La Villa del Mar, launched last year, returns as a Festival venue in collaboration with the Polo Digital and the Ministry of Culture, positioning itself as the meeting place for technologies that are defining the present and future of audiovisual media. From 7 to 13 March, the Malagueta beach will host a full programme of activities that will explore the transformation of entertainment in a comprehensive way.
 
Workshops, talks, and exhibitions will transform this venue into an open space for accredited attendees and the public. This year's edition will transcend in-person attendance thanks to live streaming on its YouTube channel and the broadcasting of interviews with experts.
 
This forum on creation, innovation, and knowledge will begin by reflecting on our past to understand the present. During the first weekend, a series of ludic activities will take place, exploring the history of Spanish cinema through a trivia game and inviting us on a journey through time, from the early milestones of interactive entertainment and the video games that shaped previous generations to the most original immersive experiences.  In addition, a workshop will be held that encourages participants to unleash their creativity, allowing them to design and bring to life new manga and comic book characters.
 
The programme will continue throughout the week with a comprehensive view of the content lifecycle: IP Development, Smart Production and Distribution and Audiences.
 
IP Development will feature a series of workshops designed around the cross-platform approach, understood as a natural expansion of audiovisual language. This focus will bring feature films and short films into dialogue with video games, extended reality experiences, projection mapping, and immersive installations, creating a narrative ecosystem that transcends the traditional limits of the screen.
 
Smart Production will delve into the technologies transforming creative processes, with sessions centred on adapting to new formats, volumetric motion capture, and artificial intelligence. Within this framework, Google and Freepik will offer workshops and roundtables demonstrating how their tools support creators from the initial stages to the final product.
 
Under the heading Distribution and Audiences, workshops will be offered on new consumption habits in vertical formats and adapting distribution to the logic of smartphones, as well as talks focused on immersive experiences that deepen the viewer's experience.
On 12 March, the third edition of Brand Entertainment Marketing will take place, with a day dedicated to discussing the current state of the sector and the relevance of new trends, culminating in the presentation of the success story of the Andorra Cycling Master sports competition.
The programme will be rounded out with a look at the Festival de Málaga in 2030, through roundtables exploring the future of the industry and a workshop dedicated to the new narrative possibilities offered by 65mm lenses.
 
Plaza de la Malagueta, innovation and music by the sea
From 7 to 13 March, three stands will be set up in Plaza de la Malagueta, exploring the languages ​​of the future of audiovisual media, such as generative video, vertical format, video games and digital art, augmented reality, and virtual reality.
Likewise, the exterior of La Villa del Mar, next to the Antonio Martín restaurant, will be transformed into an open-air stage where music will blend with the sounds of the beach, immersing the audience in the magic of the festival's concerts, which will take place from 7 to 12 March.
The programme is available on the Festival website.
 
La Villa del Mar is organised by the Festival de Málaga in collaboration with Polo Digital and the Ministry of Culture, and is sponsored by Google and Olin.