• The opening ceremony celebrates the legacy of the man who directed the festival from 2023 to 2025, presents the Honorary Spike to Willie D. Burton, and kicks off an edition that will feature more than 200 films over nine days

The Valladolid International Film Week kicked off its 71st edition this Friday with a gala designed as a tribute to José Luis Cienfuegos, the festival’s director from 2023 to 2025, who passed away in December 2025. Hosted by cultural journalist Pepa Blanes, the event combined music, memories from those who worked with him, and a presentation of the highlights of an edition that will run for nine days.

During the ceremony, part of the jury for the Official Section was announced; the various sections and the retrospective dedicated to sound in cinema were reviewed; the first Honorary Spike of this edition was awarded to sound designer Willie D. Burton; and the opening film, My Notes on Mars, by Hungarian filmmaker Lili Horvát—who attended accompanied by the film’s lead actress, Mackenzie Davis—was presented.

SEMINCI kicked off its 71st edition just as José Luis Cienfuegos would have liked: with music, a packed theater, and the feeling that cinema—even though it’s watched in the dark—is best enjoyed in company. The director who restored the festival’s most daring and contemporary spirit served as the central theme of a gala conceived as both a tribute and a celebration in equal measure.

The ceremony began with the stage in dim light, illuminated by this year’s poster, on whose surface one could sense the movement of the river, the clouds, and the city lights. Power Boy, the character created by filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul for the festival’s visual identity, appeared wrapped in a garland of lights, crossed the stage, and disappeared behind the screen, only to reappear seated on the railing while the dedication was projected: “To José Luis Cienfuegos. In memoriam.”

Next, Abraham Boba, a member of León Benavente, performed Nick Cave’s “Joy” on the piano in a version titled “El Júbilo,” featuring the voice of Miren Iza, the duo Elle Belga, and the Valladolid Children’s Choir. As the audience applauded, the screen displayed a black-and-white photograph of Cienfuegos. Next, Javier Angulo—his predecessor as director of SEMINCI—and the current co-directors, Mariona Viader and Javier H. Estrada, took the stage. Angulo recalled how he encouraged Cienfuegos to run for the festival’s directorship: “And he did it his way, submitting his proposal on the very last day.”

“José Luis, this edition is yours, too”

Mariona Viader highlighted José Luis Cienfuegos’ legacy as a discoverer of filmmakers, a conveyor of culture, and a shaper of cinematic taste, as well as his ability to spark curiosity and foster critical thinking. “A film festival isn’t built solely on movies, but also on the people who come together and everything we discover together,” noted the co-director, who reaffirmed her view of festivals as spaces for creation, freedom, and connection. The 71st edition of SEMINCI carries on that legacy with a commitment to remain “a place of discovery, encounter, and community—and, above all, of creative freedom.” Viader concluded her remarks with a tribute: “José Luis, this edition is yours, too.”

For his part, Javier H. Estrada remembered Cienfuegos as a pivotal figure in the development of those who worked with him and in building a community around auteur cinema. “He taught us that we can never settle for the status quo, that there’s always another way to organize festivals, another way to build community, another way to showcase auteur cinema—always in freedom,” he said. The co-director also emphasised the importance of human relationships in organizing a festival: “Programming films and organizing festivals is rooted in friendship and the utmost human warmth.”

His remarks were followed by a video that traced Cienfuegos’s career at the helm of the Gijón, Seville, and Valladolid film festivals, featuring statements that summarized his philosophy—from his assertion that “auteur cinema is not a genre: it is a way of seeing” to his defense of the collective experience: “If you give that up, you give up an essential part of cinema”; “You’re organizing a festival for audiences, but you also have a responsibility not only to screen good films—which would be easy—but to educate audiences, spark debates, and serve the films, cinema, and the audiences”; “We must break down all barriers between the audience and filmmakers. It has to be a meeting place, a space for dialogue”; “We’re surviving thanks to an audience that’s already almost middle-aged. This audience already has a certain level of cinematic knowledge; therefore, we have to win over the young audience—that audience without a screen. And if they don’t come to the festival, we have to go out and get them.”

Blanes recalled the man who dedicated thirty years to the festivals in Gijón, Seville, and Valladolid and whom he described as “a wonderful creator of auteur festivals”: a curious and visionary person, convinced that a festival must be, above all, a meeting place for filmmakers, audiences, the industry, and the press.

An edition featuring 208 films

The gala took on a different tone with a nod to cinema. The theme from À bout de souffle began to play, and a young woman appeared in the center aisle of the auditorium, sporting the same hairstyle and T-shirt as Jean Seberg in the “Herald Tribune” scene—though with a different headline: “Valladolid / SEMINCI 71.” The young woman called out the festival’s name and handed out programs to the audience until she took the stage and presented a copy to Blanes. This is how the program for an edition featuring 208 films was unveiled—a number that, as the host joked, turns the fear of missing out into an occupational hazard for weekly magazine journalists.

The Official Section will feature 22 films from around the world competing for the Golden Spike, three of which are Spanish. To introduce the jury, three of its five members took the stage: French composer Grégoire Hetzel, Uruguayan-Spanish filmmaker Federico Veiroj, and producer Elena Manrique, who is already familiar with SEMINCI as the director of Fin de fiesta, which won the Pilar Miró Award two years ago.

Spanish cinema, with some fifty titles spread across the various sections, also had its moment in the spotlight, featuring a clip and remarks by director Elena López Riera—a member of last year’s jury—and Gabriel Azorín, a member of the Meeting Point jury. This was followed by a visual overview presenting the different sections: Meeting Point, open to narrative freedom; Time of History, focusing on Iran and filmmakers such as Sergei Loznitsa and Alain Cavalier; Alchemies, the most daring section; Memory and Utopia; and the retrospective A History of Sound (in Cinema), which offers an interpretation of film history through the lens of sound.

The Emotion of Willie D. Burton

Next, the first Honourary Spike of this 71st edition was presented to Willie D. Burton, whose career spans more than five decades of work, including two Oscars for Bird and Dreamgirls and more recent titles such as Oppenheimer and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Sound designer Alejandro López, a member of the La bola negra team and the person tasked with presenting the award, highlighted Burton’s ability to adapt to technological changes without losing sight of “what’s most important: the stories and the emotions.”

Burton accepted the Honorary Spike with emotion and thanked SEMINCI for the recognition, which, he said, means a great deal to him because it comes from Valladolid and Spain. “Now I really consider myself an international sound professional,” he joked. The sound engineer recalled Sidney Poitier, who gave him his first break, and thanked Universal Studios, the filmmakers he has worked with, and especially Christopher Nolan and the team behind The Odyssey, which he described as “the most difficult film of my career, but also the most successful.” Burton encouraged everyone to persevere and enjoy the profession: “We have to keep working on the things we love, give it our best shot, and never give up.”

José Luis Cienfuegos Award

Cienfuegos’ contribution to the audiovisual industry was also highlighted at the opening ceremony. Enrique Costa and Lara Pérez Camiña, presidents of ADICINE, recalled how he spearheaded the creation of an award to recognize professionals committed to independent distribution. Costa recalled his proposal: “We should give an industry award to someone who has done a great deal for independent distribution.” Pérez Camiña highlighted his dedication to “fighting for independent, auteur, and festival cinema, which allows us to access different perspectives and cultures and reach wider audiences.”

At the upcoming edition of the Independent Film Market (MERCI), the award will bear the name of José Luis Cienfuegos for the first time and will honour Otilio García Govea, co-founder of the Golem cinemas and Golem Distribución, for his contribution to bringing the films of auteurs such as Aki Kaurismäki, Claire Denis, Lars von Trier, and Michael Haneke to Spanish audiences. Costa emphasised the importance of keeping that legacy alive and of “catering to a diverse, varied audience eager to learn more.”

Blanes then thanked the institutions that support the festival: the Valladolid City Council, the Ministry of Culture through the ICAA, Creative Europe MEDIA, the Valladolid Provincial Council, and the Regional Government of Castile and León. She then introduced the opening film. Lili Horvát, winner of the 2020 Golden Spike for Preparations for Being Together for an Unknown Period of Time, returned to Valladolid six years later with My Notes on Mars, a story about love and the difficulty of recognizing the other.

My Notes on Mars, Opening Film

The director took the stage alongside her lead actress, Mackenzie Davis, and expressed her excitement at returning to Seminci, the first major festival she attended with her debut feature, which was presented in the Meeting Point section eleven years ago. Horvát recalled how she received the news of the Golden Spike award in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, as “a moment of hope in dark times” that she will never forget. On this latest visit, she expressed her gratitude for the warmth she had received and highlighted the festival’s human warmth, especially following the tribute to José Luis Cienfuegos.

For her part, Mackenzie Davis highlighted the uniqueness of Horvát’s work and her way of addressing emotions and the most human aspects through film. “Everything she does is unique, and she’s able to explore such human aspects in her stories even when working with a tighter budget,” noted the actress, who was delighted to have worked with the filmmaker and proud to present My Notes on Mars to the SEMINCI audience.

The closing ceremony had a festive tone. As Groove Armada’s “On the River” played, part of the SEMINCI team took the stage to toast José Luis Cienfuegos. Blanes invited everyone to extend the night at SEMINCI Noche, at Bizarro and El Desierto Rojo, recalling that Cienfuegos liked to talk about film in bars, and raised his glass to him, “our Power Boy.” The team had the final word: “To José Luis, for everything we imagined, learned, and enjoyed by your side. For your curiosity, your high standards, your sense of humor, and your desire to keep discovering.”