70th Valladolid International Film Festival
Official poster of the 70th Seminci | |
| Opening film | Three Goodbyes |
|---|---|
| Closing film | Always Winter |
| Location | Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain |
| Awards | Golden Spike: Magellan & The Mastermind |
| Directors | José Luis Cienfuegos |
| Festival date | 24 October – 1 November 2025 |
The 70th Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci) took place from 24 October to 1 November 2025, in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain.
Three Goodbyes screened as the opening film.
Background
In April 2025, the governing People's Party (PP) presented a motion to the plenary of the Valladolid municipal council urging the Spanish Ministry of Culture to gift an extraordinary subsidy on occasion of the 70th Seminci.[1] It was approved by unanimity, but an amendment requesting the same help from the Regional Government of Castile and León was rejected by the PP and Vox municipal groups.[1]
An early batch of 'Official Section' and 'Meeting Point' titles was announced in July 2025.[2] Likewise, the festival resumed its partnership with the Europa Cinemas network to host the latter's Audience Development & Innovation Lab.[3] The official poster by Ana Mª Hernández and Félix Rodríguez (PobrelaVaca studio) was presented on 4 September 2025 along a new batch of 8 Meeting Point titles.[4][5][6] For the 2025 edition, the festival introduced the ESCAC Award recognising the director of the best first or second feature in the Meeting Point section, valued in €5,000.[6] Three Goodbyes was later announced as the opening film.[7] A tranche of Spanish-produced titles, including the world premieres of Subsuelo and Frontera was announced on 16 September 2025.[8]
On 8 October 2025, Mia Hansen-Løve, Luis Callejo, as well as the ESCAC and the ECAM film schools were announced as recipients of Honorary Spikes.[9] Pepa Blanes hosted the opening gala, which included the screening of Three Goodbyes and the musical performance of El Niño de Elche.[10]
The closing gala at the Teatro Calderón on 1 November 2025 was hosted by Elena Sánchez and Llum Barrera, including the presentation of Always Winter as the closing film.[11]
Juries
On 17 October 2025, the juries were announced:[12]
- International Jury
- Mihai Chirilov, Romanian programmer and TIFF artistic director
- Laurentina Guidotti, Italian producer
- Elena López Riera, Spanish filmmaker
- João Pedro Rodrigues, Portuguese director
- Serge Toubiana, and French critic and cultural manager
- Meeting Point Jury
- Ivette Liang, Colombian producer
- Federico Luis, Argentine screenwriter and director
- Adrián Orr, Spanish director
- Time of History Jury
- Manuel Asín, Spanish programmer
- Alexander Horwath, Austrian director, writer, and programmer
- Feyrouz Serhal, Lebanese filmmaker
- Alchemies Jury
- Yuri Ancarani, Italian filmmaker
- María Antón Cabot, Spanish filmmaker
- Victoria Marotta, Argentine producer
- Short Films Jury
- Begoña Arostegui, Spanish animation filmmaker
- Andrius Blaževičius, Lithuanian filmmaker
- Daniel Vadocky, Czech programmer and distributor
- FIPRESCI Jury
- Loreta Gandolfi
- Giuseppe Sedia
- Elsa Tébar
- Green Spike
- Cristina Casado Polo
- Manuel Planelles
- José Manuel Rodríguez Fernández
- Rainbow Spike
- Karu Borge
- Alejandro Marín
- Yolanda Rodríguez Valentín
Official Section (Sección Oficial) Feature Films
The following films were selected for the 'Official Section' of feature films:
Competition
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the Clouds | Sotto le nuvole | Gianfranco Rosi | Italy |
| The Blue Trail | O Último Azul | Gabriel Mascaro |
|
| The Chronology of Water | Kristen Stewart |
| |
| Duse | Pietro Marcello |
| |
| Golpes | Rafael Cobos |
| |
| Left-Handed Girl | 左撇子女孩 | Shih-Ching Tsou |
|
| Lionel | Carlos Saiz Espín |
| |
| Living the Land | 生息之地) | Huo Meng | China |
| Magellan | Magalhães | Lav Diaz |
|
| The Mastermind | Kelly Reichardt | United States | |
| Mirrors No. 3 | Miroirs No. 3 | Christian Petzold | Germany |
| The Night is Fading Away | La noche está marchándose ya | Ramiro Sonzini, Ezequiel Salinas | Argentina |
| Orphan | Árva | László Nemes |
