# A Poet
**A Poet** (*Un Poeta*) is a 2025 comedy-drama film written and directed by the Colombian filmmaker Simón Mesa Soto, starring the nonprofessional actor Ubeimar Rios as Oscar Restrepo, a failed middle-aged poet in Medellín who finds a chance at redemption mentoring a talented teenager named Yurlady.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/) A Colombian-German-Swedish co-production of about 120 minutes, the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / year | *Un Poeta* (A Poet), 2025, Spanish language[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/) |
| Director / writer | Simón Mesa Soto, his second feature after *Amparo* (2021)[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2025/un-poeta-a-poet-as-seen-by-simon-mesa-soto/) |
| Main cast | Ubeimar Rios (Oscar), Rebeca Andrade (Yurlady), Guillermo Cardona (Efrain)[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/) |
| Highest award | Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2025[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/) |
| Production | Colombia, Germany, Sweden; shot on Super 16mm over about 30 days[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2025/un-poeta-a-poet-as-seen-by-simon-mesa-soto/) |
| Colombian release | August 28, 2025; Colombia gross $1,006,565 of a worldwide total of $1,783,355[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt36544524/) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 85 (universal acclaim, 13 reviews); 100% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes from 56 reviews[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-poet/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_poet) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and characters
Oscar Restrepo's obsession with poetry brought him no glory. Aging and erratic, he has succumbed to the cliché of the poet in the shadows: unemployed, divorced, living with his mother (Margarita Soto) and drinking in the bars of Medellín while lamenting the state of literature in his country.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/) • [6](https://apnews.com/article/3b72d9802b2b1101b432ca259cba4429) According to the Spanish newspaper *El País*, Oscar is a 54-year-old alcoholic who was once a promising young poet but cannot make a living from an art that offers him nothing.[7](https://elpais.com/america-colombia/2025-08-28/simon-mesa-cineasta-un-poeta-es-una-pelicula-sobre-los-artistas-a-los-que-se-los-chupo-el-alcohol-en-medio-de-la-violencia.html)
**The turn to mentoring.** Threatened with eviction by his family unless he takes an open teaching slot, Oscar starts teaching poetry at a local high school, where the students mostly laugh at him.[8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-01-30/poet-review-writer-simon-mesa-soto-ubeimar-rios) • [6](https://apnews.com/article/3b72d9802b2b1101b432ca259cba4429) He comes to believe that one soft-spoken student, Yurlady ([Rebeca Andrade](https://www.edgepedia.org/rebeca-andrade)), a girl from humble roots who writes honest notebook verse without literary ambitions, has real talent, and he resolves to mentor her.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/) • [6](https://apnews.com/article/3b72d9802b2b1101b432ca259cba4429) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-01-30/poet-review-writer-simon-mesa-soto-ubeimar-rios) Oscar helps her apply to Poetry Viva, a workshop for young writers run by Efrain (Guillermo Cardona), a smooth-talking rival acclaimed for his social-issues writing, who urges Yurlady to write about racism or poverty rather than her own simple poems to win over liberal-minded European judges.[6](https://apnews.com/article/3b72d9802b2b1101b432ca259cba4429) Cannes's synopsis captures the arc: helping Yurlady cultivates her talent and brings light to Oscar's days, but dragging her into the world of poets may not be the way.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/)
Oscar keeps a photograph of the Colombian poet [José Asunción Silva](https://www.edgepedia.org/jose-asuncion-silva), who went unrecognized in his lifetime and died at 30, above his mantle, and denounces the popularity of [Gabriel García Márquez](https://www.edgepedia.org/gabriel-garcia-marquez).[6](https://apnews.com/article/3b72d9802b2b1101b432ca259cba4429)
## Production
Simón Mesa Soto (born 1986 in Medellín) is a Colombian filmmaker who studied at the London Film School, winning the Short Film Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2014 for *Leidi*; his feature debut *Amparo* (2021) premiered in Cannes Critics' Week.[9](https://elgounafilmfestival.com/films/a-poet/) He has said the film grew out of an existential crisis after his first feature, when he pictured the worst version of his own future as a frustrated old-timer living off memories of a youthful flash of genius, and decided to make a comedy about that figure.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2025/un-poeta-a-poet-as-seen-by-simon-mesa-soto/)
Rios was found through a Facebook profile a friend sent the director, with the note "this is your poet"; he is a high school philosophy teacher who organizes a poetry festival and plays in a hard-rock band, and had never acted before.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2025/un-poeta-a-poet-as-seen-by-simon-mesa-soto/) The cast mixes professional and nonprofessional actors from the story's own world. The film was shot on Super 16mm in Medellín between mid-January and mid-February 2025, with limited film stock allowing an average of only 2 to 3 takes per shot, over roughly 30 shooting days.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2025/un-poeta-a-poet-as-seen-by-simon-mesa-soto/) • [10](https://elpais.com/cultura/cine/2026-04-17/un-poeta-un-director-que-afronta-riesgos-y-los-supera.html) Production companies include Ocúltimo and Medio de Contención Producciones in Colombia, with co-production by Majade Fiction (Germany), Momento Film and Film i Väst (Sweden), and ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel with ARTE.[11](https://www.proimagenescolombia.com/secciones/cine_colombiano/peliculas_colombianas/pelicula_plantilla.php?id_pelicula=3098&lang=en)
