Band Together

A town in Galicia. Two years ago a fishing boat went down and many people from the town were killed. The mourning is still going on. The town's rondalla, a plucked string ensemble that brings several generations together, makes a decision: they will enter the competition against the neighbouring towns. Some regard that as disrespect. The group re-forms, and the matter turns out to be less the competition than who is able to speak to whom. Daniel Sánchez Arévalo writes and directs. The cast includes Javier Gutiérrez, María Vázquez, Judith Fernández, Tamar Novas, Carlos Blanco and Fer Fraga. The rondalla is an old Spanish tradition: an ensemble of plucked instruments such as bandurria, laúd and guitar, competing from town to town. The film uses it not as decor but as the way the town gathers itself. The narrative is choral: many characters, parallel stories, and all of them meeting at the same rehearsal. Sánchez Arévalo has worked in this shape before. The tone is held between comedy and drama, and the question of when it becomes possible to laugh inside grief is what the film is about. It runs about a hundred and twelve minutes and opened in Spain on 1 January 2026. Who it is for: viewers who like Spanish ensemble comedy and emotional films about community. Who it is not for: there are many characters, some strands go unfinished, and the last section raises the emotional pitch.