Wednesday marks the quietest light day of the year and also the longest night. The Shortest Day is a yearly event that centers on celebrating short-format cinema through screenings. Viewers can experience this compact cinema, a format that typically appears at film festivals, now accessible online or in person in Elche and Benidorm.
This Spanish enterprise has run since 2013 and is led by the Spanish Short Film Coordinator. This edition invited support from autonomous communities that manage film catalogs or host audiovisual academies and schools, aiming to promote short cinema produced in each region.
This year an online program offers 24 hours of shorts via the site eldasmascorto.com and Vimeo. Interested participants can register on the platform, with a minimum donation of €1 requested at registration through PayPal so the event can elevate the work of its creators.
Entries include titles such as Alicante gàbia by Adem Aliaga Goya, a 2020 Goya winner, and One by Xavier Marco; R31 by Alex Cuellar and Rafael G. Sanchez; Ms. Mbuluf by Ben Fernandez; scratch by David Valero; Little Pig by Charlotte Pereda, Alongside selections like There Will Be Blondes and Monsters, Stanbrook by Oscar Berner from Valencia, among others.
In total, 66 short films are distributed across twelve episodes. The lineup features categories like Homage to Roberto Pérez Toledo, Short to Feature, Hero Woman, Child Audience (7 years and older), Secondary Audience, Young Audience, Fiction Shorts, Documentary, Animation, Comedy, Author, and Horror and Fantasy.
24 short films on Elche
This edition sees collaboration from the Akdeniz Foundation and the Elche International Independent Film Festival, presenting a six-hour marathon with predictions for December 21. The event runs from 20:00 to 02:00 the next day at the culture class, next to the foundation’s ticket office, Gran Teatro de Elche. Entry is free but capacity is limited.
The festival introduces a true six-hour marathon with two intermissions and basic catering every two hours to recapture the spirit of night and morning screenings popular in the 80s and 90s, sometimes referred to as late-night sessions.
- farukas / lan De la rosa / Fundación Mediterráneo Award for Best Editing Short Film
- 57 days / Mario Lumbreras and Laura Brasero / Mediterranean Foundation Best Short Documentary Film Award
- rapid decline / Gonzalo Quincoces / Elche City Council Award for Best Editing Short Film
- Health / Nuria Gebeli, Diego Véliz and José J. Castro / Best Short Documentary Film
- Navozande, musician / Reza Riahl / Best Animated Short Film
- delivery / Doğuş Özokutan / Best International Short Film
- Space Frankie / david valero / Berlanga Award for Best Short Film
- king of flowers / Albeto Velasco / Best New Writer Short Film
- dogs bark / Sergio Serrano / Best Short Film Valencian Ensemble
- neighbour / Paco León / Best Smartphone Short Film
- calf / Lucia Forner / Hort del Xocolater Audience Award
- thorns/ lván Sáinz-Pardo / Mediterranean Foundation Award for Best Fiction Short Film
- free fall / Emmanuel Tenenbaum / Ciutat d’Elx Award for Fiction Short Film
- Loop / Pablo Polledri / Best Animated Short Film
- mirages/ Alfonso Palazón Meseguer / Best Short Documentary Film
- suffrage/ Gianluca Zonta / Best European Short Film
- A passage of no return / José Gómez De Vargas / Best Ibero-American Short Film
- Fear / Angelo Moreno / Best Short Film Valencian Ensemble
- Useless / Raquel Guerrero / Best New Writer Short Film
- to the Dead Sea / Nahd Bashier / Best Smartphone Short Film
- Joselito / Marta and José Carlos Jiménez Revuelta / Hort del Xocolater Audience Award
- the story of all of us / ltxaso Díaz / Best Human Rights Short Film
- on the street / David Macian / Special Mention Best Human Rights Short
- Deaf / Nuria Muñoz-Ortín and Eva Libertad / CIMA Award for Best Filmmaker
Shorter in Benidorm
Skyline Benidorm Film Festival also joins the celebration with School Cinema Studio screenings that fit within its scope. Tickets are free until capacity is reached, and the lineup includes:
- application / Julian Merino
- how i love you / Fernando Garcia-Ruiz
- national pride / Victor Ruiz Junquera
- latex meows / Brian Rodriguez Cortinas
- blondes / Charlotte Pereda
Source
Shortest Day, a French short film initiative launched in 2011, inspired other nations to join beginning in 2012. Since its expansion, the event has reached 50 countries and continues to grow, with screenings across Europe and beyond.