|
| Pillion | Harry Lighton |
| |
| Resurrection | 狂野时代 | Bi Gan |
|
| Silent Friend | Stille Freundin | Ildikó Enyedi |
|
| Sorry, Baby | Eva Victor | United States | |
| Sound of Falling | In die Sonne schauen | Mascha Schilinski | Germany |
| Subsuelo | Fernando Franco |
| |
| Three Goodbyes | Tre Ciotole | Isabel Coixet |
|
| Two Prosecutors | Zwei Staatsanwälte | Sergei Loznitsa |
|
| When a River Becomes the Sea | Quan un riu esdevé el mar | Pere Vilà Barceló | Spain |
| Yes! | כן! | Nadav Lapid |
|
| The Young Mother's Home | Jeunes mères | Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne |
|
Out of competition
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Always Winter | Siempre es invierno | David Trueba |
|
| Girl | 女孩 | Shu Qi | Taiwan |
| Hamnet | Chloé Zhao |
| |
| Rental Family | Hikari |
| |
| RTVE Galas | |||
| Frontier | Frontera | Judith Colell |
|
Special Screenings
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Awakening Beauty | Bella | Manuel H. Martín, Amparo Martínez Barco |
|
| Breathless | À bout de souffle | Jean-Luc Godard | France |
| El Canal de Castilla | Leopoldo Alonso | Spain | |
| Las gafas de Isabel Coixet | Santiago Tabernero | Spain | |
| Giant | Rowan Athale | United Kingdom | |
| The Last Rupture | El último arrebato | Marta Medina del Valle, Enrique López Lavigne | Spain |
| Maya, Give Me a Title | Maya, donne-moi un autre titre | Michel Gondry | France |
| El noveno | Basilio Martín Patino | Spain | |
| Pendaripen, the Untold Story of the Roma People | Pendaripen, la historia silenciada del Pueblo Gitano | Alfonso Sánchez | Spain |
| Sleepless City | Ciudad sin sueño | Guillermo Galoe |
|
| Space Cadet | Kid Koala | Canada | |
| Super-Charlie | Jon Holmberg |
| |
| Yakarta (series) | Elena Trapé, Javier Cámara, Fernando Delgado-Hierro | Spain | |
| RTVE Galas | |||
| Leo & Lou | Carlos Solano |
| |
Meeting Point (Punto de Encuentro)
The following films were selected for the 'Meeting Point' section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Between Dreams and Hope | میان رویا و امید | Farnoosh Samadi | Iran |
| Death Does Not Exist | La Mort n'existe pas | Félix Dufour-Laperrière |
|
| Forastera | Lucía Aleñar Iglesias |
| |
| Heads or Tails? | Testa o croce? | Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis |
|
| Growing Down | Minden rendben | Bálint Dániel Sós | Hungary |
| I Only Rest in the Storm | O Riso e a Faca | Pedro Pinho |
|
| Kika | Alexe Poukine |
| |
| Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes | Anoche conquisté Tebas | Gabriel Azorín |
|
| Little Trouble Girls | Kaj ti je deklica | Urška Djukić |
|
| The Luminous Life | A Vida Luminosa | João Rosas |
|
| Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) | Joel Alfonso Vargas | United States | |
| Nino | Pauline Loquès | France | |
| Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake | L'Olívia i el terratrèmol invisible | Irene Iborra Rizo |
|
| Phantoms of July | Sehnsucht in Sangerhausen | Julian Radlmaier | Germany |
| Rebuilding | Max Walker-Silverman | United States | |
| A Sad and Beautiful World | نجوم الأمل و الألم | Cyril Aris |
|
| Wild Foxes | La Danse des renards | Valéry Carnoy |
|
Memory & Utopia (Memoria y Utopía)
The following films were selected for the 'Memory & Utopia' section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ana | António Reis, Margarida Cordeiro | Portugal | |
| Beata | Anna Sokołowska | Poland | |
| The Bridge | Die Brücke | Bernhard Wicki | Germany |
| A Dry White Season | Euzhan Palcy | United States | |
| Grandmother | Yaaba | Idrissa Ouédraogo |
|
| Harlan County, USA | Barbara Kopple | United States | |
| The Basilisks | I basilischi | Lina Wertmüller | Italy |
| Lucía | Humberto Solás | Cuba | |
| The Money Order | Mandabi | Ousmane Sembène |
|
| Melek Leaves | Die Kümmeltürkin geht | Jeanine Meerapfel | Germany |
| Men at Work | کارگران مشغول کارند | Mani Haghighi | Iran |
| Time of Love | Tiempo de amor | Julio Diamante | Spain |
Time of History (Tiempo de Historia)
The following films were selected for the 'Time of History' section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Body of Mine | Este cuerpo mío | Afioco Gnecco, Carolina Yuste | Spain |
