Ventana Cinéfila, the educational project that brings together the Festival de Málaga, Valladolid International Film Week (Seminci), the Seville European Film Festival, the Huelva Film Festival and the Sitges Film Festival under the Profestivales21 framework, in collaboration with Filmin, concludes its sixth edition with figures that solidify this initiative as one of the most important film education programmes for young people in Spain. 

In 2025, free online film screenings reached approximately 320,000 (319,587) primary, secondary, and high school students in 900 schools across Andalusia, Castile and León, and Catalonia, with the participation of 1,727 registered teachers. Since its inception in 2020, Ventana Cinéfila has surpassed 1.5 million viewers and has programmed a total of 39 feature films and 75 short films, grouped into different programmes for each age group, encompassing a diverse range of styles, formats, and cinematic perspectives.

The project aims to foster film education among young viewers through a selection of recently produced international films, carefully curated and agreed upon by the programmers of the five participating festivals. Titles are chosen taking into account both their cinematic quality and the thematic and aesthetic balance appropriate to the age of the different school levels.

Each school receives comprehensive teaching guides for each film, available in Spanish and Catalan, which allow teachers to enrich classroom discussions before and after the screenings, as well as to work in depth and across subjects such as history, science, languages, and art. In addition, the screenings are accompanied by presentations from festival programmers, who offer insights into the films and highlight the value of each title, contributing to the experience of curating festival content.

2025 Programme: diversity and cinematic quality

The sixth edition of Ventana Cinéfila offered a programme of seven feature films and two short film programmes, with titles of various styles from different countries. Among other themes, they addressed issues such as identity, empathy, the environment, and social relationships.

The selection of feature films included A los libros y las mujeres canto by María Elorza (Spain, 2022); Oink Oink by Mascha Halberstad (Netherlands, Belgium, 2022); L'horizon by Émilie Carpentier (France, 2021); Las hijas by Kattia G. Zúñiga (Panama, Chile, 2023); Radical by Christopher Zalla (United States, Mexico, 2023); Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds by Benoît Chieux (France, Belgium, 2023); and Tony, Shelly and the magic light by Filip Pošivač (Hungary, Czech Republic, 2023).

The programme of short films for primary schools included Foxtale by Alexandra Allen (Portugal, 2022); Homework by Nacho Arjona (Spain, 2024); Jules et Juliette by Chantal Peten (Belgium, 2022); La primavera siempre vuelve by Alicia Núñez Puerto (Spain, 2021); Tobi and the Turbobus by Verena Fels and Marc Angele (Germany, 2020); and Yo voy conmigo by Chelo Loureiro (Spain, 2024).

Meanwhile, the short films selected for secondary schools were Alien0089 by Valeria Hofmann (Chile, Argentina, 2023); At Sixteen by Carlos Lobo (Portugal, 2022); Kawausoby Akihito Izuhara (Japan, 2023); Les Criminels by Serhat Karaaslan (France, Romania, Turkey, 2020); Lluna de sal by Mariona Martínez (Spain, 2024); and Dad's Sneakers by Olha Zhurba (Ukraine, 2021).

Ventana Cinéfila celebrates its 7th edition, bringing cinema to the classroom

The 7th edition of Ventana Cinéfila will once again offer the educational community a carefully curated selection of films, available on Filmin from 15 October to 30 November 2026.

The educational community can access the channel by requesting a viewing code through a form that will be published on each festival's website. The application period will open on 15 September 2026.

Aimed exclusively at schools and free of charge, Ventana Cinéfila represents a firm commitment from five of Spain's most important film festivals to audiovisual culture education. At a time when the consumption of images is omnipresent in the lives of children and teenagers, this initiative provides tools to develop a critical and informed perspective, transforming young people into active viewers capable of understanding and appreciating the language of cinema.

The project is open to all schools interested in participating, reaffirming its commitment to the training of tomorrow's viewers and the promotion of film culture in the Spanish education sector.