Ventana Cinéfila

For the sixth consecutive year, the Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci), the Sitges Film Festival, the Seville Film Festival, the Huelva Film Festival, and the Malaga Film Festival, under the Profestivales21 umbrella and in collaboration with the FILMIN platform, are promoting film education for young viewers throughout Spain via the online channel Ventana Cinéfila. This initiative is aimed at elementary, middle, and high schools in Castile and León, Andalusia, and Catalonia that, starting today, September 15, can now apply to participate.

This project offers students the opportunity to view a selection of recently produced international films, curated and agreed upon by programmers from five of Spain's most important festivals, from October 15 to November 30, subject to prior registration. In addition to their cinematic quality, the choice of films takes into account a thematic and aesthetic balance appropriate to the age group of each of the different school stages.

Every school will also receive a comprehensive teaching guide for each film so that teachers can enrich classroom discussions before and after viewing, as well as work in depth and transversally within different subjects. The screenings will feature a recorded presentation by the programmers offering insights into the films that highlight the value of each one of them.

Selected Films

This year's Ventana Cinéfila line-up features seven feature films and two programs of six short films each, covering a variety of themes and styles. These films coincide in their exploration of moments of life transformation, the challenges of personal growth, and the importance of genuine human connections, addressing these universal themes from diverse cultural perspectives.

Many of the feature films explore the search for identity and purpose in life during the transition from childhood or adolescence to adulthood. For example, Las hijas, by Kattia G. Zúñiga, which narrates the journey of two teenage sisters as a metaphor for emotional development; or L'horizon, by Émilie Carpentier, about a young French woman, daughter of Senegalese immigrants, who struggles to find her place in the world through political and environmental awareness.

Personal growth is combined with adventure and magical elements in the animated productions Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds, by Benoît Chieux, and Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light, by Filip Pošivač (Contrechamp Award winner at the Annecy Animation Festival), a fable about accepting difference as a gift. The third animated film, Oink, by Mascha Halberstad, is a humorous story starring a little pig, filmed using stop-motion animation, which has won awards at various international festivals.

As well as Radical, by Christopher Zalla, Festival Favorite Award winner at Sundance 2023, and A los libros y las mujeres canto, by María Elorza, Youth Award

winner at San Sebastián, which also share a focus on education as an agent of empowerment and social transformation. The first is based on a true story about a teacher in a Mexican village, while Elorza's debut feature is a poetic documentary structured around four stories of women who protect books from fire, water, moths, dust, ignorance, and fanaticism.

Meanwhile, the program of six short films aimed at high school students addresses topics such as communication difficulties, moments of transition and self-discovery experienced during adolescence, and the exploration of dual or parallel worlds. The program includes Alien0089 by Valeria Hofmann, which has garnered major awards at the Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand, and Dresden film festivals.

The short films selected for younger audiences, all of which are animated, convey values such as friendship, perseverance, collaboration, and personal acceptance, using anthropomorphized characters or everyday objects that are accessible to students of this age.

Since its inception in 2020, Ventana Cinéfila has screened 39 feature films and 55 short films, both animated and live action, covering a wide range of topics and reflecting current social issues. In 2024, this pioneering program reached 365,906 young viewers and brought together more than 1,000 schools in Castile and León, Andalusia, and Catalonia.

- Request for codes: starting September 15

- Viewing: October 15-November 30

- Deadline to request viewing codes: November 29

- Link to the registration form