{ "id": "ep1phf5zhf", "slug": "amanece-que-no-es-poco", "title": "Amanece, que no es poco", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s", "label": "Comedies of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.satirical-black-and-parody-comedies-of-t", "label": "Satirical, black, and parody comedies of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.satirical-black-and-parody-comedies-of-t" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Comedies of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s", "label": "Comedies of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Amanece, que no es poco: 1988 Spanish surrealist comedy by José Luis Cuerda, released January 1989, about an Oklahoma professor and his father in an absurd mountain village; cult classic with 'amanecistas' fans, three Goya nominations, filmed in Ayna, Liétor, and Molinicos.", "snippet": "Amanece, que no es poco: 1988 Spanish surrealist comedy by José Luis Cuerda, released January 1989, about an Oklahoma professor and his father in an absurd mountain village; cult classic with 'amanecistas' fans, three Goya nominations, filmed in Ayna, Liétor, and Molinicos.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.satirical-black-and-parody-comedies-of-t", "markdown": "# Amanece, que no es poco\n\n**Amanece, que no es poco** is a 1988 Spanish surrealist comedy feature film written, directed, and produced by José Luis Cuerda, released in Spanish cinemas on 17 January 1989. It follows Teodoro, a Spanish engineer teaching at the [University of Oklahoma](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-oklahoma) who returns to Spain on sabbatical, and his father, who arrives on a motorcycle with sidecar at a remote mountain village where the priest celebrates mass as a spectacle and the residents hold annual elections for mayor, priest, teacher, and the village prostitute. Initially poorly received by critics, it has become one of the most prominent cult films of Spanish cinema.[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=1488&q=true) • [2](https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/amanece-que-no-es-poco) • [3](https://www.albaceteguia.com/amanece-que-no-es-poco/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and screenwriter | José Luis Cuerda (Albacete, 1947), who also devised the plot[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=1488&q=true) |\n| Production and release | Produced in 1988; Spanish theatrical release 17 January 1989; 35 mm, Agfacolor[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=1488&q=true) • [4](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=1488) |\n| Runtime | 106 minutes in commercial halls; 110 minutes in the video version[4](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=1488) |\n| Spanish box office | 623,644.81 € gross and 309,319 admissions[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=1488&q=true) |\n| Goya nominations | Three at the 4th Goya Awards: Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound, and Best Special Effects[2](https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/amanece-que-no-es-poco) |\n| Filming locations | Ayna, Liétor, and Molinicos, in the Sierra del Segura of Albacete province[5](https://www.turismosierradelsegura.es/files/documentacion/documentos/folleto-amanece-que-no-es-poco-jlcuerda.pdf) |\n| Retrospective recognition | Voted best Spanish film of the last 60 years in a 2013 Seminci de Valladolid audience poll; 15th best comedy of all time in a Cinemanía ranking[6](https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20141021/jose-luis-cuerda-amanece-no-poco-contingente-conveniente-para-cine-espanol/1033167.shtml) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and style\n\nTeodoro, a young Spanish engineer and professor at the University of Oklahoma, returns to Spain for a sabbatical year. His father, who has killed his mother, has bought a motorcycle with sidecar for pleasure trips the two can take together, and they arrive at a hidden mountain village that appears deserted. The explanation is that all the neighbors except Nge Ndomo are at mass, because the priest handles the liturgy with such skill that no parishioner wants to miss the show.[2](https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/amanece-que-no-es-poco)\n\nThe village holds annual democratic elections to decide who will serve during the coming year as mayor, priest, teacher, and prostitute. Visitors accumulate: a group of American students from the University of Eaton, Belgian meteorologists, and dissidents from the army choir. Other absurdities include men who grow like plants under the cabbages.[7](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-31358/) • [3](https://www.albaceteguia.com/amanece-que-no-es-poco/) The film presents a rural, apparently enlightened society whose laws of nature themselves do not match reality, an effect one academic study compares to Renaissance utopias such as Tomás Moro's *Utopía* and [Tommaso Campanella](https://www.edgepedia.org/tommaso-campanella)'s *La città del Sole*, with the difference that in the film even natural law is arbitrary.