El Súper

Wednesday, July 8 - Thursday, July 9, 2026

Thursday, July 9 at 6:35: Introduction by producer/co-writer Manuel Arce

Shot in the streets and apartments of New York City and largely in Spanish (a first for an American independent film), EL SUPER is the story of Roberto, a Cuban exile who runs a Washington Heights apartment building. Described as “a small jewel of independent cinema” when it first opened in 1979, audiences everywhere loved its charm and poignant humor. It played to enthusiastic crowds in Miami, New York and other cities. Abroad, it won the Grand Prize at Germany’s Manheim Festival and received an emotional 10-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. New York Times critic Vincent Canby cited Raymundo Hidalgo Gato in the title role as one of the “top ten performances that lit the screen in 1979,” and wrote, “[Y]ou might think that EL SUPER would be grim, but it’s a funny, even-tempered, unsentimental drama…less about politics than about the disorientation of exiles who become living metaphors for the human condition.”

Screening as part of our series Declaration of Independents!

See more and save! Get an Independents Pack ($30 for IFC Center members and $45 for non-members). Ticket packs are good for any three screenings in the series.

• Country USA
• Language Spanish with English subtitles and English
• Year 1979
• Running Time 90 minutes
• Format DCP
• Distributor IndieCollect
• Director Leon Ichaso, Orlando Jiménez Leal
• Cast Raimundo Hidalgo-Gato, Zully Montero, Reynaldo Medina, Elizabeth Peña
• Accessibility Assistive Listening, T-Coil

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.