AMARGA NAVIDAD
Spain
2026 | 112 min. | Fiction

BITTER CHRISTMAS tells two alternating stories. One starring Elsa, during a long holiday weekend in December in 2004; the second in 2025, starring Raúl, who is writing a script that we will soon discover is the story of Elsa. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, raising the debate about the limits of autofiction.

Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar
Written by: Pedro Almodóvar
Produced by: Agustín Almodóvar
Cinematography: Pau Esteve Birba
Editing: Teresa Font
Production Design: Antxon Gómez
Costume Design: Paco Delgado
Make-Up & Hair: Ana López-Puigcerver, Manolo García
Original Score: Alberto Iglesias
Sound: Sergio Bürmann, Laia Picón, Valeria Arcieri
Visual Effects: Eduardo Díaz, Guillermo Orbe
Casting: Eva Leira, Yolanda Serrano
Cast: Bárbara Lennie (Elsa), Leonardo Sbaraglia (Raúl), Aitana Sánchez-Gijón (Mónica), Victoria Luengo (Patricia), Patrick Criado (Beau), Milena Smit (Natalia), Quim Gutiérrez (Santi)

Statement of the director:
BITTER CHRISTMAS reflects on the connections between reality and fiction, inspiration and life, and how a film can rebel against itself, questioning its raison d'être.
This metacinematic and Pirandellian game also questions the ethics of the storyteller. In the case of this film, the creator resorts to autofiction and talks about himself (in a cryptic way), but also about everything and everyone else around him (in a much less cryptic way).
Is there anything in the lives of others that is off limits to him? Or, as a creator, does he have an unlimited right to draw inspiration from everything and everyone? What are the limits of autofiction? Do those limits really exist for a creator hungry for inspiration, who sometimes can only achieve it by immersing himself in everything around him, including (and above all) the pain of others?

Production:
El Deseo
http://eldeseo.es