Hispanic Film Festival: Ixcanul

The brilliant debut by Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante is a mesmerizing fusion of fact and fable, a dreamlike depiction of the daily lives of Kaqchikel speaking Mayans on a coffee plantation at the base of an active volcano. Immersing us in its characters’ customs and beliefs, Ixcanul chronicles with unblinking realism, a disappearing tradition and a disappearing people.

The 2026 Hispanic Film Festival, possible thanks to the Spanish Film Club Grant from Pragda and the Spanish Ministry of Culture, brings together seven highly awarded films from Spain, Panama-Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Guatemala. These films serve as vehicles for timely discussions that, although situated in Latin America and the Iberic Peninsula, extend to realities experienced beyond these geographies. Additionally, their cinematographic relevance and media/medium experimentation promote urgent discussions of creativity, mediation, and technological innovation. As a whole, this festival seeks to promote general themes of interrogating existing power structures and promoting an alternative lens through which to view hegemonic inequities. 

Organized by Revista de Estudios Hispánicos in partnership with the Latin American Studies Program and the Romance Languages and Literatures Department.