The International Festival of Cinema of Valencia Cinema Jove has unveiled the titles competing in its official sections for the 41st edition of the festival, which will take place in Valencia from June 19 to 27.
This year’s programme brings together filmmakers from fourteen countries, with a selection marked by formal experimentation, critical perspectives and a wide diversity of voices. Many of the selected works have previously screened at major international festivals including Berlin, Cannes, Sundance, Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand and Séries Mania.
According to festival director María Albiñana, the selection committees reviewed more than 2,000 titles in order to create “a solid, diverse and coherent programme capable of surprising audiences and connecting with different viewers without ever compromising cinematic quality”.
Young, critical and daring cinema
The Official Feature Film Section will include nine competing films from different countries. The festival will open with The Patron by Swedish director Julia Thelin, a sharp satirical thriller exploring class structures in Northern Europe.
Other selected titles include Chronovisor by Jack Auen and Kevin Walker, a science fiction film shot on 16 mm; Filipiñana by Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel, acclaimed at Sundance; and No Good Men by Shahrbanoo Sadat, which portrays Afghanistan during the withdrawal of US troops through the lens of romantic comedy.
The section is completed by films such as On our Own by Romanian director Tudor Cristian Jurgiu; the ethnographic documentary Whispers in May by Dongnan Chen; When We Saw Each Other More Often, shot on Super 16 mm by William Wrubel; and Zejtune, the second feature film by Alex Camilleri.
The return of familiar names in the Short Film Section
The Official Short Film Section once again consolidates its position as one of Spain’s leading international showcases for emerging filmmakers.
This year marks the return of several directors closely linked to the festival, including Christian Avilés, winner of the Luna de València award for La herida luminosa, who presents Stallion y la bola de cristal; Guil Sela with No skate!; Aleksey Evstigneev with Habibi; and Rocío Quillahuamán with the documentary Oralia.
The programme combines comedy, animation and intimate stories dealing with themes such as grief, adolescence and care dynamics. Selected titles include Mal de madre, Nest, A certa distància by Valencian filmmaker Laura Pérez Gómez, Geratzen den Hori by Aitor Gametxo, Deprisa, deprisa and Esto está frío by Valencian director Iván Fernández de Córdoba.
Series focused on short formats and industry dialogue
The Series Section celebrates its eleventh edition with a continued commitment to short-format productions. Nine international projects will compete this year, five of them premiering in Spain.
The selected titles include the German workplace comedy Das Manko; the Russian thriller Hirurg; the Canadian productions Vitrerie Royal and Les Saturnides; the Swedish series Hundarna; the French production Respire Fort; the Colombian series Dear Killer Nannies; and the Spanish drama Sense Filtres, directed by Sandra Reina, Ainhoa Bolaños and Jiajie Yu Yan.
The section will also host professional round tables focused on international co-productions, artificial intelligence in the audiovisual sector and creative processes.
Young Audiovisual Meeting
The section dedicated to young creators will bring together thirteen short films made by participants aged between 16 and 25 from across Spain.
During the festival, participants will take part in intensive mentoring sessions, and four of them will later be selected to join the Young Filmmakers Residency, which this year will focus on the technical and commercial viability of audiovisual projects.
