For the Valladolid Film Week, the responsibility over the last decade and a half has rested with Javier Angulo, who has steered the festival through its recent era. He will preside over the jury of the Official Section, guiding deliberations as the festival in Alicante marks twenty years of activity with a refreshed outlook. Angulo, who concluded his term at the 67th edition, returns to the limelight as the visible chair of the main jury, standing alongside a distinguished panel that includes the screenwriter Gabriel Ochoa, producer Pilar Ruiz, and cultural manager Teresa Cebrián.
Judges for the Official Section will award seven feature films the Golden Tile for Best Film, accompanied by a prize of 3,000 euros. The Silver Tiles will recognize the best actress, best actor, best director, and best screenplay among the selected features. A separate Best Spanish Fiction Short Film prize will confer 1,000 euros and includes eligibility to compete at the upcoming Goya Awards in 2024.
Festival officials explained that Vincent Seva will oversee the presentation, confirming that the program will expand during the Alicante edition, which runs from June 3 to June 10. The announcement was made during a session at the Alicante Provincial Assembly, where the juries responsible for deciding the year’s winners were introduced and outlined for the next edition.
A new award has been added this year for the best documentary short film. The documentary jury will comprise professionals who lead other Valencian Community events, such as the artistic director of Mostra Valencia-Cinema del Mediterrani, Edward Guillot; the executive director of DocsValència International Documentary Film Festival, Nacho Navarro; and documentarian Eva Vizcarra, a director associated with Endora Audiovisual Productions, who is known for the film uncensored woman, one of the invited titles out of competition in this edition.
Once again, an international jury will be formed, featuring the director of the Master of Dramatic Art at the University of Alicante, John D. Sanderson, who will be joined by prominent film and television producer Adriano Squillante, a professor of Audiovisual Communications; Italian actor, conductor, and voice artist Adriano Squillante, who has previously participated in the competition.
The Mediterranien Short Film section, promoted by Casa Mediterráneo, will include jury members such as Alex Nestor, a bicultural actor (Irish and Iraqi) who grew up in Alicante; director, producer, and co-creator of Juno Media Julie Estel Soard; and the scriptwriter and artistic director of the Rome International Festival Film Corto, Robert Petrochi.
The Best LGBTI Short Film in competition will be assessed by a jury including Inigo Lanz, an Alicante-based illustrator and designer; Nevenka Rubio, an expert in advanced image and sound techniques; and Ximo Vaello, a fine arts graduate and visual artist. The Best Animated Short Film will be decided by a panel with more than twenty years of experience in the audiovisual sector, featuring Alberto Del Amo, an illustrator; Alex Rey, an illustrator and designer; and Isabel Morcillo, an animator and artist.
The jury responsible for presenting the Sergio Balseyro Award for Best Film will be chaired by critics including Gonzalo Eulogio, Antonio Sempere, and Augusto Francisco González as in the festival’s nineteenth edition. Seva expressed gratitude to the provincial institution for its support in this year’s special edition, during which around 100 short films and seven feature films will be screened in competition. A broad group of Alicante’s actors and actresses, alongside those linked to other festivals, will be invited to participate in events across the province. Culture representatives highlighted the festival’s two-decade contribution to positioning Alicante as a hub for national and international cinema.
Jurors Ana Lehtola and Augusto González encouraged audiences to enjoy the screenings and stressed the way most selections emphasize intimate, human-centered storytelling.