For the sixth consecutive year, the Seville Film Festival, the Huelva Film Festival, the Malaga Film Festival, the Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci) and the Sitges Film Festival, united under the Profestivales21 brand 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 primary, secondary and sixth form schools in Andalusia, Catalonia and Castile and León, which can apply to participate from today, 15 September.
The project offers students the opportunity to view, from 15 October to 30 November, upon registration, a selection of recently produced international films curated and agreed upon by programmers from five of Spain's most important festivals. The selection of titles takes into account not only their cinematic quality, but also their thematic and aesthetic balance in accordance with the age of the different school stages.
Each 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 across different subjects. The screenings will feature a recorded presentation by the programmers offering insights into the films that highlight the value of each title.
Since its launch 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 programme reached 365,906 young viewers and brought together more than 1,000 educational centres in Andalusia, Catalonia and Catalonia.
Code requests: from 15 September
Viewing: 15 October-30 November
Deadline for requesting viewing codes: until 29 November
Selected titles
This year's Ventana Cinéfila programme includes seven feature films and two programmes of six short films each, covering a variety of themes and styles. These films explore moments of life transformation, the challenges of personal growth and the importance of authentic human connections, addressing these universal themes from diverse cultural perspectives.
A large number of the feature films explore the search for identity and purpose in life during the transition from childhood or adolescence to adulthood. Such as 'Las hijas' (The Daughters) by Kattia G. Zúñiga, which narrates the journey of two teenage sisters as a metaphor for emotional development; or 'L'horizon' (The Horizon) by Émilie Carpentier, about a young French woman, the daughter of Senegalese immigrants, who seeks to find her place in the world through political and environmental awareness.
Personal growth is combined with adventure and magical elements in the animated films 'Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds' by Benoît Chieux and 'Tony, Shelly and the Magic Lantern' by Filip Pošivač (Contrechamp Award at the Annecy Animation Festival), a fable about accepting difference as a gift. The third animated film, 'Oink Oink' by Mascha Halberstad, is a funny story starring a little pig, filmed using stop-motion animation, which has won awards at various international festivals.
Like Christopher Zalla's 'Radical', winner of the Film Favourite Award at Sundance 2023, and María Elorza's 'A los libros y las mujeres canto', winner of the Youth Award at San Sebastián, they also share a focus on education as an agent of empowerment and social transformation. The former 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.
For its part, the programme of six short films aimed at secondary school students addresses issues such as communication difficulties, moments of transition and self-discovery experienced during adolescence, and the exploration of dual or parallel worlds. The programme includes Valeria Hofmann's 'Alien0089', which has won major awards at the Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand and Dresden festivals. The short films selected for children, all of which are animated, convey values such as friendship, perseverance, collaboration and personal acceptance, using anthropomorphised characters or everyday objects that are accessible to students of this age.
Long films
'A los libros y las mujeres canto' (I Sing to Books and Women), María Elorza (Spain, 2022)
'Oink Oink', Mascha Halberstad (Netherlands, Belgium, 2022)
'L’horizon' (The Horizon), Émilie Carpentier (France, 2021)
'Las hijas', Kattia G. Zúñiga (Panama, Chile, 2023)
'Radical', Christopher Zalla (United States, Mexico, 2023)
'Sirocco y el reino de los vientos', by Benoît Chieux (France, Belgium, 2023)
'Tony, Chelly and the Magic Lantern', by Filip Pošivač (Hungary, Czech Republic, 2023)
short films for schools
'Foxtale', by Alexandra Allen (Portugal, 2022)
'Homework', by Nacho Arjona (Spain, 2024)
'Jules et Juliette', by Chantal Peten (2022)
'La primavera siempre vuelve' (Spring Always Returns), by Alicia Núñez Puerto (Spain, 2021)
'Tobi and the Turbo Bus', by Verena Fels and Marc Angele (Germany, 2020)
'I Go with Myself', by Chelo Loureiro (Spain, 2024)
short films for highschools
'Alien0089', by Valeria Hofmann (Chile, Argentina, 2023)
'At Sixteen', by Carlos Lobo (Portugal, 2022)
'Kawauso', by Akihito Izuhara (Japan, 2023)
'Les Criminels', by Serhat Karaaslan (France, Romania, Turkey, 2020)
'Lluna de sal', by Mariona Martínez (Spain, 2024)
'Dad’s Sneakers', by Olha Zhurba (Ukraine, 2021)
