Simón, the Stubborn Cat premieres on 8 October in Lima and nationwide
“Sometimes, love arrives with four paws”
Released in Ecuador as Viejos Malditos · Ecuador–Argentina co-production 2025
On Thursday 8 October 2026 arrives in cinemas in Lima and across Peru Simón, the Stubborn Cat, the debut feature film from Ecuadorian filmmaker Xavier Chávez. The film, released in Ecuador under the title Viejos Malditos, is a black comedy and an intimate drama about the loneliness of old age, the stubbornness of a stray cat, and the possibility of a second companionship.
Distributed in Peru by Star Films, represented by Transversal Films and produced by Perros Obesos (Ecuador), the film invites the public to a story that already conquered the box office in its home country and that, in Lima, brought together more than a thousand people at the Miau Fest Festival.
SYNOPSIS
Elías, a 80-year-old widower, misses his wife, has become estranged from his son, and lives in a retirement neighbourhood. He is ill, tired, and convinced that life can no longer get worse. On that downward slope, a stray cat bursts in: stubborn, scruffy, and noisy. At first, it is a nuisance. Then, an invasion. Finally, a companionship that Elías did not ask for and cannot ignore. The cat forces him to open the door, to fight, to look after it, to want to keep on living.
“The company of a cat does not solve life, but it interrupts it enough that someonemight want to keep on living.”
WHY SEE IT AND WHY COVER IT NOW
Peruvian cinema release on Thursday 8 October 2026, with distribution by Star Films.
• It was the highest-grossing and most awarded Ecuadorian film of 2025. It returned to the big screen in its home country in May2026 at the request of the public and registered a record of 10 weeks in commercial theatres.
• It stars Jaime Bonelli, in his posthumous work, in the role of Elías.
• It is one of the few Latin American films to tackle the loneliness of older adults head-on.
• It was screened at the Coliseo Aldo Chamochumbi (Magdalena del Mar) during the Miau Fest Festival and won overmore than a thousand people.
• Ecuador–Argentina co-production with support from Ibermedia and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage ofEcuador.
• A biting, profound, and moving reflection on loneliness and human relationships: what apet sustains in daily life that cannot fit into a doctor's office.
TOUR
Before its commercial release in Peru, Simón, the Stubborn Cat has been presented at:
• Chicago Latino Film Festival (Chicago, United States)
• Festival du Cinéma Latino-Américain de Montréal (Ottawa and Montreal, Canada)
• Festival La Mar de Músicas (Cartagena, Spain)
• Latin American and Caribbean Film Festival
• Cine Ilusión (Moscow, Russia)
• Circuits in Bolivia and Argentina. Soon also in Bolivia and in Bern, Switzerland.
THE DIRECTOR
Xavier Chávez is an Ecuadorian filmmaker. He directs, writes, and edits. Simón, the Stubborn Cat is his first feature film. He comes from short film and photography, with pieces such as Lía, Mai, the Great Hunter and The Train that Announces My Death.
The film was born from mourning: in 2015 he lost his grandmother. He didn't want to tell that life story. He wanted to look at what remains when someone fades away and the house is left alone.