Carlos Martínez-Peñalver is a filmmaker whose work moves between documentary and fiction, exploring the collective imaginaries of the places he films. He studied Film at the University of Santiago de Compostela and Pompeu Fabra University, specializing in film editing. As an editor, he has worked in the editing department on films by directors such as Óliver Laxe and Carla Andrade. As a director, he made the feature film À procura da estrela (2023) and the short films Como desaparecer (2018), Montaña abaixo (2025), and Maldito espírito (2025). His work has been screened and awarded at festivals including Oberhausen, Entrevues Belfort, Porto/Post/Doc, FICX, Cinespaña, D’A Barcelona, Rizoma, S8 Mostra de Cinema Periférico, and Curtocircuíto.
PROJECT
Night Glow
Lou and Gael, partners in life, scrape by in Vigo clearing out abandoned buildings in a city dazzled by Christmas tourism. After the city shuts down Santuario, the self-managed venue where their post-punk band performed, the future looks bleak. Everything changes when Lou discovers an unreleased record by Pedro Vulcano, a musician involved in the 1972 general strike that brought the city to a standstill. Captivated, she sets out to find him, documenting her investigation through her pirate radio show. Meanwhile, her mother Alicia drives a night taxi, listening to the broadcast as her only connection to her daughter. When the search reaches a dead end and an eviction forces Lou to break her pact with Gael and move back home, living together compels mother and daughter to reconnect. Taking over Alicia's taxi shifts Lou's perspective, revealing that her obsession with Vulcano was an escape from precarity, until a mysterious late-night passenger changes the course of her journey.
