Málaga Talent, the Festival de Málaga initiative that is part of MAFIZ, its industry area, celebrates the eighth edition of this campus, which brings together 21 young people of nine nationalities in a comprehensive training and advisory programme to promote their creative projects.
 
During their eight-day stay in Malaga, top-level professionals will accompany and advise them to break creative barriers and foster interaction. Anders Riis Hansen, film producer (Denmark); Yolanda Barrasa, screenwriter, script consultant and teacher (Spain); Andrés Bayona, director of the Bogotá International Film Festival (Colombia) and Paulo Roberto Carvalho , artistic director of Cine Latino, producer and teacher (Germany) will tutor the participants again this year.
 
As Yolanda Barrasa points out, in this creative campus “you learn to define, deepen and establish each author's own discourse. Also to trust their voice and to accept mistakes as part of the creative process”. She highlights Málaga Talent as a means to combat the participants’ creative block: “young people share, are accompanied, valued and respected, watch movies, read scripts, gain contact with the industry, listen to others. Talents spread energy and creativity to each other”.
 
The young participants will take part in talks, masterclasses and networking activities to acquire tools that help them create new networks and grow professionally. They will be able to get closer to the work of outstanding creators thanks to the masterclasses offered during the Festival, by filmmaker Juan Antonio Espigares and renowned screenwriter Lola Salvador, winner of the Ricardo Franco - Film Academy Award in 2025, among others. 
 
Proof of the programme's success is the trajectory of its participants, many of whom have already joined the industry. Ana de Alva, a young director from Malaga, stands out; she premiered her first feature film Voy a Pasármelo Bien in July 2025. Additionally, some of those selected this year have already competed at Festival de Málaga:  Manolo Orellana and Olga Navalón participated with En Toronto no pasan estas cosas (2025) and Que me alimente (2023), both in the Short Films Official Competition. 
 
In the current edition of the Festival, the alumni Berta García Lacht is competing in the Official Competition with her documentary La vida es Verdi; Sofía Meza is participating in Warmi Lab; Gabriel Montiel is present in the MAFF section with the project Temppanos; and Eline Marx is taking part in Extremlab.
Panama, Country of Honour of the Festival de Málaga, will be represented by Ana Laura Samaniego, a 26-year-old Panamanian audiovisual director and producer.  
 
Málaga Talent 2026 Participants

Ismael Ahlamine (Morocco), Camilo Argimón (Uruguay), Alfonso and Manuel Bernal (Spain), Santiago Caballero (Colombia), María Clavero (Spain), Patricia Conor (Spain), Sidjonathas dos Santos Araújo (Brazil), Juana González Posse (Argentina), Sara Granés (Spain), Matheus Malburg (Brazil), Jesús Pascual (Spain), Santiago Pereira (Spain), Lorenzo Rincón (France), Lina Ruíz (Colombia), Ana Samaniego (Panama), Ismael Sordo (Spain), Malena Suárez (Argentina), Mar Vicente (Spain), Belén Villegas (Bolivia) and Nika Zhukova (Dominican Republic)
 
Málaga Talent has the collaboration of:
 
Abycine, ACAU (Uruguayan Film and Audiovisual Agency), BIFF (Bogotá International Film Festival), Cantabria Film Commission, FIC.UBA (University of Buenos Aires International Film Festival), ICA (Institute of Cultural Industries and the Arts), DGCINE (Directorate General of Cinema Dominican Republic), ECAM (School of Cinematography and Audiovisual of the Region of Madrid), Project Paradiso, Atlántida Mallorca Film Fest, REC Lab (Tarragona International Film Festival), Encuentros Biobiocine, Ventana Sur and official sponsorship by Make & Mark.