Greenwich Entertainment has announced the U.S. theatrical release of Olmo, the fourth feature film from acclaimed Mexican writer-director Fernando Eimbcke, whose award-winning films Duck Season, Lake Tahoe, and Club Sandwich premiered at some of the world’s leading international film festivals.
A standout selection at the Berlin, Toronto, AFI, and San Sebastián film festivals, Olmo opens Friday, August 7, at the Quad Cinema in New York City and the Laemmle NoHo 7 and Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles, before expanding to select theaters nationwide.
With Olmo, co-written with Vanessa Garnica, Eimbcke brings his distinctive observational style to his first Mexican-American story, exploring youth, family, and cultural identity with his signature blend of deadpan humor and emotional precision.
Fourteen-year-old Olmo (played with remarkable precision by newcomer Aivan Uttapa) and his family are struggling to make ends meet in 1979 New Mexico. Due to an illness that keeps his father Nestor (Gustavo Sánchez Parra) confined to his bed, his mother Cecilia, his sister Ana, and even he himself must contribute to the daily caretaking responsibilities.
Olmo, in the throes of selfish adolescence, would much rather hang out with his best friend Miguel and try to impress his beautiful next-door neighbor Nina than take care of his dad. And when Nina finally invites him to a party on the day that he’s been left alone with his dad, Olmo will do whatever he can to get out of his duties, embarking on a journey of mischief and chaos. In his desperate attempt to escape his home life, he will come to realize that the place of his deepest pain is also where he will find solace: with his family.
The film’s bilingual world—where the children primarily speak English and their parents Spanish—captures the everyday cultural hybridity of a Mexican-American family in the late seventies. This generational and linguistic divide quietly underscores Olmo’s struggle to reconcile his desire for independence with his growing awareness of his family’s sacrifices.
Prioritizing character behavior and situational absurdity over conventional narrative mechanics, Olmo becomes a poignant and quietly humorous study of family, adolescence, and the burdens of care. Balancing deadpan comedy with deep emotional resonance, the film further showcases Eimbcke’s singular ability to uncover profound feeling within the ordinary rhythms of everyday life.
Watch the trailer:
