SPA26 Sundays

This quietly spellbinding drama from rising Spanish writer/director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa deftly captures the rupture within a family after a young woman defies expectations with her chosen vocation, forcing those closest to her to contemplate how they will move forward. Bilbao. Every Sunday when she is home from boarding school, brilliant and deeply religious 17-year-old Ainiara (compelling newcomer Blanca Soroa) and her extended family gather for lunch at the home of her paternal grandmother (Mabel Rivera). One day, she shocks everyone by revealing that, rather than pursue university, she is considering following her faith to become a cloistered nun. Her bombshell ripples through the family, particularly affecting her widowed restauranteur father (Miguel Garcés), and her aunt Maite (Patricia López Arnaiz), an intelligent and supposedly tolerant woman who has been very active in raising her, challenging their worldviews and igniting long-buried tensions. A major triumph at the Spanish box office in late 2025 and featuring beautifully measured performances, Ruiz de Azúa’s elegant film Sundays confirms her as a filmmaker of formidable talent.