Set in 2011, with a Papal visit looming and anti-austerity protests burgeoning, this intricate thriller from Rodrigo Sorogoyan—whose spare romance Stockholm screened here in 2014—combines genre thrills with searing social critique.

Someone is killing the pious old ladies of Madrid. The “true detectives” of May God Save Us are Alfaro, played by Almodóvar alumni Roberto Alamo, in the blistering performance that won him the Best Actor prize at the 2017 Goya Awards, and Velarde (the always-intense Antonio de la Torre, who did some killing himself in the recent Miami Film Festival hit Cannibal).

The closer Alfaro and Velarde get to capturing their killer, the more they realize how close that killer might be to home, and the psychological complexities begin to compound in very uncomfortable ways.

This film is also featured in the 2017 Film Festival’s HBO Ibero American Competition  Film Category