[8](https://digibuo.uniovi.es/dspace/bitstream/handle/10651/68874/TFM_RubenGutierrezJimenez.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=4)\n\nCuerda himself joked that his humor moved from surrealism to surruralism, a fusion of the surreal with the rural. The film forms a loose trilogy of this style with the television film *Total* (1983) and *Así en el cielo como en la tierra* (1995), and he returned to it in his last feature, *Tiempo después* (2018).[6](https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20141021/jose-luis-cuerda-amanece-no-poco-contingente-conveniente-para-cine-espanol/1033167.shtml) • [3](https://www.albaceteguia.com/amanece-que-no-es-poco/)\n\n## Origin\n\nThe film began as television. After *Total* (1983), Televisión Española proposed a series on similar lines; Cuerda's project went through an unworkable draft called *Ab urbe condita*, and in 1984 he wrote five one-hour scripts under the title *Amanece, que no es poco*, which TVE declined to produce. The scripts were later found in a filing cabinet at his home and published in 2014 as the book *Amanece, que no es poco (La serie)*. To turn them into a film, Cuerda did the same kind of work as in a novel adaptation, keeping what was most useful for the new story; he said that practically the whole film was already in those scripts.[6](https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20141021/jose-luis-cuerda-amanece-no-poco-contingente-conveniente-para-cine-espanol/1033167.shtml)\n\n## Cast and production\n\nCuerda assembled a large ensemble of established Spanish comic actors, with a cast listed at up to 38 performers that Luis García Berlanga called \"the best cast in the history of Spanish cinema.\"[9](https://www.madridnorte24horas.com/articulo/madrid-norte-en-la-onda/cultura-de-cine-entrevista-a-jose-luis-cuerda/20160119141819069063.html) The credited cast includes Antonio Resines, Luis Ciges, José Sazatornil \"Saza\", Casto Sendra \"Cassen\", Pastora Vega, Ovidi Montllor, Chus Lampreave, Manuel Alexandre, María Isbert, Miguel Rellán, Guillermo Montesinos, Rafael Alonso, Carmen de Lirio, Queta Claver, Antonio Gamero, Aurora Bautista, Enrique San Francisco, Fedra Lorente, Violeta Cela, and Gabino Diego, among others.[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=1488&q=true) • [4](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=1488)\n\nThe film was shot in the summer of 1988 in Ayna, Liétor, and Molinicos, three small villages in the Sierra del Segura in Albacete province, and was Cuerda's first feature filmed in his native region.[5](https://www.turismosierradelsegura.es/files/documentacion/documentos/folleto-amanece-que-no-es-poco-jlcuerda.pdf) • [10](https://cadenaser.com/castillalamancha/2026/02/18/albacete-y-el-cine-radio-albacete/) It was produced by Compañía de Aventuras Comerciales (C.A.C), with cinematography by Porfirio Enríquez, editing by Juan Ignacio San Mateo, and a score by José Nieto that also incorporates pieces by Giovanni Gastoldi, Puccini, and Handel.[2](https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/amanece-que-no-es-poco) • [4](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=1488) It received a subsidy from the Ministry of Culture and the collaboration of Caja de Albacete.[4](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=1488)\n\n## Reception and cult status\n\nAt release the film left critics and audiences disoriented, and it was poorly received critically; its humor, far from the comedy then prevailing in Spain, did not fit expectations.[3](https://www.albaceteguia.com/amanece-que-no-es-poco/) • [11](https://jenesaispop.com/2018/12/28/350888/tiempo-despues-la-secuela-de-amanece-que-no-es-poco-chisporrotea-pero-no-brilla/amp/) Its Spanish theatrical run drew 309,319 admissions and 623,644.81 € in gross.[1](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=1488&q=true) It received three Goya nominations at the 4th edition of the awards: Best Original Screenplay for Cuerda, Best Sound for Carlos Faruolo and Enrique Molinero, and Best Special Effects for Reyes Abades.[2](https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/amanece-que-no-es-poco)\n\n**Retrospective standing.** Over the following decades the film accumulated a following that Cuerda said he could not explain. In 2013, as the Seminci de [Valladolid](https://www.edgepedia.org/valladolid) approached its 60th edition, its audience and social networks chose *Amanece, que no es poco* as the best Spanish film of the last sixty years, and the magazine Cinemanía ranked it 15th among the best comedies of all time, ahead of Berlanga's *El verdugo* in 22nd place.[6](https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20141021/jose-luis-cuerda-amanece-no-poco-contingente-conveniente-para-cine-espanol/1033167.shtml) A 2025 *El País* survey of the 50 best Spanish films of the last half century included it among the classics that point the way for current creators.