The Cinematheque

This debut feature from Gonzaga Manso is a tribute to both the writer-director-cinematographer’s own grandfather and the actor Saturnino García. García is best known in local Spanish cinema for his breakthrough role, at 60, as the title character in La Cuadrilla’s Justino (1994), in which he played a retired matador turned underworld killer. Now, at 91, he plays José Antonio, a man whose annual summer fishing routine is a task he can no longer safely perform solo. Drawing on the experience of seeing his grandfather lose his memory and autonomy, Manso has said he wanted to make a movie without condescension, one that doesn’t commit the fault of ​“respecting the old only because they are old.” Still Afloat gets there via a mix of patient attention and flashback-infused nostalgia.

In Spanish and Galician with English subtitles

Audience Award
Festival de Málaga 2026