Title: La llegada al río de un apuesto piragúista
International title: The Arrival at the River of a Handsome Canoeist
Director: Álex Galán
Year: 2026
Country: Spain
Running time: 08’58”
Screening format: 4:3
Genre & Subgenre: Fiction, Invented customs, parody, period, surrealism

Logline:
Novelty is seductive…until it isn’t.

Synopsis:
In a fictional Eastern European country, the residents of an unconnected village discover a foreigner sailing the rivers of their region. They set out to find him and discover he’s a handsome canoeist.
Curiosity spurs them on, but picnics on the grass change everyone’s plans.

Director’s Statement:
Sometimes the most effective way to point out our shame is to parody it.
Pretending to be normal in the face of certain atrocities is not only accusatory but can also be entertaining.
“The Arrival at the River of a Handsome Canoeist” speaks about our relationship with the unknown, something that repeats itself like an algorithm, beginning with fascination, then descending into suspicion and finally shameful rejection. In our small world, new arrivals are cause for celebration, but we quickly lose enthusiasm when they aren’t what we expected—that is, when the novelty is more than expected.
This fantastic story, which never happened in a river in a fictional country, serves not so much as a critique of our clumsiness as a way to ridicule it. Jealousy, insecurity, violence, and the fear of seduction mingle in a picnic on the grass where the viewer is confronted with a high dose of cynicism and fun.