International Feature Film Competition
Fifteen-year-old Toni lives with his family of scrap metal dealers in La Cañada Real, Europe’s largest informal settlement on the outskirts of Madrid. Proud of his Roma roots and close to his grandfather, he clings to the fragile world that defines his identity. But as demolition forces edge closer to their land, Toni must face choices that will shape his passage from boyhood to adulthood. Through tender realism and empathy, ‘Sleepless City’ explores family, belonging, and survival amid erasure.
Fifteen-year-old Toni lives with his family of scrap metal dealers in La Cañada Real, Europe’s largest informal settlement on the outskirts of Madrid. Proud of his Roma roots and close to his grandfather, he clings to the fragile world that defines his identity. But as demolition forces edge closer to their land, Toni must face choices that will shape his passage from boyhood to adulthood. Through tender realism and empathy, ‘Sleepless City’ explores family, belonging, and survival amid erasure.
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Fifteen-year-old Toni lives with his family of scrap metal dealers in La Cañada Real, Europe’s largest informal settlement on the outskirts of Madrid. When demolitions threaten their plot, and his grandfather fights desperately to hold onto their home, Toni is forced to confront the slow disappearance of his world and the fragile bonds that hold it together. Blurring fiction and lived reality, Guillermo Galoe’s first feature is a deeply human portrayal of a marginalised community rarely seen on screen. Patient and unhurried, it trusts small gestures and everyday rituals to carry meaning. Scenes accumulate like memories, inviting the audience to listen, to notice, and truly experience the community’s humour, pride and doubt without judgement or sensationalism.
Filmed over several years in close collaboration with the residents of La Cañada, the work unfolds through Toni’s quiet yet watchful gaze, a blend of innocence, resilience, and quiet rebellion. His journey mirrors the struggle of an entire generation caught between dignity and displacement. The film captures fleeting moments of beauty amid the dust and decay of a vanishing landscape in both a coming-of-age story and a political elegy. It is a moving testament to resilience, kinship, and the endurance of light even in the darkest corners of the city.
Fifteen-year-old Toni lives with his family of scrap metal dealers in La Cañada Real, Europe’s largest informal settlement on the outskirts of Madrid. When demolitions threaten their plot, and his grandfather fights desperately to hold onto their home, Toni is forced to confront the slow disappearance of his world and the fragile bonds that hold it together. Blurring fiction and lived reality, Guillermo Galoe’s first feature is a deeply human portrayal of a marginalised community rarely seen on screen. Patient and unhurried, it trusts small gestures and everyday rituals to carry meaning. Scenes accumulate like memories, inviting the audience to listen, to notice, and truly experience the community’s humour, pride and doubt without judgement or sensationalism.
Filmed over several years in close collaboration with the residents of La Cañada, the work unfolds through Toni’s quiet yet watchful gaze, a blend of innocence, resilience, and quiet rebellion. His journey mirrors the struggle of an entire generation caught between dignity and displacement. The film captures fleeting moments of beauty amid the dust and decay of a vanishing landscape in both a coming-of-age story and a political elegy. It is a moving testament to resilience, kinship, and the endurance of light even in the darkest corners of the city.
