'Querer' Director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa Breaks Down 'Sundays'

In 2022, Pedro Almodóvar hailed “Lullaby,” the feature debut of Basque director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa as “undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years.” Her first series, “Querer,” acquired by Arte, won the top prize this year at Series Mania, the top TV festival in Europe.

Now, if the enthusiastic reaction of most Spanish reviewers is anything to go by, Ruiz de Azúa’s “Sundays” (“Los Domingos”) sees her make good on the promise detected by Almodóvar. With a days of main competition films still to play at San Sebastián, the family drama – which would also be a coming of age tale if that process were so truncated – sits top, head-and-shoulders among other competitors for San Sebastian’s Golden Shell on Basque newspaper El Diario Vasco’s critics’ poll.

The film’s title draws on an