If your global travel plans are looking a bit unlikely for 2026, you can tour the world from the comfort of a cinema seat with one of the many international film festivals that grace Australian screens. Next up, all aboard for an adventure to Spain and Latin America, when the HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival returns to Palace Cinemas across Australia for varying dates between Wednesday, June 10 and Sunday, July 12. What's on the program? This year's selections are led by the opening film, Mistura, an award-winning drama set in 1950s Peru that follows a recently divorced woman on a transformative culinary journey. It's joined by coming-of-age drama Sundays, in which a young woman defies family expectations with her vocation of choice, a maritime crime thriller where two siblings discover stashed money in The Tigers, The Captive, a historical epic that tells the story of Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes and a love story amidst a corporate crisis in Nothing Between Us. [caption id="attachment_1101650" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] 'The Captive,' directed by Alejandro Amenábar[/caption] A number of themes organise the rest of the festival program. There's pilgrimages, such as the best-rated film from the 2025 Berlinale, The Blue Trail, where an ageing Brazilian woman sets off on a secret personal quest down the Amazon River; and a restoration of the Martin Sheen-starring The Way, which sees a grieving father take the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in place of his late son. If you love an on-screen escapade, there's the darkly comic action Luger, where hustlers and the lawyer that employs them are caught in a scheme that unfolds over a single day, and the Cold War-set Spanish spy drama Sofia's Suspicion. Other films that are worth your time and tickets include a seductive noir mystery inspired by true events in 1950s Paraguay (Narciso), a thrilling survival story of hikers caught in the worst storm to ever hit the Pyrenees (Balandrau, Where the Fiece Wind Blew), a documentary on the New York City salsa scene (La Salsa Vide), Guillermo Del Toro's classic Spanish Civil War-set gothic horror (The Devil's Backbone) and the feel-good origin story of Spain's first professional women's soccer team (Another League). [caption id="attachment_1101649" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] 'Balandrau, Where the Fierce Wind Blew,' directed by Fernando Trullols[/caption] Closing the festival is a 60th-anniversary restoration of the landmark Spanish film The Hunt, in which director Carlos Saura created an allegory of the Spanish Civil War and Franco dictatorship through the story of tensions rising during a rabbit hunt on a scorching summer's day. [caption id="attachment_1101651" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] 'The Hunt,' directed by Carlos Saura[/caption] The HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival will run at Palace Cinemas in Adelaide and Canberra from June 10–July 5; Perth and Brisbane from Thursday, June 11–July 1 and July 5 respectively; Melbourne and Ballarat from June 12–July 5 and Sydney and Byron Bay from June 18–July 12. To browse the full program or get tickets, visit the website. Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox. Images: Supplied.
