Why a Festival in Andalusia’s South Remains an Essential Part of the International Circuit
Offering prizes to Almodóvar lead and rapidly-risen star Milena Smit (“Parallel Mothers”) and evergreen 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 on Nov. 14 with an powerfully enticing line-up of Latin American titles in main competition, a reminder of Spanish cinema’s current power in section Acento and five doc-features in Talento Andaluz.
10 takes on why Huelva, a festival in an Andalusian seaport, remains an essential part of the international film circuit:
Huelva’s Vital Role
Huelva’s 51st edition has one innovation: Latidos (see below). Apart from that, it will continue to do what it does best: Throwing further light on titles – Latin American or Spanish and sometimes Andalusian – which have bowed to critical acclaim, but merit far more international attention. That now is a pressing need. In 2003, Latin America and the Caribbean produced 179 features, according to Omdia. That figure shot up to 761 by 2023. Unless it wins big time at a big festival, such as Cannes Un Certain Regard Award laureate “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” at Huelva this year, a Latin America movie need further promotion platforms. Huelva is one of the most prominent.
Genre Build
Some of Huelva’s largest pleasures this year are afforded by genre, understood in a broader sense. Of Competition movies, “The Reborn” is an Argentine classic hard-boiled actioner,“A Bright Future,” from Uruguay’s Lucía Garibaldi, a touching sci-fi retro futuristic allegory, Colombian Tomas Corredor’s “Noviembre” a gripping siege thriller, Chile’s “Isla Negra” a hard-hitting home invasion suspense drama. That said, all four films retain the hallmark ADN of Latin American cinema: its social point. “A Bright Future” questions capitalism;, in “Isla Negra,” one ends up sympathising with the invaders, victims of wholesale home evictions along Chile’s coast.
Huelva: Not So Far From Hollywood
Sean Penn came to champion the Oscar candidacy of Huelva 2024 standout “Manas,” boarding as an executive producer. “It Would Be Night in Caracas,” in this year’s Huelva competition, stars Edgar Ramírez (“American Crime Story”) who also produces and originated the project, alongside Natalia Reyes (“Terminator: Dark Fate”). Reyes is also the most identifiable face in hostage crisis thriller “Noviembre,” also in Huelva Competition this year. “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” playing out of competition at Huelva, is Chile’s Oscar entry. Huelva is 5,500 miles from Hollywood. But, despite most titles meriting far more attention, they are not entirely off everybody’s radar in Hollywood.
Huelva’s Range
“Many Latin American cineastes have grown up with another generation of cinema, mixing social denunciation with more open formats for the public,” says Manuel H. Martín, Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival director, talking about the rise of Latin American genre. “What we’re trying to do is mix these films with others which might not be for a broad public but still have an audience,” he adds, citing Clarisa Navas’ 212-minute “The Prince of Nanawa,” a kind of Paraguayan “Boyhood,” studying modern masculinity through a 10-year real life coming of age narrative. Equally, J.M. Cravioto’s ‘Wheels, Weed & Rock n’ Roll, “gives a far broader, diverse vision of Latin American filmmaking,” says Martín.
Rafael Cobos: Andalusia’s Spanish Cinema Drive
Andalusia, like Catalonia and the Basque Country, is a Spanish cinema driving force. This year alone, the Seville-based Cobos has co-written “Tigres,” one of the biggest movies of 2025, and “The Anatomy of a Moment,” hailed as the Spanish series of the year. He has also directed his first feature, “Golpes,” an inspired mix of early ‘80s “quinqui” heist thriller and brothers reconciliation drama of large social point. It’s not just Latin America which is ringing that combination. Somebody should erect a monument to him, or give him a prize; which is exactly what Canal Sur, Andalusia’s public broadcaster, will do at this year’s Huelva.
Spain’s Filmic Powerhouse
Rarely has Spanish cinema fired on so many cylinders. Huelva’s Acento, Cine Español strand is a case in point. It features “Tigres” and “Golpes,” but also Carla Simón’s admired Cannes Competition player “Romería” and “Sundays,” the San Sebastián Golden Shell laureate from Alauda Ruíz de Azua, whose “Querer” won the Grand Prix at March’s Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV fest. Even its smallest films are large pleasures, such as “Flores for Antonio,” a Goodfellas pick-up. Spain looks set to have a marvellous year in 2026, with movies from Almodóvar, Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo in the hopper. Huelva offers a chance to sample its talent before international talk breaks out of Spain’s firepower.