[12](https://elpais.com/babelia/2025-05-10/las-50-mejores-peliculas-espanolas-del-ultimo-medio-siglo.html)\n\nThe fan community calls itself the amanecistas, described as the largest fan legion in Spanish cinema, and members gather periodically to revisit the shoot and the film's best-known lines.[3](https://www.albaceteguia.com/amanece-que-no-es-poco/) • [13](https://www.elconfidencial.com/cultura/2020-02-05/jose-luis-cuerda-juan-angel-martinez-ayna_2441524/) Film tourism developed around the shooting locations, known as the \"ruta amanecista,\" and Ayna houses a Centro de Interpretación dedicated to the film, displaying locations, objects, photographs, and anecdotes from the shoot.[14](https://www.turismocastillalamancha.es/es/cultura-y-patrimonio/museos/albacete/centro-de-interpretaci-n--amanece-que-no-es-poco--de-ayna) • [15](https://www.huffingtonpost.es/life/cultura/7-pueblos-espana-han-rodado-series-peliculas.html) At a 25th-anniversary screening at the Callao cinemas in Madrid, Antonio Resines counted some forty laughs and twenty-odd rounds of applause, a figure Cuerda offered as evidence of the film's comic durability.[6](https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20141021/jose-luis-cuerda-amanece-no-poco-contingente-conveniente-para-cine-espanol/1033167.shtml)\n\n## References\n\n1. [ICAA Film Data, Catálogo de Cine Español, file 1488](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=1488&q=true)\n2. [Amanece, que no es poco, Premios Goya](https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/amanece-que-no-es-poco)\n3. [Amanece que no es poco, la película albaceteña por antonomasia, Albacete Guía](https://www.albaceteguia.com/amanece-que-no-es-poco/)\n4. [AMANECE, QUE NO ES POCO, ICAA film file PDF](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=1488)\n5. [Folleto: José Luis Cuerda y el rodaje en la Sierra del Segura, Turismo Sierra del Segura](https://www.turismosierradelsegura.es/files/documentacion/documentos/folleto-amanece-que-no-es-poco-jlcuerda.pdf)\n6. [José Luis Cuerda habla sobre \"Amanece que no es poco\", RTVE.es (2014)](https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20141021/jose-luis-cuerda-amanece-no-poco-contingente-conveniente-para-cine-espanol/1033167.shtml)\n7. [Amanece, que no es poco, SensaCine](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-31358/)\n8. [Anexo 31: José Luis Cuerda, Amanece, que no es poco, Universidad de Oviedo TFM](https://digibuo.uniovi.es/dspace/bitstream/handle/10651/68874/TFM_RubenGutierrezJimenez.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=4)\n9. [27 años después de 'Amanece que no es poco', entrevista a José Luis Cuerda, Madrid Norte 24 Horas](https://www.madridnorte24horas.com/articulo/madrid-norte-en-la-onda/cultura-de-cine-entrevista-a-jose-luis-cuerda/20160119141819069063.html)\n10. [Albacete y el cine, Cadena SER Castilla-La Mancha](https://cadenaser.com/castillalamancha/2026/02/18/albacete-y-el-cine-radio-albacete/)\n11. ['Tiempo después': la \"secuela\" de 'Amanece, que no es poco', jenesaispop](https://jenesaispop.com/2018/12/28/350888/tiempo-despues-la-secuela-de-amanece-que-no-es-poco-chisporrotea-pero-no-brilla/amp/)\n12. [Las 50 mejores películas españolas del último medio siglo, El País (2025)](https://elpais.com/babelia/2025-05-10/las-50-mejores-peliculas-espanolas-del-ultimo-medio-siglo.html)\n13. [El niño de 'Amanece que no es poco' es hoy el alcalde del pueblo, El Confidencial (2020)](https://www.elconfidencial.com/cultura/2020-02-05/jose-luis-cuerda-juan-angel-martinez-ayna_2441524/)\n14. [Centro de Interpretación Amanece, que no es poco de Ayna, Turismo Castilla-La Mancha](https://www.turismocastillalamancha.es/es/cultura-y-patrimonio/museos/albacete/centro-de-interpretaci-n--amanece-que-no-es-poco--de-ayna)\n15. [7 pueblos de España en los que se han rodado series y películas, HuffPost](https://www.huffingtonpost.es/life/cultura/7-pueblos-espana-han-rodado-series-peliculas.html)\n\n---\n*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 the 1980s › Satirical, black, and parody comedies of the 1980s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/amanece-que-no-es-poco", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/amanece-que-no-es-poco.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Amanece, que no es poco\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/amanece-que-no-es-poco. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Amanece, que no es poco](https://www.edgepedia.org/amanece-que-no-es-poco)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/amanece-que-no-es-poco](https://www.edgepedia.org/amanece-que-no-es-poco). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Amanece, que no es poco\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/amanece-que-no-es-poco. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Amanece, que no es poco: 1988 Spanish surrealist comedy by José Luis Cuerda, released January 1989, about an Oklahoma professor and his father in an absurd mountain village; cult classic with 'amanecistas' fans, three Goya nominations, filmed in Ayna, Liétor, and Molinicos." }