Film Forum

WINNER, FIPRESCI PRIZE FOR EMERGING FILMMAKERS, TIFF 2025

Teenager Cata (Zoe Stein) is summering at her grandparents’ house on the Spanish island of Mallorca, swimming in the turquoise Mediterranean waters, teasing her younger sister, and flirting with a Swedish boy. But this vacation idyll is cut short when her beloved grandmother Catalina (Marta Angelat) abruptly dies, hurling each member of Cata’s family into mourning. One day, she slips into her grandmother’s dress and feels an unexpected pull toward her abuela’s clothes and belongings. As the boundary between the living and the departed begins to blur, FORASTERA (Spanish for “stranger”) becomes a quietly suspenseful meditation on memory, grief, and the unseen forces that continue to influence our lives. 

Presented with support from The Robert E. Appel Fund for Spanish and Portuguese Language Films and The Endowed Fund for Emerging Filmmakers

2025     97 MIN.     SPAIN / ITALY / SWEDEN     IN CATALAN, ENGLISH, AND SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES     GRASSHOPPER FILM 

Trailer

Reviews

Critic’s Pick. “ENCHANTING... an exquisitely deconstructed ghost story, a muted mystery that beguiles while remaining deeply grounded in its evocative setting.”
– Natalia Winkelman, The New York Times

★★★★ (out of four) “LUMINOUS, SPELLBINDING... Tight and taut... a major discovery, handling grief with alluring stylistic choices that enhance the already remarkable narrative. If ghosts exist, Aleñar Iglesias has learned the cinematic sorcery to house them.”
– Carlos Aguilar, RogerEbert.com

“An unexpectedly tender ghost story.”
– Natalia Keogan, Filmmaker Magazine

 “[Cata] is played with considerable poise by Stein and Iglesias gives the space to process with airy compositions and a refreshingly minimal amount of score... As far as unforgettable formative summers on screen go, FORASTERA is particularly memorable in chronicling someone at risk of growing up too fast by having too much of a sense of responsibility rather than learning from not having enough of it.”
– Stephen Saito, The Movable Fest