The 15 best auteur films of 2022 in Spanish

If something has defined Spanish-language cinema this year, without a doubt, it has been the gaze of its protagonists towards the viewer. The breaking of the fourth wall is established as the predominant and recurring note of many films that no longer wish to provoke, as in the past, but to seek the empathy of the viewer to make him an accomplice.

In a year that is gradually recovering the public that the tsunami of the pandemic expelled from theaters, we can celebrate several good news. The first is that the imminent closure of the theaters that many doomsayers predicted has not occurred. From the 3,395 cinemas in 2019, it has risen to 3,625. Unfortunately, the Spanish box office has not joined this trend (almost 105 million viewers in 2019 compared to the current 42). Of course, another excellent novelty is that our cinema has triumphed in all genres and formats, inside and outside our borders.

Therefore, the list of the best of the year does not differentiate between long and short or fiction and non-fiction. Good cinema is as much in 15 minutes as in 180 and the hybridization of fictionalized realities is increasingly common on our screens. A list of 15, given the excellence of the year, with many surprises:

fifteen. Unicorn Warsby Alberto Vázquez (Spain). Marvel would like to shoot a battle between teddy bears and unicorns like this gem of animation.

14. little pigby Carlota Pereda (Spain). Very brilliant presentation of bullying and bullying for what it really is: a gore movie of infinite terror.

13. the maternal, by Pilar Palomero (Spain). A mother of current courage and without complexes in an overwhelming coming of age.

12. sure, by Mikel Gurrea (Spain). Many have been the impressive debuts of this year. This night of the capitalist living dead, with a John Ford closing, is anthological.

eleven. white girlby Fernando Guzzoni (Chile). The films of this talented director are like his eternal black glasses: dark, dense and extraordinary.

10. as beastsby Rodrigo Sorogoyen (Spain). Another of the peaks of the year with this Antigone in cannibal Galicia.

9. Rhinoby Arturo Castro Godoy (Argentina). The best kept secret of the year waiting to be discovered. Sublime.

8. strings, by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain). Whether at a funeral or at a workers’ assembly, this filmmaker always manages to transcend the screen. The director has finished filming her first feature, 20,000 species of beeswith Patricia Lopez Arnaizand I confess that it is the movie I most want to see in 2023.

7. I have electric dreamsby Valentina Maurel (Costa Rica). A subtle balance, on the razor’s edge, between realistic honesty and poetic ambiguity.

6. The Kings of the worldby Laura Mora (Colombia). More than justified Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Festival for one of the most powerful voices in Latin cinema.

5. tullaby Beatriz de Silva (Spain). 12 minutes like 12 suns radiating the best cinema of the year. 1 of the 4 Spanish shorts out of the 15 shortlisted for the Oscars, among 200 candidates from all over the world. That the programmers tattoo the name of Beatriz de Silva, this filmmaker has everything to reach the top.

4. utamaby Alejandro Loayza Grisi (Bolivia). Pure twilight poetry in a story far removed from all folklorism. Shiny.

3. alcarràsby Carla Simón (Spain). How marvelous the discussions between ‘I am more than alcarràs what of five little wolves, or vice versa’. Fantasy to see three Spanish productions at the top of the podium.

2. five little wolvesby Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (Spain). The renewal of Spanish cinema is the order of the day. New voices for surprising and inspired first works. Our quarry was just waiting to bear its best fruits and the harvest has already started this year.

1. The Visit and a Secret Gardenby Irene M. Borrego. I loved it when I saw it, it fascinated me when I thought about it, and it captivated me when I met it again. It is the film of the year that does not leave your head. The painter antonio lopez I compared her with the Victor Erice… Big words, but yes, he was right.