The Valladolid International Film Week opens today (October 23) with Hungarian filmmaker Lili Horvát’s My Notes On Mars, one of 22 features in the festival’s Golden Spike competition, which carries a €70,000 prize for the Spanish distributor.
Horvát previously won the Golden Spike award and best new director prize six years ago, with Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time, which also won best actress for Natasa Stork.
One of the longest running film festivals in Spain, Seminci’s 71st edition features Spanish world premieres and a selection of independent international features set for their launch in Spain.
Valladolid’s competition lineup includes international festival favourites including May el-Toukhy’s Golden Lion winner Woman Unknown, Marine Atlan’s Cannes Critics Week Grand Prix winner La Gradiva, Ilker Çatak’s Yellow Letters, Lance Hammer’s Queen At Sea, Markus Schleinzer’s Rose and Emmanuel Marre’s A Man Of His Time, as well as Lili Horvát’s opening film, starring Mackenzie Davis and Rupert Friend.
Three Spanish films feature are in the competition; Ione Hernández Sáenz’s debut feature Sisters, starring Emma Suárez and Elena Anaya as sisters whose strong family bond is put to the test when one sister’s son is accused of sexually assaulting the other’s daughter, will have its European premiere in competition following a screening in TIFF’s Discovery section.
Also in competition is Ervin Han and Madrid-born Raúl García’s animation The Violinist. The Singapore-Spain-Italy co-production spans eight decades of Singaporean history and won the Cristal award at Annecy for best feature and the SACEM Award for best original soundtrack.
The third Spanish production in competition is The Fortunate Isles, co-directed by Samuel Delgado and Helena Girón. Set in the Canary Islands in the 15th century, it previously premiered at TIFF Lightbox.
The international out-of-competition selection also includes Gael García Bernal’s Hombre Al Agua, which will close the festival, Simon Stone’s Elsinore, starring Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman, Anton Corbijn’s A Talent For Murder, starring Helen Mirren, and Padraic McKinley’s The Weight, starring Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe.
Three world premieres by Spanish filmmakers feature out of competition: Daniel Calparsoro’s The Confidant, Ricardo Gómez’s A Family, and David Martín de los Santos A Man On A Bridge.
Valladolid’s opening ceremony will pay tribute to the festival’s former director, José Luis Cienfuegos, who died last December, aged 60. Cienfuegos, a much-loved figure in the Spanish film industry, had led Seminci since 2023. This year’s edition is being run by two members of his senior management team, Mariona Viader and Javier H. Estrada.
New edition of the distribution market
The sixth edition of the Independent Film Market (MERCI Valladolid) will take place from October 28-30. The initiative is run by the festival with the Spanish Association of Independent Film Distributors (Adicine). The event will bring together distributors, exhibitors, programmers, and television and platform buyers.
Golden Spike competition 2026
My Notes On Mars (Opening Film)
Dir. Lili Horvát
A Bit Of Light
Dir. Ali Asgari
A Good Little Sister
Dir. Stéphane Brizé
Aquí
Dir. Tiago Guedes
Yellow Letters
Dir. Ilker Çatak
Dao
Dir. lain Gomis
Everytime
Dir. Sandra Wollner
Sisters
Dir. Ione Hernández Sáenz
I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming
Dir. Isabelle Stever
La Gradiva
Dir. Marine Atlan
Double Freedom
Dir. Lisandro Alonso
The Violinist
Dir. Ervin Han, Raúl García
The Fortunate Isles
Dir. Samuel Delgado, Helena Girón
Mr Nelson, Did You Kill People?
Dir. Shinya Tsukamoto
Prosecution
Dir. Faraz Shariat
Queen At Sea
Dir. Lance Hammer
Rose
Dir. Markus Schleinzer
The Echo Chamber
Dir. Andrea Pallaoro
A Man Of His Time
Dir. Emmanuel Marre
Gentle Monster
Dir. Marie Kreutzer
We Are All Strangers
Dir. Anthony Chen
Woman Unknown
Dir. May el-Toukhy
Out of competition
Hombre Al Agua (Closing film)
Dir. Gael García Bernal
Behind The Rain
Dir. Valeria Sarmiento
The Confidant
Dir. Daniel Calparsoro
The Electric Kiss
Dir. Pierre Salvadori
Elsinore
Dir. Simon Stone
A Family
Dir. Ricardo Gómez
A Talent for Murder
Dir. Anton Corbijn
A Man On A Bridge
Dir. David Martín de los Santos
The Weight
Dir. Padraic McKi
The Valladolid International Film Week runs October 23-31.
No comments yet