## Release and reception
The film opened in Colombian theaters on August 28, 2025, and later in France (October 29, 2025), Spain (March 3, 2026), and the United States (January 30, 2026, distributed by 1-2 Special).[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt36544524/) • [12](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?pelicula=270725) • [6](https://apnews.com/article/3b72d9802b2b1101b432ca259cba4429) It earned $1,006,565 in Colombia, more than half of its $1,783,355 worldwide total, and the critic Leonardo García Tsao of *La Jornada* described it as a box office hit in Colombia.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt36544524/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_poet)
**Awards.** Besides the Cannes Jury Prize, the film won the Horizontes award for best Latin American film at [San Sebastián](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-sebastian) 2025, the Golden Star for best feature at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt, prizes at festivals in Lima, Santiago (SANFIC), and Havana, and nominations for Best Ibero-American Film at the [Goya Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/goya-awards) and Best Foreign Film at the [Independent Spirit Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/independent-spirit-awards).[11](https://www.proimagenescolombia.com/secciones/cine_colombiano/peliculas_colombianas/pelicula_plantilla.php?id_pelicula=3098&lang=en) It was also Colombia's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards.[13](https://www.victoriafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/DIGITAL_JAN_19.pdf)
Critics emphasized the pairing of satire and compassion. On Metacritic the film holds a metascore of 85 based on 13 reviews, all positive, and Rotten Tomatoes reports a 100% Tomatometer from 56 reviews with a 92% audience score.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-poet/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_poet) The Associated Press critic Jake Coyle called it "a farce of creative life where the only pure artistic intention is a joke," in which Oscar, for all his foolishness, is at least uncompromising, wrong about almost everything except what really counts.[6](https://apnews.com/article/3b72d9802b2b1101b432ca259cba4429) Alissa Wilkinson of *The New York Times* wrote that Mesa Soto skewers "a kind of devotion to the creative life, without much of the creating, that renders one useless in the real world."
## Director's stated intent
Mesa Soto has framed the film as both self-portrait and social comedy. He told *Caimán Cuadernos de Cine* that it is "a portrait of my worst future version," made to reconnect with the young self who began making films, and he has described the Medellín poetry world as a subject he had found interesting and funny for over a decade.[14](https://ivc.gva.es/es/audiovisuales/pelicula-14360/un-poeta) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2025/un-poeta-a-poet-as-seen-by-simon-mesa-soto/) He also said he wanted the film to reach Colombian audiences who generally feel distant from films made by Colombian filmmakers, without compromising its narrative and artistic values, and that the film laughs at the festival circuit itself, a target he found satisfying because the circuit audiences laughed at themselves too.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2025/un-poeta-a-poet-as-seen-by-simon-mesa-soto/) • [7](https://elpais.com/america-colombia/2025-08-28/simon-mesa-cineasta-un-poeta-es-una-pelicula-sobre-los-artistas-a-los-que-se-los-chupo-el-alcohol-en-medio-de-la-violencia.html)
## References
1. [Un Poeta (A Poet), Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/un-poeta/)
2. [Un Poeta (A Poet), as seen by Simón Mesa Soto, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2025/un-poeta-a-poet-as-seen-by-simon-mesa-soto/)
3. [A Poet (2025), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt36544524/)
4. [A Poet, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-poet/)
5. [A Poet, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_poet)
6. [Movie Review: In 'A Poet,' a Colombian farce of literary failure and stubborn belief, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/3b72d9802b2b1101b432ca259cba4429)
7. [Simón Mesa, cineasta: "Un poeta es una película sobre los artistas a los que se los chupó el alcohol en medio de la violencia", El País](https://elpais.com/america-colombia/2025-08-28/simon-mesa-cineasta-un-poeta-es-una-pelicula-sobre-los-artistas-a-los-que-se-los-chupo-el-alcohol-en-medio-de-la-violencia.html)
8. [A Poet review, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-01-30/poet-review-writer-simon-mesa-soto-ubeimar-rios)
9. [A Poet, El Gouna Film Festival](https://elgounafilmfestival.com/films/a-poet/)
10. [Un poeta, un director que afronta riesgos y los supera, El País](https://elpais.com/cultura/cine/2026-04-17/un-poeta-un-director-que-afronta-riesgos-y-los-supera.html)
11. [Colombian Film: A Poet, Proimágenes Colombia](https://www.proimagenescolombia.com/secciones/cine_colombiano/peliculas_colombianas/pelicula_plantilla.php?id_pelicula=3098&lang=en)
12. [Un Poeta, ICAA Film Database](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?pelicula=270725)
13. [Victoria Film Festival program](https://www.victoriafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/DIGITAL_JAN_19.pdf)
14. [Un Poeta, Institut Valencià de Cultura](https://ivc.gva.es/es/audiovisuales/pelicula-14360/un-poeta)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2025 › Titles M to Z*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license