In 1990, Armendáriz returned to the ethnographic style of his first film with: "Las Cartas de Alou" (Letters from Alou), a narrative that follows a Senegalese black young man who arrives in Spain as an illegal immigrant and has to confront personal and institutional discrimination. Well received by film critics, "Las Cartas de Alou" won the Golden Shell as best film at the San Sebastian film festival and Armendáriz received a Goya Award and the Spanish guild award of film writers in the original screenplay category.