22/08/2025 - Starring Mario Casas and Alberto San Juan, the film tells the story of the Spanish post-war period from a new comic perspective and will be screened at one of the RTVE Galas at the Basque festival

The Dinner, a historical comedy directed by Manuel Gómez Pereira (winner of the Goya Award for the original screenplay of All Men Are the Same and who premièred Un Funeral de Locos last April), will be screened at one of the RTVE Galas at the upcoming San Sebastián Film Festival, to be held between 19 and 27 September.

Filmed in Valencia, Madrid and Gran Canaria, the movie boasts a cast led by Mario Casas (winner of a Goya for Cross the Line [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Victori
film profile], and seen recently in El secreto del orfebre and Away [+see also:
film review
interview: Gerard Oms
film profile]) and Alberto San Juan (winner of a Goya for Bajo las estrellas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The People Upstairs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cesc Gay
film profile], and lead in TV series such as Rage [+see also:
series review
series profile] y Cristóbal Balenciaga [+see also:
series review
series profile]), supported by Asier Etxeandia (Pain and Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antonio Banderas
Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile]), Óscar Lasarte (May I Speak with the Enemy? [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Elvira Mínguez (the series The Nameless [+see also:
series review
trailer
interview: Pau Freixas
series profile]), Eva Ugarte (La buena suerte), Antonio Resines (Mikaela [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniel Calparsoro
film profile]), Carlos Serrano, Nora Hernández, Martín Páez and Carmen Balagué, among others.

With a screenplay by Joaquín Oristrell, Yolanda García Serrano and the film's director, the film tells the story of how, two weeks after the end of the Spanish Civil War, the military victor, Francisco Franco, requests a celebratory dinner at the Palace Hotel in Madrid. A young lieutenant, a meticulous maître d' and a group of Republican prisoners who are expert chefs must prepare a perfect banquet in record time. Everything seems to be going smoothly, but in the kitchen, there is more than just dinner on the table: an escape is on the menu.

According to Gómez Pereira, his new film "has an attractive cinematographic tempo, with an exercise in precision typical of comedy: the action takes place in one day, from eight in the morning until the early hours of the following morning. As time goes by, the dinner becomes a ticking time bomb, and there can be no turning back. The scene is as appealing as it is hyper-realistic, where the viewer is immersed in the unstoppable vicissitudes of these characters from the immediate post-war period in Madrid."

He continues: "As the focal point of the action, the Palace Hotel offers a powerful visual setting where light insistently brings nuances of joy, fear and violence. A place where peace appears to reign, but fear is still present. In this small Spanish post-war world, many elements of the conflict will live on."

The Dinner is a Spanish-French production by Cristóbal García for La Terraza Films, Lina Badenes for Turanga Films and Roberto Butragueño for Sideral Cinema together with Ikiru Films, Entre Medina y Genaro AIE and Halley Production. Collaborators include RTVE, À punt, Movistar Plus+ and Crea SGR, in association with Film Factory Entertainment (sales agent); and funding from the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Institut Valencià de Cultura, the Town Hall of Madrid and the Official Credit Institute (ICO). This feature film will hit cinemas on 17 October, distributed by A Contracorriente Films.

(Translated from Spanish)