Isabel Coixet

Directing

Isabel Coixet

Born 1960-04-09 · Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Spain

Isabel Coixet Castillo (Catalan: [izəˈβɛl kuˈʃɛt]; born 9 April 1960; Sant Adrià del Besòs) is a Spanish filmmaker. She is one of the most prolific film directors of contemporary Spain, having directed twelve feature-length films since the beginning of her film career in 1988, in addition to documentary films, shorts, and commercials. Her films depart from the traditional national cinema of Spain, and help to “untangle films from their national context ... clearing the path for thinking about national film from different perspectives.” The recurring themes of “emotions, feelings, and existential conflict” coupled with her distinct visual style secure the “multifaceted (she directs, writes, produces, shoots, and acts)” filmmaker's status as a “Catalan auteur.”

Acting credits

Querido Fotogramas poster
4.0

The 70th anniversary of the “Fotogramas” magazine comes in the shape of a sentimental voyage through the history of Spanish cinema thanks to a mosaic of voices represented by people who make films, those who write them and those who consume them. The documentary pays tribute to the readers of “Fotogramas” helped by the leading figures of Spanish cinema, who will read to the camera the most representative letters received at its offices in the history of the magazine.

Querido Fotogramas

2018

Aida, the Movie poster
6.9

The film deals with the filming of an episode of the series with storylines that take place both within the fiction with the characters of 'Aída' and outside of it with the actors themselves and their relationships, which reflects on topics such as the limits of comedy, the work of a comedian and fame.

Aida, the Movie

2026

Venice 70: Future Reloaded poster
5.0

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

2013

¿Qué (diablos) es España? poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

¿Qué (diablos) es España?

2022

La vida és Verdi poster
7.7

No synopsis available yet.

La vida és Verdi

2026

Dennis Hopper: Uneasy Rider poster
5.8

The life & times of Dennis Hopper, showbiz maestro and Hollywood eccentric.

Dennis Hopper: Uneasy Rider

2016

God Sees It poster
7.5

God Sees It is a journey into the creative universe of Oscar Tusquets, one of the most fascinating figures of the last sixty years as well as one-of-a-kind character of the gauche divine, in whose mind art, irony, and rebellion coexist. The film traces an inimitable career, from his beginnings in Barcelona, quietly rebelling against the backdrop of the dictatorship, and his collaborations with Salvador Dalí, to his interventions in the Palau de la Musica Catalana or the unique Toledo metro station in Naples. If this is not enough, the film is filled with reflections and conversations on art with friends like Miquel Barceló, Albert Serra, Mario Vargas Llosa or Julia de Castro.

God Sees It

2025

Kill Me Tender poster
4.6

Do all men want the same thing? Nestor, recently widowed, runs a bakery near Barcelona, has a bank account and a bad heart, and swims in the sea every day. He also has a daughter and a two-timing son-in-law. Nestor's maid asks him to hire her 20-something daughter, Maribel, as a shop assistant.

Kill Me Tender

2004

El cerro de los dioses poster
4.0

A reimagining of the myth of Faust, in which a documentary director and her producer investigate a number of celebrities.

El cerro de los dioses

2019

Sex, Maracas & Chihuahuas poster
4.0

A joyful tale filled with music. The rise of radio. The jazz big bands. The legendary clubs and ballrooms. The soundtracks of the great musical films and TV shows. Sex and romance, gangsters, luxury cars and palm trees. From Barcelona to New York, with a stop in Cuba. The birth of Las Vegas. The sound of the maracas. Chihuahuas everywhere. The incredible life story of Xavier Cugat (1900-90).

Sex, Maracas & Chihuahuas

2016

Luis García Berlanga: pasado, presente y futuro del cine español poster
3.0

A conversation about the work of Spanish filmmaker Luis García Berlanga (1921-2010) and his perdurance in contemporary Spanish cinema.

Luis García Berlanga: pasado, presente y futuro del cine español

2021

Words, Maps, Secrets and Other Things poster
5.8

A portrait of the internationally acclaimed Spanish film director Isabel Coixet and an analysis of her particular world and her sensibility as a creator: her fictional universe, her career and her life through the words of actors, technicians, family, friends, journalists, specialized critics and those filmmakers who have been inspired by her work.

Words, Maps, Secrets and Other Things

2015

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

En recuerdo a John Berger

2026

It's Not That Cold Siberia poster
NR

Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet travels to Siberia to attend a film festival where an unknown man —with whom she cannot communicate and who reminds her of her father— hands her a box containing the photographs of a lifetime. In Barcelona, she tries to put the images in order and unravel their mystery.

It's Not That Cold Siberia

2016

The Veláquez Mystery poster
7.1

Diego Velásquez, painter of kings and commoners, master of the off-frame and mise-en-abyme, stands at the heart of a cinematic journey that challenges conventions. From the hypnotic depth of Las Meninas to the dizzying layers of meaning in The Spinners, The Vélasquez Mystery seeks to unravel a troubling question: how does this artist, admired by geniuses such as Manet and Dalí, remain so often on the margins of collective memory? Guided by the symbolic thread of water, a metaphor for movement and reflection, the film traverses centuries and continents, boldly blending historical narratives, contemporary interpretations, and reflections on the universal legacy of an unmatched master.

The Veláquez Mystery

2025

El culo del mundo poster
5.1

El culo del mundo' is a documentary directed by and starring comedian Andreu Buenafuente, the idea for which came about three months after the cancellation of one of his last television programmes, when he received an email from a viewer. This email makes him ask himself why he dedicates himself to comedy and why he has never thought of leaving the profession after three decades. All this will be the starting point of a journey that will take this comedian and presenter deep into the heart of comedy.

