Álvaro Quintana

What would happen if, one year, Santa Claus was forced to cancel his Christmas Eve appointment with the world’s children?A few days before Christmas, the famously cheerful and magical giver of gifts has an accident on his sleigh, right in the middle of Madrid. He ends up in hospital, which is where he’ll have to stay until after Christmas. Fortunately, the guy he’s sharing a room with at the hospital, Salva, is willing to step in and take on his all-important Christmas work. But it won’t be easy… the Christmas countdown clock is ticking and Salva has to find the reindeer, learn to fly the sleigh and, the most difficult part of all… learn to be a good person.

Monsters exist. They live inside us. And sometimes, they win.

Writer and filmmaker Llorente’s homeland becomes the focus of a simmering drama played out amongst the beaches, squares and lush green mountains of this north-western province of Spain. The action follows Marta as she swaps her busy life in Madrid with boyfriend Leo for a trip back to her hometown for the summer. With naturalistic settings, minimal dialogue and lingering shots, the director highlights the contrast between real life and the carefree pace of the holidays. As the summer progresses, a relationship from her past causes confusion and she’s forced to choose between the innocence and freedom of her youth and the grown-up world with all its routines and responsibilities.

In 1936 Madrid, an idealistic doctor's life changes forever when he shelters a wounded spy and joins a decades-long fight against the spread of fascism.