Programmers' Picks: Hebe Tabachnik on SIFF 2026
The Red Hangar
In the aftermath of the 1973 Chilean coup d’état, a logistics officer at an Air Force training school is ordered to convert a hangar into a detention and torture center. As repression tightens and a ruthless superior arrives, Silva is forced to confront obedience, loyalty, and the moral cost of a nation descending into dictatorship. Winner of the Audience, Critics’ Jury and Best Actor awards at the 2026 Malaga Film Festival.
Balandrau, Where the Fierce Wind
On December 30, 2000, friends climbing Balandrau mountain in the Catalan Pyrenees are caught in a sudden, savage blizzard. Visibility vanishes, winds roar, and survival becomes a desperate fight against one of the mountain’s deadliest storms.
Maspalomas
After a stroke while vacationing in the gay haven of Maspalomas, Vicente—played by José Ramón Soroiz, winner of the 2026 Goya Award for Best Lead Actor—is placed in a nursing home where he’s forced back into the closet, confronting a fight for freedom he thought he’d already won.
Sundays
Winner of the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián Film Festival and the standout at this year’s Goya Awards—where it took home Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and acting honors—Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s latest feature (following Lullaby, SIFF 2022) is a powerful, thought-provoking exploration of the fragile balance between faith and skepticism.
Jaripeo
Set amid Michoacán’s electrifying bull-riding celebrations, Jaripeo uncovers queer desire within a fiercely hypermasculine world—blending music, dance, and intimate stories into a vibrant celebration of sensuality, joy, and the freedom to live openly in one’s own skin.
One of Our Own: A Tribute to Joan Roca
Catalan chef Joan Roca, hailed as the “Messi of the kitchen,” is a revolutionary force in gastronomy. Twenty of Spain’s top chefs, together holding 70 Michelin stars, unite to craft an extraordinary banquet celebrating Roca’s generosity, vision, and pioneering culinary genius.
The Garden We Dreamed
A Haitian family migrating through Mexico becomes entangled in illegal logging. Amid fleeting stability and the forest’s quiet beauty, they confront violence, survival, and destruction, testing their hope for a place to call home. Winner of Best Picture, Best Direction, and Best Cinematography at the 2026 Malaga Festival.
Iván & Hadoum
Amid the sprawling greenhouses of Almería, trans man Iván and migrant Hadoum share an unexpected, electric connection—until he becomes her boss, and passion collides with power and prejudice. Winner of the 2026 Berlinale Teddy Award, Special Jury Prize, and Best Male Performance at the Málaga Film Festival.
The Condor Daughter
A talent to watch, Bolivian director Alvaro Olmos Torrico makes a striking debut: Clara, a young Quechua midwife with sacred songs in her voice, leaves her Andean village to chase a singing dream—only to confront a powerful choice between the spotlight and her ancestral calling.
Strange River
Sixteen-year-old Dídac spends a summer cycling along the Danube with his family. When a mysterious boy appears, new emotions stir, subtly shifting family dynamics and guiding Dídac through a transformative journey of first love and self-discovery.