Ukrainian moviegoers in Kyiv and Lviv will host the 11th Spanish Film Line festival this autumn, featuring the latest work by two-time Oscar winner Pedro Almodovar.
The festival will run from September 24 to September 30, 2026, at the Zhovten cinema in Kyiv, according to event co-organiser Arthouse Traffic. The cinema is a long-standing landmark for independent film screenings in the Ukrainian capital.
Following the Kyiv dates, the cinematic event will move to Lviv from October 12 to October 16, 2026. Screenings in the western Ukrainian cultural center will take place at the Planeta Kino cinema inside the Forum Lviv shopping mall.
Opening the festival is the comedy drama Bitter Christmas, titled Amarga Navidad in Spanish, directed by Pedro Almodovar. The film held its world premiere earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival on the French Riviera, where it won the award for best soundtrack.
Almodovar remains one of the most prominent figures in international cinema, having directed acclaimed titles such as All About My Mother, Bad Education, Volver, Broken Embraces, The Skin I Live In, and Parallel Mothers.
Critics have described Bitter Christmas as a self-reflective work by the director. The plot follows an artist enduring a creative crisis who writes a screenplay by shamelessly borrowing storylines from his own life and those of his close relatives and friends. The story weaves together a faded dream of auteur cinema, grief following the death of a mother, and an unexpected romance involving a firefighter stripper.
Starring roles and Lorca drama
The festival selection features the drama Black Ball, known in Spanish as La bola negra. The production brings together Hollywood actor Glenn Close, known for her roles in Guardians of the Galaxy and Dangerous Liaisons, and Spanish actor Penelope Cruz, whose credits include All About My Mother, Vanilla Sky, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Escobar, Parallel Mothers, The Bride, and Neighbors Upstairs.
Directed by the filmmaking duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, Black Ball earned the pair the Best Director award at Cannes. The narrative explores an imagined outcome for the final unfinished manuscript by Federico Garcia Lorca, one of Spain's most influential literary figures.
Lorca managed to write only a few pages of a novel centered on forbidden love before he was killed at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.
Malaga comedy and desert journey
The lineup includes the crime black comedy Who Outsmarted Whom, titled Cada dia nace un listo in Spanish, directed by Arantxa Echevarria. The film enters the Ukrainian festival following its presentation at the Malaga Film Festival in southern Spain.
The story follows Toni, a former talent show star now struggling under heavy financial debt and prepared to do whatever it takes to earn money. He meets another rogue, a wealthy young man who hires him to steal an invaluable painting from his own mother's home. Toni gathers a crew of clumsy accomplices, but their plan for a straightforward heist quickly descends into total chaos.
Also joining the program is Sirat, directed by Oliver Laxe and produced by Pedro Almodovar alongside his brother Agustin Almodovar. The film arrived from last year's Cannes program, where it received the Jury Prize and the Best Soundtrack award.
Over the past year, Sirat gathered nominations for an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA, while securing six Goya Awards, which represent the highest honours in Spanish national cinema. The plot details the journey of a father traveling through the Moroccan desert with his son and loyal dog to locate his missing daughter. Upon meeting a group of ravers traveling to a party in the heart of the Sahara, the group embarks on a severe trek across the sands.
Family animation and screening formats
For younger audiences and families, the festival will present the animated adventure film Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, titled L'Olivia i el terratremol invisible in Catalan. Directed by Irene Iborra, the movie earned two European Film Academy Award nominations and a Goya Award nomination, and previously screened as a feature at Children KinoFest, Ukraine's largest film festival for children and teenagers.
The story follows a young girl who turns her family's stressful move into an imaginative game to protect and comfort her younger brother.
Organisers confirmed that Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake will be the only movie in the festival lineup screened with Ukrainian dubbing and Spanish subtitles. All other films will be presented in their original language with Ukrainian subtitles, with opening feature Bitter Christmas carrying additional English subtitles.
