- The Hungarian filmmaker returns to Valladolid for the third time to kick off the festival with My Notes on Mars, six years after winning the Golden Spike
- Gael García Bernal will bring the festival to a close with Hombre al agua, his third feature film as a director, a comedy about class differences and masculinity
The Valladolid International Film Festival will open its 71st edition on October 23 with Hungarian filmmaker Lili Horvát and her science-fiction-infused love story, My Notes on Mars, starring Mackenzie Davis, which will compete in the Official Section. On October 31, the festival will close with Hombre al agua, a comedy about masculinity and the differences in class and power within intimate relationships, written, directed, and starring Mexican actor and director Gael García Bernal. Both films share the promise of a second chance at life and pose the same question: to what extent is it possible to start over?
Lili Horvát, from the Golden Spike Award to the opening of the 71st SEMINCI
Six years after Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time won the Golden Spike at the 65th SEMINCI, as well as the Pilar Miró Award for Best New Director and the Best Actress Award for Natasa Stork, Lili Horvát returns to Valladolid with her third film, in which she once again focuses on a romantic relationship marked by uncertainty. Horvát had previously participated in SEMINCI in 2015, at Meeting Point, with The Wednesday Child, and in 2021 she served on the International Jury.
Mackenzie Davis and Rupert Friend star in the director’s first foray into English-language cinema, which follows Margot, a space researcher who disappears during a hike in the Alps and reappears on the very day her family and friends are holding a memorial service for her. Her return offers Sam the chance to restart a relationship that was already in crisis.
A comedy by Gael García Bernal about social climbing and masculinity
Gael García Bernal will bring the 71st SEMINCI Film Festival to a close with Hombre al agua, his third feature film as a director, in which he also stars alongside Esmeralda Pimentel, Débora Nascimento, Natalia Oreiro, and Ricky Martin. The film follows Camilo, a Cuban lifeguard who saves a Mexican businessman from drowning and ends up marrying the man’s daughter. The marriage opens the doors to a privileged world to which he had not previously belonged, but it also forces him to confront the rules of that new environment.
His career as a director, which began with Déficit and continued with Chicuarotes, now finds its next chapter in Hombre al agua. The actor, who achieved international recognition at age 22 with Amores perros, has since built a career that has led him to work with some of the most prominent filmmakers on the international scene, such as Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También), Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries), Pedro Almodóvar (Bad Education), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel), Fernando Meirelles, and Jim Jarmusch.
The presence of Lili Horvát and Gael García Bernal at the 71st SEMINCI strengthens the festival’s connection with filmmakers whose careers have been linked to Valladolid. Horvát is already part of the festival’s recent history, having participated three times, while García Bernal, who will be attending the festival for the first time, has previously been featured in its program through Museo by Alonso Ruizpalacios in 2018 and Magallanes by Lav Diaz in 2025—a film in which he starred and which won the Golden Spike ex aequo.