Carla Simón's film Romería delves into family secrets and AIDS legacy

Spanish director Carla Simón's fourth feature, Romería, premiered in competition at Cannes 2025 and is now opening in the United States. The autobiographical drama follows 18‑year‑old Marina (Llúcia Garcia) as she travels to Vigo in 2004 to uncover the truth about her absent father and mother, who died of AIDS. The film reveals the family's hidden past of heroin addiction and the stigma surrounding AIDS in the 1980s.

Romería was shot by cinematographer Hélène Louvart, features dual roles for Garcia as both Marina and her mother, and is distributed in the U.S. by Janus Films, with screenings beginning June 26 in New York and July 1 in Los Angeles. Simón, who was adopted by her aunt and uncle, described the project as a personal closure of her fragmented family history and said she may now turn to new work, including a musical.

The film has drawn attention for its visual depiction of Galicia’s Atlantic coast and its intimate exploration of memory, illness, and addiction within a family narrative.