Teenager Cata is having a pretty normal summer on Mallorca, swimming in the Mediterranean and flirting with a Swedish boy. Then her grandmother dies. One day, she slips into her abuela’s dress and feels something pull her closer to the woman she just lost.

That’s the setup for “Forastera,” a Spanish ghost story that trades scares for something quieter and more unsettling. Director Lucía Aleñar Iglesias uses the sun-drenched island as the backdrop for a film about grief, memory, and the strange ways the dead stay with us.

The debut feature won the FIPRESCI Prize at Toronto International Film Festival and picked up awards at festivals across Spain, including Best New Director for Aleñar Iglesias at Seminci Valladolid. Critics are calling it tender, poetic, and a revelation for star Zoe Stein.

“Forastera” opens May 29 at Film Forum in New York. The title translates to “stranger,” which feels right for a movie about becoming someone else while trying to hold onto someone you’ve lost. It’s the kind of ghost story that lingers because it’s less about hauntings and more about what we carry forward.