| Coexistence, My Ass! | Amber Fares |
| |
| David Delfín. Muestra tu herida | César Vallejo de Castro, Ángela Gallardo Bernal, Rafael Muñoz Rodríguez | Spain | |
| Dear Tomorrow | Mig Thai | Kaspar Astrup Schröder |
|
| Director's Diary | Записная книжка режиссёра | Alexander Sokurov |
|
| Face to Face | Cara a cara | Federico Veiroj |
|
| Memory | Vladlena Sandu |
| |
| Notes of a True Criminal | Zapiski Natoyashego Prestupnika | Alexander Rodnyansky, Andriy Alferov |
|
| The Seasons | As Estações | Maureen Fazendeiro |
|
| The Tale of Silyan | Приказната за Силјан | Tamara Kotevska |
|
| Tales of the Wounded Land | Abbas Fahdel | Lebanon | |
| Tell Her I Love Her | Dites-lui que je l'aime | Romane Bohringer | France |
| With Hasan in Gaza | مع حسن في غزّة | Kamal Aljafari |
|
| Yrupẽ | Candela Sotos | Spain | |
Awards
- Official Selection Feature Films
The jury formed by Elena López Riera, Laurentina Guidotti, Serge Toubiana, João Pedro Rodrigues, and Mihai Chirilov conceded the following awards:[13][14][15]
- Golden Spike: Magellan & The Mastermind
- Silver Spike: Silent Friend
- 'Ribera del Duero Award' for Best Director: Ramiro Sonzini, Ezequiel Salinas (The Night is Fading Away)
- Best Actress: Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)
- Best Actor: Harry Melling (Pillion)
- Best Cinematography: Christopher Blauvelt (The Mastermind)
- 'Miguel Delibes' Award for Best Screenplay: Fernando Franco, Begoña Aróstegui (Subsuelo)
- 'José Salcedo' Award for Best Editing: Nili Feller (Yes!)
- Other
Other awards conceded at the festival include:[16]
- Meeting Point Award for Best Film: I Only Rest in the Storm
- Audience Award: Hamnet
- Rainbow Spike: Between Dreams and Hope
- Green Spike: Silent Friend
- FIPRESCI Award: Two Prosecutors
References
- ^ a b "El Ayuntamiento de Valladolid urge al Ministerio a que apruebe una subvención nominativa para la 70ª Seminci". Tribuna Valladolid. 28 April 2025.
- ^ "Avance de Seminci: estos son los nombres que competirán por la Espiga de Oro". Cadena SER. 24 July 2025.
- ^ "Europa Cinemas celebrará su laboratorio de desarrollo de audiencias e innovación en la SEMINCI 2025". Junta de Andalucía. 14 July 2025.
- ^ "La Seminci 2025 muestra su imagen: un cartel "mutante" que simula el ojo del espectador". Diario de Valladolid. 4 September 2024.
- ^ Sánchez Sequera, Marco (4 September 2025). "Seminci presenta el cartel de su 70ª edición y anuncia ocho nuevos títulos que competirán en la sección Punto de Encuentro". Audiovisual451.
- ^ a b "Luz, movimiento y geometría inspiran la imagen de la 70ª edición de Seminci". ABC. 4 September 2025.
- ^ "Isabel Coixet inaugurará la 70 edición de Seminci con el estreno europeo de 'Tres adioses'". Cadena SER. 12 September 2025.
- ^ "La 70 Seminci estrenará diez películas españolas". El Norte de Castilla. Grupo Vocento. 16 September 2025.
- ^ "Mia Hansen-Love, Luis Callejo, la ECAM y la ESCAC, Espigas de Honor de la 70 Seminci". Europa Press. 8 October 2025.
- ^ Herrero, Irene (24 October 2025). "La Seminci despliega el glamour del cine: las fotos de la alfombra roja y la gala inaugural". Diario de Valladolid.
- ^ "La 70 edición de Seminci llega a su fin bajo una lluvia de estrellas en una alfombra de clausura pasada por agua". Europa Press. 1 November 2025.
- ^ "La 70 edición de la Seminci de Valladolid anuncia sus jurados y la proyección de 'Hamnet'". Kinótico. 17 October 2025.
- ^ "La 70ª Seminci corona a 'The Mastermind' y 'Magallanes' con la Espiga de Oro ex aequo". Seminci. 1 November 2025.
- ^ Blanes, Pepa (1 November 2025). "Espiga de Oro 'ex aequo' para 'The Mastermind' de Kelly Reichardt y para la producción española 'Magallanes' de Lav Diaz". Cadena SER (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 November 2025.
- ^ "Todos los premiados de la 70ª edición de la Seminci 2025". El Norte de Castilla (in Spanish). Grupo Vocento. 1 November 2025. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
- ^ Belinchón, Gregorio (1 November 2025). "'The Mastermind' y 'Magallanes' ganan 'ex aequo' la Espiga de oro de la 70ª Seminci de Valladolid". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 November 2025.