
Movies for Spanish class
What Audio & subtitles for movies in Spanish class?
- Upper level – Spanish audio & Spanish subtitles
- Spanish 2 – Spanish audio & Spanish or English subtitles (depending on the purpose)
- Spanish 1 or Exploratory – Spanish audio & English subtitles
- Culture or non language class – English audio & no subtitles
What movies for Spanish class?
Vivo
NEW Encanto

The newest animated Disney movie, Encanto, is set in Colombia with an all Latinx cast. It is a musical with a strong theme of family and being yourself. There is a ton of culture from Colombia in the film, which I include in this blog post. Magical realism is a strong element in the film as well. It would be great for elementary all the way to adults. I have a film guide which can be found here. Plus you can get character introduction slides & extra cultural authentic resources here. The film is now on Disney+ & DVD.
Coco
El camino de Xico
Ferdinand
Dora y la ciudad perdida
El Libro de la Vida
Pachamama
Selena
Canela
Bonus! McFarland USA

*New! Maya y los 3
Bonus there is a new limited series on Netflix. Maya y los tres is set in precolonial Mesoamerica. It is fantasy but brings in many cultural elements of the diverse cultures that lived on the land that is now Mexico. Different than many feature-length films, the nine episodes are only about 30-35 minutes each. If you want to show one or more episodes, check out many resources in this new blog post. There is a guide here for episode 1 if you want to try it out. The 32-minute first episode would be a great one-day sub-plan.
I just showed Zipi, Zape y el club de la canica this week, and it was a hit! Super cute story set in Spain that feels like Harry Potter-meets-The Goonies. Currently on Netflix. (I teach mixed grades level II, and our 8th graders were on a camping trip, so the few remaining 7th graders got a movie rather than busy work.)
Hi Meg,
One more question! I am watching the movie now to preview. I really like it! The only tricky thing is the number of times they say "caraculo" and the fact that the subtitles translate it to "assface". I was curious to know how you handled this with your classes.
Thanks!
Thank you for sharing Meg! I've been struggling to find a movie for 7th/8th graders that is appropriate for their age level, in Spanish and fun!
What a helpful post! I think videos are the best CI there is. My students actually liked the OLD version of Ferdinando. They also liked La misma luna.