Candela Pena

All About My Mother -- Young Esteban want to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by the mother Manuela.

Winner of seven Goya Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Lead Actor and Actress, Iciar Bollain's raw drama exposes the hard truths about domestic abuse. With her son in tow, battered wife Pilar (Laia Marull) finally flees her violent husband, Antonio (Luis Tosar), taking asylum at her sister Ana's (Candela Peña) home. Free from the clutches of her abusive husband, Pilar struggles to start a new life; problem is, she still loves Antonio.

Selling encyclopedias is a tough gig for Alfredo. But there may be light at the end of the tunnel when he and his wife, Carmen, are approached by his publisher to star in a series of erotic films (thinly veiled as instructional videos about reproduction). The films are a hit in Scandinavia, and Carmen becomes a porn star. But now, she wants out … and wants to have a baby with Alfredo! Stars Javier Camara and Candela Peña. Pablo Berger directs.

Although she's the product of an average, middle-class Spanish family, Caye (Candela Pena) works as a prostitute, spending her days hanging out at a hair salon, dreaming of a better life and complaining about her low-class, immigrant competition. That is, until she meets Zulema (Micaela Nevarez), a recent arrival from the Dominican Republic who prompts Caye to reconsider her attitude toward her sister streetwalkers.

Pedro Almodovar is at the top of his game with "All About My Mother," a poignant, at times comedic examination of women in intimate relationships. "All About My Mother" visits themes of female vulnerability and solidarity, but in a new and profoundly mature way. Cecilia Roth plays strong-willed hospital worker Manuela, whose 18-year-old son's accidental death transforms her life. Reading her son's journals, grief-stricken Manuela realizes that he longed to hear about the father he never knew. Forsaking Madrid for Barcelona, she embarks on a search for the man she left almost 20 years before.

Young Esteban want to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by the mother Manuela.

ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER is a poignant, at times comedic examination of women in intimate relationships. The film visits themes of female vulnerability and solidarity, but in a new and profoundly mature way. Cecilia Roth plays strong-willed hospital worker Manuela, whose 18-year-old son's accidental death transforms her life. Reading her son's journals, grief-stricken Manuela realizes that he longed to hear about the father he never knew. Forsaking Madrid for Barcelona, she embarks on a search for the man she left almost 20 years before.