A jury of 35 film critics from 13 Latin American countries selected four finalists from 20 film entries for this year’s Latin American Critics’ Award for European Films. As a result of a tie in the voting, this year’s shortlist comprises four films: Father by Tereza Nvotová (Slovakia), The Love That Remains by Hlynur Pálmason (Iceland), Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski (Germany), and Sundays by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (Spain).
Tereza Nvotová’s Father is a devastating drama about guilt, grief and the possibility of forgiveness after a tragic mistake shatters the life of a devoted husband and father. As the threat of prison looms, the film follows a man pushed to the limits of what the heart can endure, asking whether love can survive in the aftermath of the unthinkable. Nvotová describes her approach as deeply immersive: “What I wanted to do is something like a video game, but in very different circumstances that lead us deeper inside of ourselves. I wanted the audience to connect with the main character, immerse themselves in his world completely.” Father premiered in the Orizzonti section of the 2025 Venice Film Festival and later won the Bronze Horse for Best Film at the Stockholm International Film Festival as well as the Golden Eye Award for Best Feature at Zurich Film Festival. Produced by DANAE Production in co-production with moloko film and Lava Films, the film is handled internationally by Intramovies.
The Love That Remains by Hlynur Pálmason follows a family over the course of a year as the parents navigate separation, shared memories and the fragile ties that continue to bind them together. Through playful and tender moments, the film captures the bittersweet afterlife of love against the rhythm of the changing seasons. As Pálmason says: “This film is about nature, about what we build, re-build or destroy, about what unites and divides us, miscommunication and conflicting feelings. But it is above all about family, that is the core of the film and its beating heart.” The Love That Remains, produced by STILL VIVID and Snowglobe in co-production with HOBAB, Maneki Films, Film i Väst and Arte France Cinéma celebrated its World Premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. New Europe Film Sales handles world sales.
Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling follows four girls from different eras whose lives are mysteriously bound to the same farm in northern Germany. As the house changes over the course of a century, echoes of the past resurface in the present, revealing buried fears, inherited trauma, and the uncanny persistence of memory. The film grew out of a summer Schilinski and her co-writer Louise Peter spent on the farm that would later become its shooting location. There, a photograph from around 1920 — three women in work aprons, staring straight into the camera — sparked their imagination and suggested the film’s central tension: the eerie coexistence of the everyday and the existential, of present lives and those that came before. Sound of Falling premiered in Competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Jury Prize ex aequo. Produced by Studio Zentral, with ZDF as co-producer, the film is represented internationally by mk2 Films.
Sundays by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa tells the story of Ainara, a brilliant and idealistic 17-year-old whose family expects her to choose a university path, only for her to reveal that she feels increasingly drawn to God and is considering becoming a cloistered nun. Her decision comes as a shock to the entire family, opening up a painful conflict that puts everyone’s beliefs, fears and hopes for the future to the test. Ruiz de Azúa has said that the film was born out of her fascination with ‘difficult dilemmas’ and from hearing, years ago, about a young woman who entered a cloistered convent at 18 despite her family’s attempts to dissuade her — a question that led her to explore why someone might turn away from the world just as adulthood begins. Produced by Buena Pinta Media, Colosé Producciones, Encanta Film, Los Desencuentros Película, Movistar Plus+, Sayaka Producciones and Think Studio the film’s international sales are handled by Le Pacte.
In the next step, the 35 jury members from a pool of renowned film critics and journalists from 13 Latin American countries will choose the final winning film, which will be awarded on 18 April at the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG).
Launched in 2024, the Latin American Critics’ Award for European Films was created to strengthen the visibility and circulation of European cinema across Latin America while underlining the key role of critics and cultural journalists in championing arthouse film and fostering dialogue across borders. Previous winners include Eva Libertad’s Deaf in 2025 and İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge in 2024.
The Latin American Critics’ Award is organised in cooperation with the Guadalajara International Film Festival and is made possible through the support of Creative Europe – the MEDIA Programme of the European Union – and the participating national film institutes. Media partners are Cineuropa and LatAm cinema.
About the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG)
The Guadalajara International Film Festival has played a key role in the reinvention and international positioning of Mexican cinema. Today, it stands as one of the most important film events in Latin America, bringing together filmmakers, industry professionals and audiences from across the region. With its strong programme and professional platform, FICG continues to foster cinematic exchange and audience development throughout the Ibero-American world.
