‘Calle Málaga’ Trailer – Carmen Maura Stars in Maryam Touzani’s Poignant Drama

Spanish actress Carmen Maura stars in Calle Málaga, the Spanish-language directorial debut of filmmaker Maryam Touzani, as a widowed mother who unexpectedly rediscovers love while fighting to keep her home.

Starring alongside her are Marta Etura, Ahmed Boulane, María Alfonsa Rosso, and Miguel Garcés.

Calle Málaga premiered in the Venice Spotlight section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award. It subsequently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Special Presentations lineup, followed by the 22nd Marrakech International Film Festival and the 48th Denver Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. It was selected as the Moroccan submission for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Calle Málaga is scheduled for its U.S. theatrical release on Friday, February 6th at Film Forum Los Angeles, and on Friday, February 13th at Laemmle Theaters, with other cities to follow

Here is the synopsis of Calle Málaga: In a Spanish-speaking enclave of Tangier, widowed Maria, Almodóvar’s leading lady Carmen Maura (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), loves her life on Calle Malaga, with her friendly neighbors, grocers, and café owners who know her routines, and a large flat filled with treasured belongings. But when her daughter Clara, the legal owner of the flat who is facing divorce and financial crisis back in Spain, insists on selling it, Maria is relegated to either live-in grandma status or a retirement home. Maria’s spunky (and wickedly humorous) obstinacy and Clara’s mid-life desperation are both affecting, revealing as much of Maria’s vibrancy as her hardened entitlement and maternal shortcomings.

Director Maryam Touzani has spoken publicly about her personal connection to Calle Málaga and her intentions behind the film. Reflecting on the emotional roots of the story, Touzani explained that the narrative grew out of her own experiences with loss and memory, particularly following the death of her mother. She shared, “It’s a film that was born out of pain, out of loss. It started because I lost my mom. When I finished The Blue Caftan, she didn’t have the chance to see it: [she died] just before it premiered. My mom and I were very, very close. She died very suddenly, from one day to the next: it was completely unexpected, and I was devastated. I wrote this film out of the need to continue speaking to her.”

Critical responses from early screenings have highlighted Calle Málaga’s emotional resonance and the strength of its central performance. In a review from In Review Online, critic Robert Stinner praised the film as a “heartfelt, but not oversentimental, portrait” of its central character, noting how the narrative balances vibrancy and poignancy while exploring diasporic community, late-in-life desires, and complex family bonds. The review emphasized that while the film may follow familiar beats, Touzani’s direction and Carmen Maura’s compelling presence make the story deeply engaging and accessible to a broad audience.

Watch the official trailer for Calle Málaga above.