12/05/2025 - Spain's Sepúlveda brothers take on this colourful, independent, and somewhat bombastic dystopia that serves as a warning against the consequences of misusing artificial intelligence

Idilia, the debut feature from Mallorcan filmmakers José Taltavull Sepúlveda and Javier Canales Sepúlveda, previously known for their work in advertising and photography, premiered at the 31st edition of the Bilbao Fantasy Film Festival, joining the growing trend of dystopian science fiction.

Starring Norma Ruíz, Raúl Prieto, Eva Isanta, Andrew Tarbet and Alfons Nieto, Idilia takes place in just two locations: a television studio where a presenter with robotic tics interviews the cold, automated representative of a corporation that recruits gifted children to safeguard human knowledge in the face of the unstoppable rise of machines, and 30 years later, in a room within one of the company’s centres, where an inhabitant receives three unexpected visitors. That inhabitant is Diana Leiva, author of a manifesto denouncing the misuse of AI, who has long been confined to her sleekly designed cabin.

This is an example of low-budget, independent cinema with ambitious thematic goals. It explores the end of human thought, the dictatorship of technology, and the danger of machines replacing neurons—topical themes tackled by the filmmakers through a somewhat stilted narrative, constrained by the film’s unique settings and the financial limitations of producing such an ambitious production without institutional aid or support from digital platforms.

The paradox of Idilia, however, is that it uses the very Artificial Intelligence it criticises to provide a spectacular counterpoint to its almost intimate scenes with a strikingly cold atmosphere, but the action is scarce. These other brief newsreel-style sequences depicting a violent world in collapse give the plot its substance, sustained mainly by dialogue. Through this, the viewer meets the head of the controversial organisation, the protagonist's troubled brother and some soldiers who storm her room with hostile intentions. Enhanced by Niño de Elche's heartbreaking title track, Idilia is the little sister of Ex Machina [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile], Alex Garland’s film that pitted humans against robots.

The effort to produce bold, independent science fiction in 21st-century Spain is commendable, as seen in Idilia, which dares to challenge those in power during times of crisis and reasserts humanist values. However, the project's spatial and financial constraints begin to show as the film progresses. Despite its meticulous production, committed cast, and aspirations towards modernity, the film increasingly relies on excessive dialogue to explain everything. One wonders whether, had it embraced its B-movie status more openly, it might have exuded a welcome sense of humour that, among so much transcendence, the film cries out for.

Idilia is produced by Fran Martínez for Viejo Lobo Films.

(Translated from Spanish)