Dirà: Cristina Diz and Stefan Butzmühlen | Drama 2026
Set in West Germany in 1973, The Guests follows Spanish migrant worker Iria and her German student boyfriend Hajo on an increasingly strange road trip to Galicia, where they are determined to take Iria’s seriously ill mother back to her mountain village. What begins as an act of love gradually exposes the fractures in their relationship — and the very different worlds they come from.
Directors Cristina Diz and Stefan Butzmühlen give the journey a beautifully tactile period look: dusty roads, faded interiors, battered cars and the sun-baked landscapes of rural Galicia create a vivid sense of place without lapsing into nostalgia. Greta Fernández brings a quietly fierce intensity to Iria, while Jan Bülow makes Hajo’s well-meaning naivety increasingly revealing.
The film takes some unexpected turns as the journey progresses, blending intimate drama with dark humour, social observation and a touch of the uncanny. It may wander, but it builds towards a satisfying emotional resolution that brings its themes of family, belonging and the pull of the past into focus.
SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2026