Andalusian Premieres
Talento Andaluz showcases the best of recent Andalusian doc features. Rafael Cobos. for example, has also produced and co-penned doc feature “Ellas en la Ciudad,” a standout in Huelva’s Talento Andaluz section, recognising the role of women in building Seville’s new barrios, humble outlying neighbourhoods which now form a key part of the city. Another doc feature in Talento Andaluz on which word is also good, “Pendaripen,” from Alfonso Sánchez, whose “Sembrando Sueños opened Huelva in 2019, reps a vigorous revisionist take on the Roma people, victims of 600 years of racism and ignorance.
Yon González: Spain’s New Generation of Stars
Huelva is a film festival. Its stars these days, however, often come from TV. One case in point, who receives a Luz Award alongside Milena Smit: suave charmer Yon Gónzalez. He starred in “Grand Hotel” (2011-13), one of the first Spanish series to light a fire in Latin America without being dubbed into neutral Spanish. He led again Netflix’s first series in Spain, “Cable Girls” (2017-20). He’s now broken into the U.S. Hispanic market toplining Telemundo Studios “Velvet. El Nuevo Imperio.” González receives a Huelva Premio Luz. His export potential will sure soon be put to good use.
Hiking Local Impact: Latidos
Huelva’s biggest 2025 departure, a new section, Latidos, recognises what it has already done before, free-of-charge charity screenings and concerts. The initiative now gets an official name and a boost. This year’s inaugural Latidos lineup takes in “Andy and Lucas,” a portrait of the Cadiz musical duo, odd friendship tale “El cielo de los animales” and a new film from Santi Amodeo, a “vibrant and idiosyncratic” director, Variety has said, director of memorable titles such as “Doghead” and the underrated “The Gentiles” in 2021.
Huelva’s Industry Drive: Education
The Andalusia Agency for Cultural Institutions (AAIICC) authorities launched earlier this year a residency program for Andalusian screenwriters, teaming with the Huelva Festival. A second Residency initiative will mentor four film projects from Extremadura, Huelva director Manuel H. Martín notes. “Industry activities are great but education, professional training as important: If we don’t have audiences which watch our films on the big screen, it’s very difficult maintain an industry,” he added. And he’s dead right.
10 takes on why Huelva, a festival in an Andalusian seaport, remains an essential part of the international film circuit:
Huelva’s Vital Role
Huelva’s 51st edition has one innovation: Latidos (see below). Apart from that, it will continue to do what it does best: Throwing further light on titles – Latin American or Spanish and sometimes Andalusian – which have bowed to critical acclaim, but merit far more international attention. That now is a pressing need. In 2003, Latin America and the Caribbean produced 179 features, according to Omdia. That figure shot up to 761 by 2023. Unless it wins big time at a big festival, such as Cannes Un Certain Regard Award laureate “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” at Huelva this year, a Latin America movie need further promotion platforms. Huelva is one of the most prominent.
Genre Build
Some of Huelva’s largest pleasures this year are afforded by genre, understood in a broader sense. Of Competition movies, “The Reborn” is an Argentine classic hard-boiled actioner,“A Bright Future,” from Uruguay’s Lucía Garibaldi, a touching sci-fi retro futuristic allegory, Colombian Tomas Corredor’s “Noviembre” a gripping siege thriller, Chile’s “Isla Negra” a hard-hitting home invasion suspense drama. That said, all four films retain the hallmark ADN of Latin American cinema: its social point. “A Bright Future” questions capitalism;, in “Isla Negra,” one ends up sympathising with the invaders, victims of wholesale home evictions along Chile’s coast.
Huelva: Not So Far From Hollywood
Sean Penn came to champion the Oscar candidacy of Huelva 2024 standout “Manas,” boarding as an executive producer. “It Would Be Night in Caracas,” in this year’s Huelva competition, stars Edgar Ramírez (“American Crime Story”) who also produces and originated the project, alongside Natalia Reyes (“Terminator: Dark Fate”). Reyes is also the most identifiable face in hostage crisis thriller “Noviembre,” also in Huelva Competition this year. “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” playing out of competition at Huelva, is Chile’s Oscar entry. Huelva is 5,500 miles from Hollywood. But, despite most titles meriting far more attention, they are not entirely off everybody’s radar in Hollywood.
