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. 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.
An early batch of 'Official Section' and 'Meeting Point' titles was announced in July 2025. Likewise, the festival resumed its partnership with the Europa Cinemas network to host the latter's Audience Development & Innovation Lab. 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. 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. Three Goodbyes was later announced as the opening film. A tranche of Spanish-produced titles, including the world premieres of Subsuelo and Frontera was announced on 16 September 2025.
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. hosted the opening gala, which included the screening of Three Goodbyes and the musical performance of .
The closing gala at the Teatro Calderón on 1 November 2025 was hosted by Elena Sánchez and , including the presentation of Always Winter as the closing film.
Juries On 17 October 2025, the juries were announced:
International Jury Mihai Chirilov, Romanian programmer and TIFF artistic director , Italian producer Elena López Riera, Spanish filmmaker João Pedro Rodrigues, Portuguese director , 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 , Spanish programmer , 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
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) 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 Spain Las gafas de Isabel Coixet Spain Giant Rowan Athale United Kingdom The Last Rapture 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 Jakarta Yakarta 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) 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 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 Germany Rebuilding Max Walker-Silverman United States A Sad and Beautiful World نجوم الأمل و الألم Cyril Aris 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 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 Lizards I basilischi Lina Wertmüller Italy Lucía Humberto Solás Cuba The Money Order Mandabi Ousmane Sembène Die Kümmeltürkin geht Jeanine Meerapfel Germany Men at Work کارگران مشغول کارند Mani Haghighi Iran 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 Mig Thai Kaspar Astrup Schröder 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 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: 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: Meeting Point Award for Best Film: I Only Rest in the Storm Audience Award: Hamnet Rainbow Spike: Green Spike: Silent Friend FIPRESCI Award: Two Prosecutors
References