23/06/2025 - The study of 133 events over the last three years concludes that they are the backbone of audiovisual culture, combining accessibility, innovation and diverse programming

A moment from the report's presentation

Film festivals are a key part of the Spanish cultural ecosystem and act as catalysts for talent and national dynamics as well as bringing creators, industry and public closer together. This is shown in the study presented at the Film Festivals Meeting held recently in Zaragoza, drawn up by Pantalla (Spanish State Federation of Film Festivals and Audiovisual Content) in collaboration with the ICAA: an updated picture of the industry based on the analysis of 133 festivals held in Spain, using data from the years 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The report's conclusions highlight that 81.96% of events are competitive, and that three out of four offer an audience award. They last for an average of 9.22 days, although 89.47% run activities throughout the year. The majority of these are supported by private non-profit organisations or cultural associations, with strong institutional backing.

Festivals show an average of 61.59 works per edition: 89.47% present fiction and 81.95% documentaries, while animation is present in 72.93%. 96.24% include short films, 71.42% feature films and 33.83% medium-length films. Festival programming is geographically diverse: 33.12% of works come from overseas, 21.78% are non-Spanish European, 32.08% are Spanish from other autonomous communities and 19.16% come from the region in which the event is held.

61.65% include world premieres, 75,93% include national premieres and 83.45% present regional premieres. Over 58% of screenings are free of charge, making them a tool for cultural democratisation. In-person attendance was close to 700,000 people, with an average of 5.262 attendees per festival. In addition, 33.08% offered an online version, with over three million viewers in 2024.

By age range, the key segments are between 25 and 45 years old, as well as the significant presence of children and young adults due to the educational sections. 19.12% of festivals are held in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 residents, 25.73% in locations with a population of between 20,000 and 100,000, 10.29% in intermediate municipalities and 44.85% in large cities. Furthermore, 34.58% of events are itinerant, thus extending their radius of action beyond the main site.

As shown in this report, the events are not just film screenings: the average number of parallel activities is 9.32 per festival, with more than 200,000 attendees. On a professional level, 71.42% of festivals offer industry-specific activities, with an average of 189 participants. Professional guests amount to 93.10 per festival: 85.28% from within Spain.

In terms of funding, 36.09% of Spanish festivals have a budget of less than €25,000, 15.78% between €25,000 and €50,000 and just 9.77% exceed €200,000. The average prize money for the awarding festivals is € 7,744.23. 55.29% of revenue comes from public sources, although the level of dependence varies: smaller festivals depend much more on public backing (up to 62.62% of the total cost9, while the ones with bigger budgets receive private income (sponsorship, ticket sales, donations...) can be up to 52.89%, There has been an upturn in revenue: from €881,904 in 2022 to €1,162.780 in 2024, although only 24.81 of these events sell tickets, which limits income for the organisation.

(Translated from Spanish)