The actress Aida Folch, the directors Sofia Exarchou and Luis López Carrasco, the critic Devika Girish and producer Ingmar Trost make up the international jury of the 69th edition

In addition to the Official Section, short films and films from the Meeting Point, Alquimias and Time of History sections are competing

Valladolid, 15 October 2024. The Official Section of the 69th SEMINCI brings together the 22 great titles that have marked the year, authentic cinematographic events by acclaimed filmmakers. The jury in charge of choosing the winners in the categories of Golden Spike, Silver Spike, directing, acting, cinematography, screenplay and editing is made up of Greek director Sofia Exarchou (Park, Kutxa-New Directors Award at San Sebastian, and Animal); Spanish actress Aida Folch (star of Fernando Trueba’s films El embrujo de Shanghái, El artista y la modelo, Isla perdida); editor of Film Comment magazine and New York Film Festival talks programmer Devika Girish, the German producer Ingmar Trost (The Colonists, Provincial Hospital, The Mole Agent, Rojo, 3/4), who has been working with both European and Latin American filmmakers for a decade, and Spanish director and writer Luis López Carrasco (El año del descubrimiento, El futuro), winner of the Herralde Novel Prize for El desierto blanco.

On the other hand, the writer, teacher and filmmaker Bridgett M. Davis, whose film Naked Acts will be screened in the Memory & Utopia section; the Brazilian director and screenwriter Sérgio Tréfaut (Raiva, La novia de la Jihad), and the actress and musician Julia de Castro (La virgen roja, Poquita fe) will be in charge of selecting the works deserving of the two awards in the Meeting Point section. This competitive section includes a selection of 18 films from different countries that reconfigure the classic and fixed conception of national or cultural identity from cinematographic parameters.

The decision as to who will be awarded the prize in the Alchemies section, the most daring of the competition, will depend on the Brazilian filmmaker, producer and activist Gabe Klinger (Porto, Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater); the writer, screenwriter and director Álex Mendíbil (Undo infinito), and the German artist and filmmaker Helena Wittmann (Drift, Human Flowers of Flesh).

Also, the multidisciplinary artist and director of experimental films Nina Danino (Solitude, Maria); the professor at the University of Granada and writer Domingo Sánchez-Mesa Martínez, and the Polish film curator of The National Centre for Film Culture Tomasz Poborca make up the jury of the Time of History section.

Among the short films in the Official Section, the producer and director Marina Alberti (Silver Spike for Aitana), the Swiss director Lasse Linder (All Cats are Black in the Dark), and the producer, Cannes Fortnight programmer and founder of the magazine Another Gaze, Daniella Shreir, will choose the best international, European, Spanish and Castilla y León films.

As in previous editions, the Youth Jury will choose three titles from the Official Competition Section of Feature Films, Short Films and Meeting Point to which they will present the SEMINCI Youth Award. The group of young people, selected by the Valladolid Youth Council from among city residents aged between 21 and 30 with experience in the audiovisual sector, is made up of Daniel Hernández, Alba Manuela Lermo and Cecilia Tejero (Official Section); Jaime Coco, Sofía Luezas and Covadonga Pérez (Meeting Point), and Pino de Pablos, Nuria Menéndez and Malena Salgado (Short Films).

Within the framework of SEMINCI, different prizes are also awarded across the board, selected from among the films in various sections. The Espiga Verde (Green Spike) is awarded to the film that shows the greatest sensitivity to the need to protect the planet and environmental values. The jury for this award is made up of the sustainability and environmental specialist Lorea Elso, co-founder of Ecometraje; the coordinator of the educational area of Ecologists in Action Piluca Enjuto, and Raúl Millares, member of the Greenpeace Communications team. Meanwhile, awarding the Rainbow Spike, Cinhomo festival programmers Cristina Soriano Úbeda and Marta García Caramazana, and writer, screenwriter and columnist Paco Tomás will award the film from any section of the festival that shows the greatest sensitivity to the LGBTIQ+ community.

Finally, the International Federation of the Film Press will award the FIPRESCI prize to one of the films in the Official Section at the 69th edition of SEMINCI. The critics in charge of evaluating them will be Vladimir Angelov, Roberto Baldassarre and Joan Pons.

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