Culinary escapes and family fun at this year’s Spanish and Latin American Film Festival
While the program is vibrant and spicy, the 2026 HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival also has a few heartwarming family favourites.
You know someone loves their job when, after they’ve clocked off, they do the same thing in their leisure time. That’s the case for Ben Zeccola, programmer for the 2026 HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival, which runs in Brisbane from June 11 to July 5 and nationwide through June and July.
The CEO of Palace Cinemas worked in the background of previous festivals, then took on the festival programming job two years ago.
“It’s like a hobby job on top of the main job,” Zeccola says. “I’ll watch hundreds of films for the festival and then when I get home, I put Spanish and Latin American shows on Netflix.”
The festival formerly focussed on output from Spain but Zeccola has broadened its scope to films in the Spanish language and cultural groups that speak Spanish, hence the inclusion of Latin American in the moniker.
When asked what excites him the most about this year’s line-up, Zeccola says: “It’s got some really strong flavours coming through.”
“One is music – lots of music and dancing. The Colombian, movie, La Salsa Vive, is about the birth of the dance, and there’s also food and wine as strong themes.”
A documentary, La Salsa Vive is a vivid and joyful celebration of the salsa, following the roots of the dance and its popularity in New York City in the 1970s and moving to Cali, Colombia, considered the world capital of salsa.
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The festival’s Opening Night Fiesta is with the film Mistura on June 11 at Palace Barracks. The event includes a beverage, tapas and live music.
“The title means ‘recipe’ or a mix or blend,” Zeccola explains. “It’s about a glamorous woman in 1960s Peru (Bárbara Mori) whose husband takes flight with his secretary. To make ends meet, she opens a restaurant and delves into the Peruvian cuisine, which is very popular right now. It’s just gorgeous, I’m in love with it, and there’s the interesting culinary story as well as a love story.”
For those who’d prefer to go to a smaller (and less expensive) event, Mistura screens for a smaller-scale celebration at Palace, James Street.
Another film the programmer loves (well, he probably loves them all) is the Brazilian effort, Isabel, which also has a food theme, along with wines. The titular character, played by co-writer Marina Person, is a sommelier in a high-end restaurant who wants to get away from her unpleasant and sleazy boss. She finds an investor and embarks on a journey to open her own wine bar.
“The real story is about the relationships and the ups and down,” Zeccola says. “And there are a lot of interesting and fantastic wines.”
An interesting film which I had the opportunity to see a preview is A Loose End, a co-production between Argentina and Uruguay and featuring both countries. That mixture alone makes it the type of movie we don’t often see here and it’s well worth making the effort to seek it out. It’s about a policeman on the run from his fellow cops who befriends a woman working in a petrol station.
“It has this growing warmth,” Zeccola observes. “You start off not being sure about this guy, then as it goes on, you like him more and more. I found it strangely compelling … Uruguay is fascinating. It’s so small in land size and yet it has a thriving economy, whereas Argentina’s economy was thrashed.”
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In a completely different vein is Spanish film, Luger, a feature film writing and directing debut from Bruno Martin.
“It reminds me of early Guy Ritchie and has got touches of Tarantino and Scorsese,” Zeccola says. “The director wears those influences proudly, it’s fantastic. It’s probably most in danger of being overlooked at the festival but is really excellent.”
This year, the special Festival Centrepiece (which includes a glass of wine or mocktail) on June 14 is the aptly titled Sundays (Los Domingos), from writer/director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, a film that garnered many awards, including the Golden Shell for Best Film at San Sebastián International Film Festival. Set in present-day Madrid, it tells the story of a young teenage girl who shocks her family by wanting to become a cloistered nun.
Another film which sounds like a must-see is Another League.
“Under Franco’s dictatorship of Spain, girls’ sport wasn’t recognised and this is about the girls starting their own league,” Zeccola says. “It’s about overcoming the odds and entrenched prejudice to create something that should have been their right all along. Everything that happened at the Women’s World Cup, with the coach kissing the woman on the lips (and the outcry about it), speaks to how far we’ve come.”
This year’s festival also features family-friendly films. My Amazing Grandma (Abuela Tremenda) should draw audiences in on its title alone. It’s a family comedy about three generations of women and a “mischievous grandmother” played by Elena Irureta Azanza. When she crashes the corporate retreat of her daughter and granddaughter at a rural farm, anything can happen.
In Bear Claw Camp (Campamento Garra de Oso), two nine-year-olds try to save their summer camp in a delightful film combining live action and animation.
Closing Night film on July 5 at Palace Barracks is a beloved 60-year-old classic, The Hunt, which has been newly restored. From Carlos Saura, it won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival in 1966, as well as Best Film and Best Actor.
A psychological drama, The Hunt is set over the course of a scorching hot day and has tensions rising between friends on a rabbit hunt. It acts as a metaphor for the traumatic wounds following the Spanish Civil War and the brutal dictatorship of Franco.
An interesting adjunct to this is the contemporary female version titled Ladies’ Hunting Party getting a screening at the festival. It stars legendary actresses Blanca Portillo, Carmen Machi and Rossy de Palma.
There’s something for everyone, with comedies, thrillers, a special section with supernatural themes, and so much more.
The 2026 HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival takes place nationally through June and July.
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