Lost Treasures | 2026
Films in the Lost Treasures Section
Lost Treasures Section Presentation
Since the Granada-Cines del Sur Festival closed its doors in 2018 until its new edition in 2026, many films have been left by the wayside. These are films that could well have been part of the Festival's Official Competition section, had the festival taken place during these eight years of hiatus. "Lost Treasures" serves here as a kind of rescue vessel: a section where we aim to recover some of the most interesting films of recent years, some completely unreleased in our country, others with only a limited viewing window at a national festival or two. Five selections that will take us on a journey through parts of Africa and Asia.
Sub-Saharan migration, seen through the eyes of women, is presented in all its realities and nuances in the section's two African films. From Tunisia, director Erige Sehiri (known in Spain for the 2021 release of Under the Fig Trees) tells us in 2025's Prometido el cielo about the difficult survival on a harsh African border through the gaze of three women and a girl. Their complex relationships, marked by female solidarity and economic interdependence, are above all a reflection of friendship, sheer necessity, and longed-for hope.
Prometido el cielo participated in the Official Selection of Un Certain Regard at last year's Cannes Film Festival, as did the section's second African offering: (2025). At this point in contemporary social and political reality, it's clear that immigration is a central theme in many countries. In Egyptian director Morad Mostafa's feature film debut, we follow the daily life of Aisha, a young Sudanese immigrant in Cairo who tries to cope with an increasingly harsh reality: the troubled neighborhood where she lives, "governed" by a gang whose leader she has an ambiguous relationship with; the same ambiguity she maintains with her only friend, a restaurant cook; and the working conditions imposed on her by the recruitment agency she's registered with. Like the ostriches that appear in the film — almost in the style of magical realism — but cannot fly, Aisha finds herself trapped in a reality that overwhelms her.
And we will travel to Asia with three very distinct films, yet whose themes will feel very close to home: first love and sexual awakening; the difficult balance between work and motherhood; and the weight of tradition versus individual freedom.
From South Korea, we rescue this intimate 2023 drama No Heaven but Love, directed by Han Jay. The film takes us back to 1999. The new millennium is approaching, and with it, the global "apocalypse"... In this context of insecurities and uncertainties, two teenagers from very different backgrounds find the comfort and support they need in each other. What begins as a friendship eventually blossoms into a beautiful love story that will help them, not without difficulties, face the decisions they must make about their lives. After rising to international fame starring in the K-drama (2021), actress Lee Yoo-mi starred in this queer drama, marking a return to her roots in independent cinema.
Director Oliver Chan, who already moved us with her 2018 debut Still Human, delves once again into another issue facing modern societies with her second work. While her first feature film addressed Filipino immigrants in Hong Kong, in 2024's Montages of a Modern Motherhood, she perfectly portrays the difficulties of balancing motherhood with professional life, especially for women in a still very Confucian and patriarchal society like Hong Kong's. Winner of the Best Asian Feature Film award at the prestigious Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, Taiwan, with Montages of a Modern Motherhood, the Festival begins what we hope will be a fruitful relationship with the Brussels office of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), an organization whose objective is to promote, assist, and develop foreign trade between Hong Kong and European countries.
From Hong Kong, we move to India, where, far from its more commercial cinema ("masala" cinema, better known as Bollywood), Shape of Momo invites us to enjoy the best of "Parallel Cinema," independent Indian cinema. Presented in the New Directors section of last year's San Sebastián Festival, Indian filmmaker Tribeny Rai's directorial debut is an emotional journey into the heart of the Himalayas, where young Bishnu's hometown is located. She returns after leaving her job in the big city. There, she will reconnect with her family, friends, and childhood memories, but also with the weight of traditions and family pressures, as she grapples with the expectations others have of her and her longing for independence.
