The Festival de Málaga launches the call for proposals for the open programme of MaF 2026, centred on Europe and the centenary of Rafael Azcona
Málaga de Festival will fill the city with cultural activities from 12 February to 5 March to mark the 29th edition of the film festival
The 29th Festival de Málaga, which will take place from 6 to 15 March 2026, will be preceded from 12 February to 5 March by a new edition of MaF - Málaga de Festival, an expanded programme that seeks to celebrate culture with film as its theme. MaF - Málaga de Festival is organised by
Malaga City Council through the municipal company
Málaga Procultura (organiser of the
Festival de Málaga) and is once again supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation.
MaF - Málaga de Festival is made up of two areas: the
open programme, which is based on the proposals received through a call for proposals, provided they meet the selection criteria; and the
permanent programme, curated by the organisation itself in accordance with the areas of discourse proposed for each edition and based on collaborations with public and private entities in the city.
The call for proposals for the open programme is open until 27 June, with the aim of stimulating the artistic fabric of the city of Malaga and raising the profile of unique professionals in the field of culture. Furthermore, as it has been doing since the 2021 edition, one of the pillars of this open programme is to promote collaborations with national creators in order to generate links that go beyond the city itself. The rules of the call for proposals can be found on the Festival de Málaga website, in the 'Rules of participation' tab.
The projects received will be examined by a selection committee and, if accepted, will become part of the open programme of MaF 2026. These initiatives will be supported by the significant dissemination and promotion capacity of the Festival de Málaga, as well as, in specific cases, with financial, logistical and/or technical support to carry them out.
The proposals must offer new avenues of dialogue with current cultural and artistic action that allow new meanings to be found around audiovisuals thanks to an alliance with the disciplines that make up MaF 2026 (Sound Art, Visual Arts, Science, Film, Exhibitions, Thought and Tech).
Proposals received through the open call must be directly related to
the conceptual areas of MaF 2026:
1. EUROPE IN THE MIRROR: One of Europe's main problems is the lack of knowledge that European citizens have about how Europe is organised and how it works. This lack of knowledge means that people are unable to find the reason for Europe and, therefore, the sense of belonging to this important geographical, social and economic reality. With this first area of discourse, MaF invites us to think about the European condition through its creators and its culture.
2. AZCONA CENTENARY: In October 2026, Rafael Azcona would have celebrated his 100th birthday. In Spain, scriptwriting is synonymous with Rafael Azcona, author of some of the most important screenplays of Spanish cinema. Titles such as 'El pisito’ (The Little Apartment), 'El verdugo’ (The Executioner), 'La escopeta nacional’ (The National Shotgun) and 'Belle époque' (The Age of Beauty) bear his signature. Azcona also cultivated a career as a novelist, for which he is less well known, but he managed to carve out a niche for himself within the social and critical realism of the time. The expanded programme of the Festival de Málaga, MaF, invites us to think about Rafael Azcona from a contemporary perspective, to analyse the mark he has made on cinema, his echo in the identity of a country, his use of humour when presenting social realities, always with a critical eye.
