The Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival (ESFF) welcomes film fans from all over Scotland to its 13th edition. The festival is delighted to offer a packed programme of cinema screenings, guest appearances and cultural events, featuring a total of 16 films from Spain and Latin America and offering a snapshot of the best brand-new Spanish-language cinema for 2026. The majority of films are Scottish premieres.
ESFF 2026 celebrates the role of the community, and the idea that shared experiences make life richer, because success and happiness are not only based on individual achievements but also on the connections we build with others.
The two opening films, Band Together by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo and Lust for Life by El Langui, show how people can support and elevate one another and achieve much greater things together. Daniel Sánchez Arévalo will be in attendance for both Band Together screenings Friday 2 October and Saturday 3 October at the VUE Omni Centre. Lust for Life’s producer Rodrigo Espinel will also present and discuss his docu-mentary on Thursday 1 October at the Edinburgh Filmhouse. Sánchez Arévalo and Espinel will also join a roundtable about the current state of Spanish cinema on Saturday 3 October at the French Institute of Scotland.
The 2026 programme includes other films that test the power of communal efforts across different periods of Spanish history: surviving exile from the Spanish Civil War in Karmele by Asier Altuna (in attendance, Wednesday 7 October at the French Institute), overcoming the challenges of caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s in I Won’t Die for Love by Marta Matute (in attendance, Saturday 10 October at the Filmhouse), and resisting the temptation of bribery from a corrupted businessman in The Righteous by Fer Pérez and Jorge A. Lara (the latter in attendance, Saturday 10 October at the VUE).
Also incldued in the programme is a special preview of The Black Ball from the Cannes-awarded directing by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, celebrating the legacy of Federico García Lorca, and co-written by Alberto Conejero (in attendance, Sunday 11 October at the Filmhouse).
This year ESFF's Basque Window, in collaboration with the Etxepare Institute, includes Maspalomas, a queer dramedy by Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregui, and Gaua, a folk horror fantasy by Paul Urkijo . Our Latin American Window will feature A World for Julius by Rossana Díaz Costa, an ad-aptation of the homonymous book by the late Peruvian author Alfredo Bryce Echenique, in collaboration with the Peruvian Embassy of London.
ESFF will also offer two hidden gems of Spanish cinema: the documentary The disenchantment by Jaime Chávarri and the flamenco musical Carmen by Carlos Saura. The latter will be preceded by a special event co-organised with Cinetopia Salon featuring drinks and tapas and a special flamenco show by TuFlamenco.
Discover the full programme on the ESFF website.
All films will be screened in their original language with English subtitles. For hard-of-hearing (HOH) audiences, all screenings of Lust for life and Band Together in Edinburgh and across Scotland will feature HOH captions provided by Edinburgh-based accessibility ex-perts Screen Language.
Special events:
Following the ESFF tradition to support the study of Spanish as a foreign language in the UK, they have organised many events for young students. This year, A World for Julius and Nena by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa will be available online with an access code, ready to be viewed from the comfort of the classroom for all UK schools. Lust for life will be screened in Edinburgh and Tranent for special school screenings.
In a new collaboration with Scottish charity The Welcoming, which supports asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in Edinburgh, ESFF will host a special workshop centred on the rich-ness of the many languages spoken by people of all ages and backgrounds, and how these languages connect to their cultures, memories and sense of belonging in Edinburgh.
Marian A. Aréchaga, Director ESFF said: “Spanish cinema is on a high, with the number of films produced in Spain rising steadily in the past few years. At ESFF we are delighted to bring the best of those titles alongside some of the most exciting features from Latin America. It has been and is an incredible experience to share thoughts, views and ideas with directors, colleagues, students and wonderful interpreters who make the whole thing possible.”
Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Film Hub Scotland, Screen Scotland, the Spanish Embassy in London and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).
More information
Image credits: Still from Rondallas courtesy Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival