International and Spanish short films showcase their creative power at the 71st SEMINCI with 27 entries in competition

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International and Spanish short films showcase their creative power at the 71st SEMINCI with 27 entries in competition

Monday, 7 September - 2026

International and Spanish short films showcase their creative power at the 71st SEMINCI with 27 entries in competition

September 7, 2026

18 films will compete in the International Official Section and 9 in the Spanish section; the selection, entirely unreleased in Spain, includes nine world premieres

The 71st SEMINCI will bring together 27 films in its two official competitive short film sections: 18 films from 16 countries in the International Official Section and 9 in the Spanish Official Section. Entirely unseen in Spain, the selection includes nine world premieres and reflects the richness and variety of contemporary short film, both in terms of the filmmakers’ backgrounds and careers, and in the narrative and visual styles of the films and the stories they tell, ranging from intimate tales to some of the conflicts facing the world today.

Animation explores new ways of storytelling

Animation takes centre stage in the international competition, with entries that explore its narrative and visual possibilities from a wide range of perspectives. Among them is Paper Trail, the new short film by the American Don Hertzfeldt, one of the leading figures in contemporary independent animation and a two-time Oscar nominee. In the film, Hertzfeldt reconstructs a life using fragments of paper and new animation techniques developed by the filmmaker himself. Following its premiere at Sundance, where it won the Best Short Film award, Paper Trail also took top honours at Annecy.

Also in the realm of animation, though in a very different vein, The End, by the Swedish director Niki Lindroth von Bahr, is set in a large airport and offers a reflection on existence and catastrophe, featuring the voices of Alexander Skarsgård, Denis Lavant and Noomi Rapace, who also serves as executive producer.

In addition, the Portuguese director Alexandre Siqueira will present Terminal, an animated film co-produced by Portugal, France and Spain, which follows its world premiere in Toronto and tells the story of a man returning to his mother’s home after more than thirty years of travelling.

The school setting forms the backdrop for El tamagochi escarlata by Chilean director Francisco Visceral Rivera, who draws on film noir to tell the story of a toy’s disappearance. The Truth Rejects you Cornelius, a Spanish production directed by Khris Cembe and Marc Torices, explores a more unsettling and fragmented world through various animation techniques, bringing the comic-book character created by Torices to life in 2D and stop-motion. The project won the Movistar Plus+ Short Film Project Award at Weird Market.

Three Spanish female directors in the international competition

Spain’s presence in the international competition is rounded off by three very different entries. In Premier feu, Blanca Camell Galí explores the physical and emotional aftermath of a traumatic birth through a woman, played by Bruna Cusí, who is trying to come to terms with postnatal depression. In Chronicle of Tiredness, Natalia Marín offers a lucid analysis of one of the key problems of our time through the story of access to housing, working-class debt and mechanisms of population control. And Alba Lozano presents the world premiere of Black Maw, set during the wrap party for a film shoot in Zumaia, where Miren, increasingly isolated from the crew, discovers a legend about a secret tunnel connecting the town to the beaches.

Identity, belonging and the relationship with one’s surroundings are themes that run through several of the international entries. In Vaterland or A Bule Named Yanto, winner of the Canal+ Prize at the Cannes Critics’ Week, Berthold Wahjudi follows a young man who travels to Yogyakarta to visit his sister and comes face to face with his own status as a foreigner in various places. Las Damas, by the French director Camille Zéhenne, stems from an artist in residence at the Casa de Velázquez’s fascination with the Lady of Elche. In And If Thuy Didn’t Exist, the Filipino director Carlo Francisco Manatad follows an undocumented migrant who tries to make her way in a new country through precarious jobs and a mobile phone that seems to speak for her.

A return to places linked to the past also characterises Class Photo, by the Lithuanian director Arnas Balčiūnas, in which a former pupil returns to an abandoned school and, together with a classmate, revisits the sites of a vanishing history. In Pithead, by Wannes Vanspauwen and Pol De Plecker, a woman finds refuge in a black metal karaoke bar and strikes up an unexpected relationship with a solitary penguin.

Impulses and conflicts of the present

The international competition also examines contemporary living conditions and social tensions. In Asphalt Reds – winner of the Audience Award at Curtas Vila do Conde – João Niza Ribeiro follows Omar, a young undocumented man from Benin who works as a delivery driver in Porto, whilst images of violence against migrants in Melilla intrude on his daily life. In Ride Your Horse, Song Dongxu takes the action to Inner Mongolia during a harsh winter, where two young men, trapped in a room, plan to raise money to escape southwards. And TMWYH, by the Austrian director Helen Esther Aschauer – winner of the Audience Award at the Tampere Film Festival – transforms a woman’s night-time journey home – played by Thea Ehre, winner of the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Actress at the 2023 Berlinale – into a thriller exploring the mechanisms of vigilance and self-protection that shape women’s experiences in public spaces.

Three films will have their world premieres in the international competition. Alongside Black Maw, the short film But… You Weren’t There, by Norwegian director Eric Dirnes, follows a young woman who begins to feel invisible whilst staying with her partner and friends in an isolated cabin. American writer, musician and filmmaker Robert Arnett directs God Loves a Terrier, a hilarious comedy starring Annie Hamilton, C. S. Lee and Elizabeth Olsen.

Official Section of Spanish Short Films

The Official Section of Spanish Short Films comprises nine films, six of which are world premieres. These include L’enterrament de la sardina by Mariona Martínez, a story about a daughter trying to understand her father after seeing him cry for the first time, and Al vespre llegeixo by Carlota González-Adrio, which follows a son during a visit to his mother in which small gestures and silences take centre stage. Both filmmakers return to SEMINCI after their films Lluna de sal and Solsticio de verano won awards in previous editions.

The search for one’s own identity lies at the heart of The Fable of a Teenage Punk Girl by Juan Vicente Castillejo, set in La Mancha in the early 2000s. There, a teenage girl defies the conservative environment in which she lives to attend an underground Halloween party. Also set in childhood, though several decades earlier, Marta Martín’s The disenchantment places a young girl in an isolated village in the Huesca Pyrenees during the 1970s, where the landscape, legends and history of the region transform her understanding of life and death.

The world premiere of School Shooters: You Killed Me First, by Miguel Ariza, offers a radically different approach: two young people, fresh out of high school, spend the summer planning a massacre. Also reaching audiences for the first time is Noutro tempo, by Santos Díaz, which centres on a former footballer who returns to his hometown for a routine job and moves into the family apartment with his niece, who is preparing for the civil service examinations.

Professional ethics, a neo-kinky portrait and fragmented memory

The relationship between ethics and professional prospects is at the heart of Nota de corte by Héctor Fernández Cachón. In a university lecture theatre, two students face an oral exam in Criminal Law before the demanding Professor Peña. The film, produced by Tornasol Media and La Malquerida Films, stars Belén Rueda and María Bernardeau.

A personal experience of director María Martos lies at the origin of La Pegaso, a short film that follows Katrina and Bruno through a night of excess, offering a neokinki portrait of the vulnerability and fractures of a generation.

The selection of Spanish short films is completed by El nieto Manuel, by Darío Vázquez, a production by Perro Verde and Sony Music. The film draws on an intimate archive recorded over three years, documenting the relationship between musician Manuel Navas and his grandmother, Mima, as her memories begin to fragment. Recordings of their conversations and music become the guiding thread of a story about memory and the impossibility of holding on to what we love.