Frontier (film)

The plot is set in 1943 against the backdrop of World War II. In a small border village close to Sort, customs officer Manel Grau defies his superiors embarking on a dangerous mission to help Jews flee from Vichy France through the Spanish-French border with help from neighbor Juliana and French smuggler Jerôme.^[1][2]

The film is a Spanish-Belgian co-production by Crespeth Films Coming Soon Films and Diagonal (Banijay Iberia) alongside Bulletproof Cupid, with the participation of RTVE and 3Cat, and backing from ICEC, ICAA, Screen Flanders, the Belgian Federal Government, BNP Paribas and Creative Europe MEDIA.^[6][1] Shooting locations included the Pallars.^[3] It was shot in Catalan, Spanish, German, and French.^[3]

Frontier was presented at a RTVE gala of the 70th Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci) on 25 October 2025.^[7] Filmax released theatrically the film in Spain on 12 December 2025. Menemsha Films acquired North American rights to the film.^[8] The film's festival run also included selections for screenings at the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and the 37th Palm Springs International Film Festival (for its California premiere).^[9][10]

Raquel Hernández Luján of HobbyConsolas gave the film 57 points, praising "the cinematography, the production design, and certain well-resolved moments of tension", but lamenting the "little emotion in a story that should make our hair stand on end".^[11]

Toni Vall of Cinemanía rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing about how Colell achieves "great depth" with "an almost flawless film, precise in what it tells and how it tells it, in its actors, in the dramatic nuances, and in the uncertainty" inhabiting its characters.^[12]

Carmen L. Lobo of La Razón rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, positively mentioning the technical features, but lamenting how the story that the film tells "is terrifying, but it rarely manages to shock" the viewer.^[13]

Luis Martínez of El Mundo gave the film a 3-star rating, finding the screenplay to be flawed, as "in its desire to tell everything, to bring in more voices and characters than the logic of the drama can digest, the film ends up confusing and confusing itself".^[14]