When single mother Manuela (Cecilia Roth) loses her teenage son, she embarks on a journey to Barcelona to find the boy’s transgender father, Lola. Along the way, she reconnects with old friends and meets new ones, including Agrado, a warm and humorous transgender woman, Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a young nun who is pregnant and facing her own struggles, and an actress her son admired. A deserving winner of both the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film as well as Best Director at Cannes, All About My Mother was the moment when Almodóvar crossed over and achieved international recognition; blending the high camp of his earlier work with a newfound maturity and empathy for his colourful characters, Almodóvar achieves a wonderful balance of tone, delivering a melodrama with rare emotional depth.

The screening will be introduced by Emmett Scanlon, Director, Irish Architecture Foundation.

Notes by David O’Mahony.