Isla Calavera Film Festival to Honor Alejandro Amenábar for 30th Anniversary of 'Tesis'

The tenth edition of the Isla Calavera Canary Islands Fantastic Film Festival returns from November 6 to 15 with an impressive lineup celebrating 30 years of Spanish cinema. To mark the occasion, the festival will honor director Alejandro Amenábar, celebrating the 30th anniversary of his debut feature, Tesis—a film that proved to be a major turning point for the Spanish film industry in the mid-nineties.

As part of the closing gala on November 14 at the Leal Theatre in La Laguna, Amenábar will receive the Isla Calavera Honorary Award. He joins a prestigious list of international guests this year, including Sean Young, Christopher Lambert, Tom Berenger, Lloyd Kaufman, and Lone Fleming, further cementing the festival’s reputation as a premier destination for genre cinema.

On November 13, Multicines Tenerife will host a special screening of Tesis. Director Alejandro Amenábar and actor Eduardo Noriega will attend the event to participate in a Q&A session following the film. Audiences will see a newly restored print that corrects the film’s frame rate, returning it to its original cinematic rhythm of 24 fps—a detail sure to excite dedicated cinephiles.

Tesis remains a landmark film, having won seven Goya Awards, a Forqué, and an Ondas. Beyond its critical and commercial success, the film established a unique style of psychological tension and media commentary that launched Amenábar’s internationally acclaimed career.

This year’s festival, which also celebrates the 40th anniversary of David Cronenberg’s The Fly, offers a perfect opportunity to reflect on the evolution of the thriller genre. Organizers have confirmed that tickets for the commemorative Tesis screening will be available soon.