El culo del mundo

2014

Toni Segarra: The Ads Writer poster
6.0

Advertising surrounds us. It is part of our lives, our memory and our culture: it is a pure reflection of our society. However, those who think and create ads are unknown people. Playing with the mechanisms of publicity as a narrative resource, we enter this medium through Spain's best creative director: Toni Segarra.

Toni Segarra: The Ads Writer

2016

Journey to the Heart of Torture poster
NR

Using testimonies of experts that help torture victims to recover and even some victims that talk about their experiences, Coixet travels across different places (Denmark, Sarajevo, Bosnia) trying to approach an incredibly close reality that many people think it´s past.

Journey to the Heart of Torture

2003

Behind the camera

Paris Je T'aime poster
6.8

Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

Paris Je T'aime

2006

Paris Je T'aime poster
6.8

Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

Paris Je T'aime

2006

The Bookshop poster
6.5

Set in a small English town in 1959, a woman decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.

The Bookshop

2017

The Bookshop poster
6.5

Set in a small English town in 1959, a woman decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.

The Bookshop

2017

Three Goodbyes poster
7.1

After what seemed like an insignificant argument, Marta and Antonio separate. He, a promising chef, takes refuge in his kitchen; she, in her silence, begins to feel something more than sadness: she has lost her appetite… and not only because of heartbreak. When she discovers that there is a health problem behind it, everything takes an unexpected turn: food tastes better, music reaches her like never before, and desire awakens her will to live without fear.

Three Goodbyes

2025

Three Goodbyes poster
7.1

After what seemed like an insignificant argument, Marta and Antonio separate. He, a promising chef, takes refuge in his kitchen; she, in her silence, begins to feel something more than sadness: she has lost her appetite… and not only because of heartbreak. When she discovers that there is a health problem behind it, everything takes an unexpected turn: food tastes better, music reaches her like never before, and desire awakens her will to live without fear.

Three Goodbyes

2025

Venice 70: Future Reloaded poster
5.0

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

2013

The Movie Teller poster
6.5

María Margarita is the youngest of four siblings in a family living in a mining town in the Atacama Desert (Chile). The most special time of the week for this family is Sunday, when they all go to the movies to enjoy stories that let them escape their everyday lives by transporting them to other worlds. The girl’s parents soon realise that the little girl has a very special gift: an almost uncanny ability to recount movies. The girl’s extraordinary talent will spread throughout the village, changing the fortunes of her family as the country is transformed forever.

The Movie Teller

2023

Elegy poster
6.3

Cultural critic David Kepesh finds his life -- which he indicates is a state of "emancipated manhood" -- thrown into tragic disarray by Consuela Castillo, a well-mannered student who awakens a sense of sexual possessiveness in her teacher.

Elegy

2008

Endless Night poster
6.1

Ellesmere Island, northern Canada, 1908. Josephine, a brave but naive woman, embarks on a dangerous journey through inhospitable regions in search of her husband, the explorer Robert Peary, who tries to find a route to the North Pole.

Endless Night

2015

Learning to Drive poster
6.2

As her marriage dissolves, a Manhattan writer takes driving lessons from a Sikh instructor with marriage troubles of his own. In each other's company they find the courage to get back on the road and the strength to take the wheel.

Learning to Drive

2014

My Life Without Me poster
6.1

A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.

My Life Without Me

2003

My Life Without Me poster
6.1

A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.

My Life Without Me

2003

The Secret Life of Words poster
7.0

A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

The Secret Life of Words

2005

The Secret Life of Words poster
7.0

A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

The Secret Life of Words

2005

The Secret Life of Words poster
7.0

A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

The Secret Life of Words

2005

Another Me poster
5.4

A teenager finds her perfect life upended when she's stalked by a mysterious doppelganger who has her eyes set on assuming her identity.

Another Me

2013

Another Me poster
5.4

A teenager finds her perfect life upended when she's stalked by a mysterious doppelganger who has her eyes set on assuming her identity.

Another Me

2013

Elisa & Marcela poster
7.3

The film tells the true story of Elisa Sánchez Loriga and Marcela Gracia Ibeas, two women in 1901 Spain who fell deeply in love. To overcome societal and legal barriers to their relationship, Elisa assumes a male identity, enabling the pair to marry in secret. Their daring act makes them the first recorded same-sex couple to marry in Spain, but their love is tested as they face relentless persecution and sacrifice.

Elisa & Marcela

2019

Elisa & Marcela poster
7.3

The film tells the true story of Elisa Sánchez Loriga and Marcela Gracia Ibeas, two women in 1901 Spain who fell deeply in love. To overcome societal and legal barriers to their relationship, Elisa assumes a male identity, enabling the pair to marry in secret. Their daring act makes them the first recorded same-sex couple to marry in Spain, but their love is tested as they face relentless persecution and sacrifice.

Elisa & Marcela

2019

White Tide poster
5.5

MAREA BLANCA is a Corona Save The Beach documentary directed by Isabel Coixet. It is a tribute to the thousands of anonymous heroes who left everything to save the Galician coast. An example for all of us who fight for the recovery and conservation of our beaches.

White Tide

2012

White Tide poster
5.5

MAREA BLANCA is a Corona Save The Beach documentary directed by Isabel Coixet. It is a tribute to the thousands of anonymous heroes who left everything to save the Galician coast. An example for all of us who fight for the recovery and conservation of our beaches.

White Tide

2012

It Snows in Benidorm poster
5.6

Peter has worked all his life at a Manchester bank. When he is awarded an early retirement, he decides to visit his brother in Benidorm, only to discover that he's disappeared.

It Snows in Benidorm

2020

It Snows in Benidorm poster
5.6

Peter has worked all his life at a Manchester bank. When he is awarded an early retirement, he decides to visit his brother in Benidorm, only to discover that he's disappeared.

It Snows in Benidorm

2020