Spain Takes Off, Packs Historic Cannes Punch

Spain Takes Off, Packs Historic Cannes Punch

Over 2025-26, no country anywhere in the world outside France, not even the U.S., has had more Cannes Palme d’Or contenders than Spain. Pedro Almodóvar, Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo have made Cannes’ 2026 main competition cut; Oliver Laxe and Carla Simón were selected in 2025. ‘La bola negra’ Arguably, Spain also has two of the biggest stars at this year’s Cannes Film Festival: Almodóvar an…

Carla Simón: ‘In Spain people use words like shame and blame. But my parents just had bad luck‘

The rising star of Spanish cinema discusses being orphaned at six, new feature Romería and why she always works with childrenFamily reunions in European arthouse cinema are almost always unhappy events, on a scale of strife that ranges from simmering resentment (Louis Malle’s Milou in May) to spectacular score-settling (Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen). There are still splatters of bad blood on the Sunday best in the films of Carla Simón, but the Spa…