This competitive section is dedicated to fiction authors who seek to transform traditional storytelling and create new visual codes
The program preview for the 70th edition of the Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci) includes six debut films by emerging directors in the dynamic Meeting Point section. These films will compete alongside other titles to be announced soon, from October 24 to November 1, 2025.
Dedicated to fiction writers seeking to reinvent the way stories are told and expand the language of cinema, Meeting Point will feature six debut films that reveal the new trends in contemporary independent cinema. They all offer a personal perspective on intimate stories of transformation and growth of teenage or young adult characters facing crucial moments of change, filmed in a realistic style with an intimate and social focus.
Rebuilding, by Max Walker-Silverman (A Love Song), comes from this year’s crop of American independent films premiered at Sundance. The feature film, winner of the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, explores themes such as loss, community and emotional reconstruction in the context of a camp for people who have lost their homes in a forest fire. Josh O’Connor (Challengers, La Chimera) plays a cowboy who is given the opportunity by the fire to reconnect with his ex-wife and daughter.
Another notable premiere this year was that of Slovenian director Urška Djukić with Little Trouble Girls, winner of the Fipresci Prize in the Perspectives section of the Berlin Film Festival. A story of sexual discovery set in the context of a Catholic school girls’ choir. With her previous work as a short filmmaker (Granny’s Sexual Life), Djukić had already won awards such as the European Film Academy’s Best Short Film Award in 2022 and the César Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2023.
Meanwhile, Wild Foxes, the debut film by Belgian director Valéry Carnoy, won the Europa Cinemas Label award for best European film at Cannes 2025. The film focuses on a promising young boxer (Samuel Kircher, son of actress Irène Jacob) who, after surviving a fatal accident, develops an inexplicable pain that threatens his sporting career. Carnoy goes beyond the clichés of sports dramas to focus on mental health and male friendships.
Also premiering at Cannes, Nino, by Pauline Loqués, and Kika, by Alexe Poukine, portray two people facing crucial moments in their lives. In the case of Nino, it is a young man who is disoriented by a medical diagnosis that affects his future and the possibility of becoming a father. The film has been compared to an updated version of Agnès Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7, with a masculine, nocturnal and youthful tone. The main character is played by Théodore Pellerin, who won the award for best new actor at Cannes 2025 for this work and best actor at SEMINCI 2018 for Genesis. Loqués had previously directed the medium-length film La Vie de jeune fille.
Kika addresses single motherhood and the sudden death of her partner with sensitivity and humour, as faced by a woman (Manon Clavel) who goes from being a social worker to a sex worker in search of financial stability. Its director, Alexe Poukine, also participated in SEMINCI in 2024 with her documentary on the mental health of healthcare workers, Who Cares? She achieved international recognition with That Which Does Not Kill (2019), about sexual violence in environments of trust.
Finally, Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo), by Dominican-born American Joel Alfonso Vargas, was one of the big surprises at Sundance 2025, winning the NEXT Special Jury Prize for Best Cast. Vargas began as a self-taught filmmaker influenced by hip-hop culture and collaborating with marginalised communities to tell nuanced stories about issues of identity in the diaspora and social justice. After shooting short films such as May it Go Beautifully for You, Rico winner of the Pardi di Domani Award for Best Director at the Locarno Film Festival, his first feature film has earned the support of producer Christine Vachon, the godmother of independent cinema and producer of Todd Haynes.
PREVIEW MEETING POINT 70TH EDITION SEMINCI
Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo). Joel Alfonso Vargas (United States, 2025)
Wild Foxes. Valery Carnoy (France, Belgium, 2025)
Little Trouble Girls. Urška Djukić (Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, 2025)
Rebuilding. Max Walker-Silverman (United States, 2025)
Nino. Pauline Loqués (France, 2025)
Kika. Alexe Poukine (Belgium, France, 2025)