s new barrios, modest outlying neighborhoods that now constitute a key part of the city. Another Talento Andaluz documentary on which the word is also good, “Pendaripen”, by Alfonso Sánchez, whose “Sembrando Sueños opened Huelva in 2019, represents a vigorous revisionist vision of the Roma people, victims of 600 years of racism and ignorance.
Yon González: the new generation of Spanish stars
Huelva is a film festival. But today, its stars often come from television. A typical example, who receives a Luz Award alongside Milena Smit: the suave charmer Yon Gónzalez. He starred in “Grand Hotel” (2011-13), one of the first Spanish series to set fire to Latin America without being dubbed into neutral Spanish. He again directed the first Netflix series in Spain, “Cable Girls” (2017-20). He is now present in the American Hispanic market headlining Telemundo Studios’ “Velvet. El Nuevo Imperio”. González receives a Huelva Premio Luz. Its export potential will certainly soon be put to good use.
Local impact of hiking: Latidos
Huelva’s biggest departure in 2025, a new section, Latidos, recognizes what it has already done before, screenings and free charity concerts. The initiative now gets an official name and a boost. This year’s inaugural Latidos lineup includes “Andy and Lucas,” a portrait of the musical duo from Cádiz, a strange tale of friendship “El cielo de los vins” and a new film from Santi Amodeo, a “vibrant and idiosyncratic” director, Variety said, director of memorable titles like “Doghead” and the underrated “The Gentiles” in 2021.
The industrial dynamics of Huelva: education
The authorities of the Andalusian Agency for Cultural Institutions (AAIICC) launched a residency program for Andalusian screenwriters at the beginning of this year, in collaboration with the Huelva Festival. A second residency initiative will oversee four film projects from Extremadura, notes Huelva director Manuel H. Martín. “Industrial activities are great, but education and vocational training are equally important: if we don’t have an audience watching our films on the big screen, it is very difficult to sustain an industry,” he added. And he’s absolutely right.
