Sightlines · reception

How Sundays was received

2025 · Alauda Ruiz de Azúa · Sundays on Sightlines

The arc

It went from San Sebastián favorite to Golden Shell winner (plus the FIPRESCI prize) in September 2025, then swept into the Goyas with 13 nominations and took Best Film — a festival darling that became Spain's consensus movie of the year within months.

What’s debated

The fight is over what the film actually believes: Catholic viewers and secular viewers both claim it, and fans still argue whether it's a portrait of genuine faith or a study of indoctrination — a deliberate ambiguity people can't stop relitigating.

Its footprint

In Spain it escaped the arthouse entirely and reopened a national conversation about faith, family and religious vocation — op-eds, radio debates, dinner-table arguments — while pulling over 650,000 admissions, huge numbers for an auteur drama.

Where it stands

An instant entry in the modern Spanish canon — the 'you must have an opinion on this' Spanish film of 2025, and a fast-rising Letterboxd talking point beyond Spain.

Did you know? Its Golden Shell win made Alauda Ruiz de Azúa only the second woman to take San Sebastián's top prize with just her second feature after her acclaimed debut 'Lullaby' — and the film's most talked-about musical gesture is a Nick Cave song reworked as sacred choral music, blurring carnal and spiritual love.