- The programme includes awarded works by Jim Jarmusch (the first screening in Spain of the Golden Lion winner at Venice), Kleber Mendoça Filho (Best Director at Cannes) and Joachim Trier (Jury Prize at Cannes)
- The film “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, which has moved the world by giving voice to a murdered Palestinian girl, will also be shown in Valladolid
- SEMINCI offers the opportunity to see, alongside Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague”, the legendary film that inspired it, Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’
The best auteur cinema of 2025, harvested at major international festivals, is brought together for the 70th edition of the Valladolid International Film Festival (SEMINCI) in the Constellations section. The selection is made up of five titles that have been presented and triumphed at the Cannes and Venice film festivals. Two of them have also been shortlisted for the European Film Academy Awards, along with 18 other films programmed in the 70th edition.
To celebrate the launch of such a special edition, Seminci presents the first screening in Spain of the new film by master Jim Jarmusch, who visited Valladolid in 1982 with his first work, Permanent Vacation (1980). Winner of the Golden Lion in Venice, Father Mother Sister Brother is an insightful study of the light and shadow of family relationships. Following the format of previous productions such as Mystery Train and Night on Earth, it presents three independent storylines depicting encounters between parents and children, set in the present day in three different locations: the north-east of the United States, Dublin and Paris.
Director Joachim Trier, who won the Youth Award at SEMINCI in 2021 with The Worst Person in the World, reunites with the star of that film, Renate Reinsve, in Sentimental Value, an exploration of the emotional complexities of family, memories and the healing power of art, winner of the Cannes Jury Prize and shortlisted for the European Film Awards.
Also awarded at the Cannes Film Festival (best director, actor and FIPRESCI prize), Kleber Mendonça Filho‘s The Secret Agent returns to SEMINCI after Picture of Ghosts (awarded at Time of History in 2023), nominated for an Oscar, featuring a cinematic discourse addressing the oblivion of his country’s past.
The constellations section also welcomes the testimony that has moved festivals around the world, winning the Grand Jury Prize in Venice, as well as seven other awards, the Audience Award in San Sebastián, and shortlisted by the European Film Academy. The Voice of Hind Rajab, by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (Youth Award at SEMINCI in 2017 with Beauty and the Dogs), documents and denounces the painful conflict in Gaza by reconstructing the tragic real-life case of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl shot dead while travelling in a car with her family in Gaza on 29 January 2024, and the struggle of the Red Crescent volunteers who received the emergency call to save her.
Finally, the festival has programmed Richard Linklater’s cinematic tribute to the Nouvelle Vague movement, the filmmaker responsible for the Before Sunrise trilogy and Boyhood, through the fictionalised making of Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard’s 1959 masterpiece. SEMINCI also offers the opportunity to revisit Godard’s original work in several sessions programmed in Special Screenings and SEMINCI Youth, with the aim of introducing Godard’s work to young audiences. Starring the iconic Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg (played by Zoey Deutch in Linklater’s film), it redefined the codes of film noir and continues to be a source of inspiration for contemporary filmmakers.
Father Mother Sister Brother. Jim Jarmusch (United States, Ireland, France)
With a stellar cast led by Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Vicky Krieps and Mayim Bialik, Jim Jarmusch explores the nuances of complex family ties. The film constructs a study of independent characters connected by a common sensibility. It is a comedy interwoven with threads of melancholy, where every gesture, every silence and every glance tells a complete story.
The Secret Agent. Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brazil, France, Germany, Netherlands)
Set in 1977, during the military dictatorship of General Ernesto Geisel, The Secret Agent introduces a technology expert (Wagner Moura, the star of Narcos) who returns to his hometown during Carnival week hoping to start over and reconnect with his son. Persecuted for political reasons by a group of regime hitmen, his escape through the streets becomes a spy story rather than a historical fresco. The filmmaker set himself the challenge of creating a relatable man, a classic hero, but also a non-violent one.
Sentimental Value. Joachim Trier (Norway, Germany, Denmark, France, Sweden, United Kingdom, Turkey)
The film tells the story of two sisters who must navigate the complicated waters of their complicated family dynamics with their father, a charismatic and renowned former film director played by Stellan Skarsgård, with the presence of a Hollywood film star, played by Elle Fanning, acting as a catalyst for long-suppressed conflicts. Trier offers an intimate, exciting, and at times funny story about how we need to rewrite the stories we tell about ourselves in order to reinvent ourselves and survive.
The Voice of Hind Rajab. Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia, France, United States)
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (Youth Award at SEMINCI in 2017 for Beauty and the Dogs) manages to give a voice to the voiceless by reconstructing real events with the sensitivity and commitment that characterise Ben Hania’s cinema. Throughout her career (two Oscar nominations for The Man Who Sold His Skin and Four Daughters, screened at SEMINCI in 2023) a unique ability to address urgent social and political issues without losing sight of the humanity of her protagonists.
Nouvelle Vague. Richard Linklater (United States, France)
At the opposite end of the spectrum from a cerebral and constrained tribute, the American director conceives his homage to Breathless as a festive celebration full of cinematic references and imbued with the vitality, enthusiasm and lightness of a youthful gang. Jean-Luc Godard (played by Guillaume Marbeck), François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and company, united by their passion for cinema. ‘I’m not trying to remake the film, just look at it from another angle,’ explains Linklater. The result is the story of how Breathless was made, told in the same style and spirit as it was made. The film encapsulates the spirit of an era when making films was an act of rebellion, freedom and pure love for the seventh art.