Bitter Christmas

Competition, Cannes 2026

Original language: Spanish

Subtitles: Romanian, English

Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar

Country: Spain

Year of production: 2026

Length: 112 minutes

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl’s alter ego, who resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can’t help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant.

The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, raising the debate about the limits of autofiction.

Credits

Pedro Almodóvar – Director

Pedro Almodóvar – Script

Casting

Bárbara Lennie

Leonardo Sbaraglia

Aitana Sánchez-Gijón

Victoria Luengo

Patrick Criado

Milena Smit

Quim Gutiérrez