10/02/2026 - Students from Andalusia, Catalonia and Castile and León accessed feature films and short films free of charge thanks to an initiative by the film festivals grouped under Profestivales21 and Filmin

Ventana Cinéfila, the educational project that brings together the Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci), the Malaga Film Festival, the Seville European Film Festival, Huelva and Sitges under the Profestivales21 umbrella, in collaboration with the platform, production company and distributor Filmin, closes its sixth edition with figures that confirm its position as one of Spain’s leading film-education programmes for young audiences.

In 2025, the project’s free online screenings reached 319,587 primary, secondary and sixth-form students across 900 schools in Andalusia, Castile and León and Catalonia, with the participation of 1,727 registered teachers. Since its launch in 2020, Ventana Cinéfila has surpassed 1.5 million viewers and has programmed 39 feature films and 75 short films, organised into different age-appropriate programmes that offer a wide range of styles, formats and cinematic perspectives.

The programme aims to promote audiovisual literacy among young viewers through a carefully curated selection of international films, chosen collaboratively by the programmers of the participating festivals. The selection prioritises both cinematic quality and thematic and aesthetic suitability for each educational stage.

Each school receives teaching guides for every title, enabling teachers to enrich classroom discussions before and after viewing, and to work across subjects such as natural sciences, languages and art. The screenings are also accompanied by presentations from festival programmers, who offer insights into the films and highlight their value, enhancing the experience of curating festival content.

This sixth edition of Ventana Cinéfila offered seven feature films and two short-film programmes, with titles from various countries addressing themes such as identity, the environment and social relationships. The selection of feature films included the European films To Books and Women I Sing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: María Elorza and Marian Fer…
film profile] by María Elorza, Oink [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mascha Halberstad
film profile] by Mascha Halberstad, L'horizon [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Émilie Carpentier; Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Benoît Chieux and Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Filip Pošivač, alongside Las hijas by Kattia G. Zúñiga (Panama/Chile, 2023) and Radical by Christopher Zalla (United States/Mexico, 2023).

The 7th edition of Ventana Cinéfila will once again offer the Spanish educational community a carefully curated selection of films, available on Filmin from 15 October to 30 November 2026. Schools will be able to access the channel by requesting a viewing code through a form that will be published on the website of each participating festival. The application period will open on 15 September 2026.

Aimed exclusively at schools and free of charge, Ventana Cinéfila represents a firm commitment by five of Spain's most important film festivals to strengthening audiovisual education. At a time when image consumption is omnipresent in the daily lives of children and adolescents, this initiative provides tools for developing a critical and informed perspective, helping young people become active viewers capable of understanding and appreciating the language of cinema.

(Translated from Spanish)