Strange River

The plot explores the sexual awakening of teenager Dídac upon coming across a mysterious boy in the waters during a bicycle trip with his family along the Danube.^[1][2][3]

• Jan Monter as Dídac^[4]
• Nausicaa Bonnín^[3]
• Jordi Oriol^[3]
• Francesco Wenz^[3]
• Bernat Solé^[3]
• Roc Colell as Guiu^[5]

The film is a Spanish-German co-production by ZuZú Cinema and Miramemira alongside Schuldenberg Films.^[6][4] It had the participation of 3Cat and funding from Eurimages, ICAA, ICEC [ca], FFF Bayern, and DFFF [de].^[6] Shooting locations included the German state of Baden-Württemberg.^[6]

The film landed its world premiere in the Orizzonti section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on 29 August 2025.^[7] Its festival run also included screenings in the 'Zabaltegi-Tabakalera' section of the 73rd San Sebastián International Film Festival,^[8] the 22nd Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF), the 'Flash Forward' section of the 30th Busan International Film Festival,^[9] and the New Directors competition of the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.^[10]

Distributed by Elastica Films,^[11] it was released theatrically in Spain on 3 October 2025.

Jonathan Romney of Screen International welcomed that Claret Muxart "shows a canny awareness of the tropes" [of Summer holiday stories], "giving them a fresh, sensitive working-over" in the film, which "sustains its mood of mystery and suggestion" throughout.^[12]

Marta Medina del Valle of El Confidencial rated the film 4 out 5 stars, declaring it "delicate, poetic, and certainly nostalgic".^[1]

Rubén Romero Santos of Cinemanía rated the film 3½ out of 5 stars, singling out as its sensory perception or hapticity as its most notable contribution.^[11]

Matthew Joseph Jenner of International Cinephile Society rated the film 4½ out of 5 stars, billing it as a "an intimate, human story of identity that draws from a long tradition of coming-of-age narratives and stories of the birth of queer desire".^[13]

The jury of the Reykjavík International Film Festival (Mohsen Makhmalbāf, Giona A. Nazzaro, and Saga Garðarsdóttir) awarding Strange River the Golden Puffin extolled how Claret Muxart "reveals a precocious and accomplished talent that never indulges in mannerisms or formalism", celebrating the film as "a complex symphony of unspoken yet deeply perceived emotions".^[14]

• List of Spanish films of 2025