ESCENA25 - Oslo Ibero-amerikanske filmdager
ESCENA Oslo Ibero-Amerikanske Filmdager viser det de nyeste filmene fra den ibero-amerikanske regionen, og foregår på Vega Scene 23.-26.oktober.
ESCENA25 will present 10 films with wide international recognition of great directors and filmmakers from 9 different countries.
This year’s edition brings forward the most recent award-winning films from Ibero-America with a special focus on new voices from the whole region, from intimate family dramas like Deaf (2025, Eva Libertad), choral queer drama like Rains Over Babel (2025, Gala del Sol) and satiric comedies like We Shall Nor Be Moved (2024, Pierre Saint-Martin) passing through profound reflections on the effects of colonialism like Sugar Island (2024, Johanné Gómez Terrero ) and I Only Rest in the Storm (2025, Pedro Pinho).
We are also proud to present Perlimps, an award-winning family film from acclaimed Brazilian animator Alê Abreu. This magical, vivid adventure will be screened in Spanish and Portuguese.
As part of our celebration, we mark the 25th anniversary of the Argentinian modern classic Nine Queens—a brilliantly cynical tale of swindlers and double-crosses. Hailed as one of Argentina’s greatest films, Nine Queens returns to the spotlight where it belongs.
The festival will be enriched by a series of in-depth conversations with filmmakers, including a screening of Et Helvete Uten Like, followed by a Q&A with the director and a screening of To Our Friends, followed by a conversation with both the director and the protagonist.
Et Helvete Uten Like
23. October 18:00
Et helvete uten like, tells the story of a group of workers from Rjukan and their families embarked on an audacious journey: to emigrate to Brazil and build a utopian community deep in the jungle. The documentary unfolds as both a chronicle of hope and a penetrating study of disaster. What promises to be a dream of new beginnings soon descends into chaos and anguish, as the settlers confront environmental extremes, isolation, and a failure of their idealistic vision.
Et helvete uten like, tells the story of a group of workers from Rjukan and their families embarked on an audacious journey: to emigrate to Brazil and build a utopian community deep in the jungle. The documentary unfolds as both a chronicle of hope and a penetrating study of disaster. What promises to be a dream of new beginnings soon descends into chaos and anguish, as the settlers confront environmental extremes, isolation, and a failure of their idealistic vision.
Deaf
23. October 20:45
Ángela (Miriam Garlo), a deaf woman, and Héctor, her hearing partner, are expecting a child. They are excited about the pregnancy, although they do not yet know whether the baby will be deaf or hearing. Despite both claiming they can handle whatever comes, their underlying concerns are evident. After a complicated and emotionally intense labour, Ángela gives birth to their daughter.
This journey forces both of them to question their roles as partners and parents, as Ángela grapples with her identity in a society that does not fully accept or understand her.
To Our Friends
24.October 17:45
To Our Friends portrays the internal and external universe of Sara, a young woman from a working-class neighborhood who, in her transition to adulthood, struggles between two seemingly contradictory environments. Her journey of self-discovery unfolds organically, adding depth to the film’s broader themes of identity and connection. With its raw, unscripted storytelling, To Our Friends is an ode to ordinary stories, to youth, and the spirit of freedom associated with it.
The screening of the film will be followed with a conversation with the director Adrian Orr and the protagonist Sara Toledo.
Rains Over Babel
24.October 20:45
Colombian writer-director Gala del Sol's stylish debut feature is an audacious, ambitious, kaleidoscopic carnival of queerness. Rains Over Babel first began to take shape during Covid lockdown, initially as a kind of shared group therapy project between del Sol and her team of young theatre actors, before gradually evolving into a full-blooded screen drama about a group of misfits that converges at Babel, a legendary dive bar that doubles as purgatory, where La Flaca (Saray Rebolledo), the city's Grim Reaper, presides.
Perlimps
25.October 13:00 Portuguese, English subtitles
26. October 13:00 Spanish, no subtitles
Perlimps is a magical, vivid adventure from acclaimed Brazilian animator Alê Abreu (The Boy and the World), a film that weaves together fantasy, courage, and hope. Set in an enchanted forest threatened by monstrous Giants, the story follows Claé and Bruô—secret agents from rival kingdoms, the Kingdom of the Sun and the Kingdom of the Moon. The film bursts with color—lush, painterly 2D hand‑drawn animation—and a rich musical soundscape that underlines both the beauty and urgency of the story. The film will be screened in Spanish and Portuguese.
We shall not be Moved
25. October 18:15
We Shall Not Be Moved turns obsession into art in the directorial feature debut of Pierre Saint‑Martin, a bold Mexican satirical comedy‑drama inspired by true history.
Shot in striking black‑and‑white, the film’s quietly intense visuals mirror the main character’s inner landscape: its pain, its stubbornness, and its longing. Luisa Huertas gives a performance that is both vulnerable and fierce, anchoring a story that mixes sharp satire with the tragedy of collective history.
Sugar Island
25. October 20:30
Sugar Island is the story of Makenya (Yelidá Díaz). She is a 16-year-old girl who gets pregnant at the worst time possible: when her family is about to lose their house. Themes of colonialism, sexism, and racism merge in this gorgeous drama, putting a very needed emphasis in the unfairness of the obsolete system of the “batey,” a community of sugarcane workers. Afrofuturistic imagery serves as the backdrop for an exploration of the parallels between the discrimination happening today and the island's slave trade in the 16th and 17th centuries.
I Only Rest in the Storm
26.October 15:00
In O Riso e a Faca (I Only Rest in the Storm), Pedro Pinho crafts a sweeping, meditative journey through the tangled terrain of power, desire, and belonging.
Filmed over many months across Guiné‑Bissau and Mauritânia, O Riso e a Faca resonates with a poetic tension: between lushness and barrenness, between native culture and foreign gaze, between displacement and intimacy.
Bitter Gold
26. October 19:00
Juan Francisco Olea´s second feature follows young Carola (Katalina Sanchez) and her father Pacifico (Veteran Chilean actor Francisco Melo) as they run small‑scale copper mines trying to survive in an environment ruled by hardship and unspoken rules.
Shot on location, with stunning aerial views of the unforgiving Atacama Desert wonderfully captured by DP Sergio Armstrong (usual collaborator of Chilean director Pablo Larraín), Bitter Gold is a pulse-pounding Chilean take on the Neo-western genre that uses all its stripped-down archetypes and plot threads, to tell a story about entrenched social structures.
Nine Queens
26. October 21:00
In Nine Queens (Nueve Reinas), director Fabián Bielinsky delivered a razor‑sharp con‑film that weaves intrigue, moral ambiguity, and one of the most satisfying twists in modern Argentine cinema. We celebrate its 25th anniversary with a special screening of this multi award-winning film that received among other the Audience Award at the 2001 edition of Film Fra Sør.
About the festival:
ESCENA. Oslo Ibero-amerikanske filmdager is a platform for cultural exchange between Norway and the Ibero-American region.
The aim of the festival is to promote the interest in film from the Spanish and Portuguese speaking nations of Europe and the Americas and showcase the vibrant film expressions of these nations.
The films convey social, political, and historical aspects of this cultural context as well as the challenges currently facing the societies of the region. Even though these nations share a common cultural mainstream; they form a rich tapestry of diverse backgrounds that translate into their cinematic expression.
ESCENA also provides a gathering place and discussion forum for film enthusiasts, for those with roots in the region and others who have an interest in Ibero-America.