The Seville European Film Festival concludes this Friday with a main competition featuring Dani de la Orden’s “The Director” and Andrew Haigh’s “A Long Winter.” The festival aims to capture the genius, true gamut and new talents of Europe’s productions.
Among the three 2026 honorees, Polish cinema figure Agnieszka Holland was the first to be recognized. Holland, known for “Angry Harvest” and “Europa Europa,” will receive a Golden Giraldillo. During a Friday press conference with festival director Manuel Cristobal, Holland discussed the current state of European cinema. She stated, “I think that we should take more risks. We ned courage and freedom to listen to people’s realities, and open up a little more. It’s difficult because the world has changed a lot in he last 10 years with social media, big data and AI. Hard truth has lost its attraction. I’m not very optimistic but we must attempt it.”
Cannes head Thierry Frémaux will also receive a Giraldillo de Honor for his leadership of the Cannes Festival, his work at Lyon’s Lumière Film Festival, and his documentaries on the Lumière brothers. Additionally, the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon will receive a third Giraldillo to mark its 25th anniversary. Manuel Cristobal noted that the award corresponds with the studio's milestone and stated, “One of the wonderful things that festivals can do is pay respect to people that have open roads for European cinema and world cinema.” Cristobal explained that because Cartoon Saloon has produced great animated features, the festival decided to give a Giraldillo to a company for the first time in its history.
The festival is also highlighting screenwriting. The opening features Sébastien Laudenbach’s Cannes animation hit “Viva Carmen!” with Laudenbach and lead voice actress Camélia Jordana in attendance. Oscar winner Fernando Trueba will appear with his documentary “Bajañi,” and Howard A. Rodman, known for “Savage Grace” and “August,” will head the jury. Cristobal stated that the festival is unveiling roles, directors, and screenwriters for the main competition because "their role in the collective art of cinema is not appreciated enough." As part of a push at Frame, the festival's industry umbrella, Seville will launch Insula, a screenplay market featuring 58 titles, in partnership with Spain’s ICAA film agency.
The main competition includes several highly anticipated titles. “The Director,” a world premiere backed by Beta Fiction Spain, follows Dani de la Orden’s breakout “A House on Fire.” It is based on David Jiménez’s autobiographical non-fiction book about leading the digital transformation of the newspaper El Mundo. Andrew Haigh’s “A Long Winter,” set on a farm in the Rockies in the early ’50s, was described by Variety as “a sweeping act of cinematic storytelling.”
The festival also features a section called Rampa for first and second features from Europe. Notable debuts include Gustaf Skarsgård’s “Adult Supervision,” Miroslav Terzić’s “3 Weeks After,” and Abinash Bikram Shah’s “Elephants in the Fog,” which won a Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize. Other contenders include Eivind Landsvik’s “Low Expectations,” starring Norwegian singer-songwriter Marie Ulven, and Rudi Rosenberg’s “Words of Love,” which Variety described as a a film which captures sensitively captures the chaos and compassion of family.
Established directors are also represented, including Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov with “Black Money for White Nights,” and Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert with The Idiot(s). The festival also includes crossover titles like “La Bola Negra” and Season 6 of “The Chosen,” which Cristobal recalled sold out in minutes in 2025.
Cristobal stated, “We want to program different films attending the different audiences in Europe. Seville is also the fourth biggest city in Spain, so we ned to expand the scope of the Festival.” The competition includes the documentary “Taranta” by Samuel Nacar, which explores a town with one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe. Nacar stated, “The principal idea is to ask what it’s like to grow up in a town which you think has no future.” The Andalusia Panorama features 16 titles, led by “Bajañi,” produced by Womack Studios.
The 23rd Seville European Film Festival Main Competition includes:
“3 Weeks After” (Miroslav Terzić, Serbia)
“Anguita. El hombre de los tres siglos” (Hugo Cabezas, griten with Marta Jiménez, José María Martín, Spain)
“Black Money for White Nights” (Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov, writing with Decho Taralezhkov, Bulgaria-Greece)
“Blaise” (Dimitri Planchon y Jean-Paul Guigue, France)
“Children of the Monkey” (Tommaso Landucci, co-written with Damiano Femfert, Italy)
“El Director” (Dani de la Orden, written by Michel Gaztambide, Alejandro Hernández, Spain)
“Elephants in the Fog” (Abinash Bikram Shah, Nepal-France-Germany-Brazil-Norway)
“Falling House” (Mohsen Gharaei, written with Amir Mohammad Abdi, Irán)
The Idiot(s) (Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert, written with Kasper Bajon, Poland-Germany)
“Lemonade” (Kim Bartley, Ireland)
“Low Expectations” (Eivind Landsvik, Norway-Denmark)
“Taranta” (Samuel Nacar, from a screenplay by Ana Puentes, Claudia Barthelemy, Spain)
“The Unknown” (Arthur Harari, penned with Lucas Harari and Vincent Poymiro, France)
“Words of Love” (Rudi Rosenberg, France)
“You Don’t Belong Here” (Florin Şerban, Romania)