Huelva’s Range
“Many Latin American cineastes have grown up with another generation of cinema, mixing social denunciation with more open formats for the public,” says Manuel H. Martín, Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival director, talking about the rise of Latin American genre. “What we’re trying to do is mix these films with others which might not be for a broad public but still have an audience,” he adds, citing Clarisa Navas’ 212-minute “The Prince of Nanawa,” a kind of Paraguayan “Boyhood,” studying modern masculinity through a 10-year real life coming of age narrative. Equally, J.M. Cravioto’s ‘Wheels, Weed & Rock n’ Roll, “gives a far broader, diverse vision of Latin American filmmaking,” says Martín.
Rafael Cobos: Andalusia’s Spanish Cinema Drive
Andalusia, like Catalonia and the Basque Country, is a Spanish cinema driving force. This year alone, the Seville-based Cobos has co-written “Tigres,” one of the biggest movies of 2025, and “The Anatomy of a Moment,” hailed as the Spanish series of the year. He has also directed his first feature, “Golpes,” an inspired mix of early ‘80s “quinqui” heist thriller and brothers reconciliation drama of large social point. It’s not just Latin America which is ringing that combination. Somebody should erect a monument to him, or give him a prize; which is exactly what Canal Sur, Andalusia’s public broadcaster, will do at this year’s Huelva.
Spain’s Filmic Powerhouse
Rarely has Spanish cinema fired on so many cylinders. Huelva’s Acento, Cine Español strand is a case in point. It features “Tigres” and “Golpes,” but also Carla Simón’s admired Cannes Competition player “Romería” and “Sundays,” the San Sebastián Golden Shell laureate from Alauda Ruíz de Azua, whose “Querer” won the Grand Prix at March’s Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV fest. Even its smallest films are large pleasures, such as “Flores for Antonio,” a Goodfellas pick-up. Spain looks set to have a marvellous year in 2026, with movies from Almodóvar, Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo in the hopper. Huelva offers a chance to sample its talent before international talk breaks out of Spain’s firepower.
Andalusian Premieres
Talento Andaluz showcases the best of recent Andalusian doc features. Rafael Cobos. for example, has also produced and co-penned doc feature “Ellas en la Ciudad,” a standout in Huelva’s Talento Andaluz section, recognising the role of women in building Seville’s new barrios, humble outlying neighbourhoods which now form a key part of the city. Another doc feature in Talento Andaluz on which word is also good, “Pendaripen,” from Alfonso Sánchez, whose “Sembrando Sueños opened Huelva in 2019, reps a vigorous revisionist take on the Roma people, victims of 600 years of racism and ignorance.
Yon González: Spain’s New Generation of Stars
Huelva is a film festival. Its stars these days, however, often come from TV. One case in point, who receives a Luz Award alongside Milena Smit: suave charmer Yon Gónzalez. He starred in “Grand Hotel” (2011-13), one of the first Spanish series to light a fire in Latin America without being dubbed into neutral Spanish. He led again Netflix’s first series in Spain, “Cable Girls” (2017-20). He’s now broken into the U.S. Hispanic market toplining Telemundo Studios “Velvet. El Nuevo Imperio.” González receives a Huelva Premio Luz. His export potential will sure soon be put to good use.
Hiking Local Impact: Latidos
Huelva’s biggest 2025 departure, a new section, Latidos, recognises what it has already done before, free-of-charge charity screenings and concerts. The initiative now gets an official name and a boost. This year’s inaugural Latidos lineup takes in “Andy and Lucas,” a portrait of the Cadiz musical duo, odd friendship tale “El cielo de los animales” and a new film from Santi Amodeo, a “vibrant and idiosyncratic” director, Variety has said, director of memorable titles such as “Doghead” and the underrated “The Gentiles” in 2021.
Huelva’s Industry Drive: Education
The Andalusia Agency for Cultural Institutions (AAIICC) authorities launched earlier this year a residency program for Andalusian screenwriters, teaming with the Huelva Festival. A second Residency initiative will mentor four film projects from Extremadura, Huelva director Manuel H. Martín notes. “Industry activities are great but education, professional training as important: If we don’t have audiences which watch our films on the big screen, it’s very difficult maintain an industry,” he added. And he’s dead right.