Seville European Film Festival opens with Viva Carmen! and a 17-film competition

The 23rd Seville European Film Festival will run from 6 to 14 November 2026, opening with Sébastien Laudenbach’s animated feature ¡Viva Carmen! and fielding a 17-film Official Section, according to the festival’s section pages and Screen Daily’s 4 November round-up. Honorary Giraldillo awards go to Agnieszka Holland, Cannes general delegate Thierry Frémaux and Cartoon Saloon’s Nora Twomey and Paul Young.

Key facts

• Dates: 6–14 November 2026 in Seville; FRAME industry strand 7–13 November
• Opener: ¡Viva Carmen! by Sébastien Laudenbach (European Film Academy Selection); 17-film Official Section for the Giraldillo de Oro
• Competition jury: Howard A. Rodman (chair), José Luis Rebordinos, Lisa Marie Russo, Denise O’Dell, Miguel Ángel Vivas
• Honorary Giraldillos: Agnieszka Holland; Thierry Frémaux; Nora Twomey and Paul Young (Cartoon Saloon)
• Ínsula screenplay market: 58 projects; 66 Andalusian productions across the festival

Official Section (full list)

Titles, directors and countries follow the festival’s Official Section page. English titles follow Screen where they differ; Spanish and original titles are kept where the festival lists them.

Competition (17)

1. 3 Weeks After, Miroslav Terzić (Serbia/Bulgaria/Italy/Croatia/Luxembourg) 2. A Long Winter, Andrew Haigh (UK/Canada) 3. Adult Supervision, Alex Schulman (Sweden) 4. Black Money for White Nights, Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (Bulgaria/Greece) 5. Blaise, Dimitri Planchon and Jean-Paul Guigue (France) 6. Casa en Ruinas (Falling House), Mohsen Gharaei (Iran/US/Germany) 7. Children of the Monkey, Tommaso Landucci (Italy) 8. El Director, Dani de la Orden (Spain) 9. Elephants in the Fog, Abinash Bikram Shah (Nepal/Germany/Brazil/France/Norway) 10. La desconocida (L’Inconnue / The Unknown), Arthur Harari (France/Italy) 11. Lemonade, Kim Bartley (Ireland/UK) 12. Palabras de amor (Quelques mots d’amour), Rudi Rosenberg (France) 13. Sin expectativas (Lave forventninger / Low Expectations), Eivind Landsvik (Norway) 14. Taranta, Samuel Nacar (Spain) 15. The Idiot(s), Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert (Poland/Germany/Monaco) 16. Tralovento, Eloy Domínguez Serén (Spain/Greece/Portugal) 17. You Don’t Belong Here, Florin Şerban (Romania)

Out of competition

1. All About Corinne, Marc Fitoussi (France) – also in the European Film Academy Selection 2. Anguita. El hombre de los tres siglos, Hugo Cabezas (Spain) 3. Once Upon a Time in a Cinema, David Gleeson (Ireland/Germany)

Screen’s 4 November round-up described El Director and Taranta as world premieres “beyond” the international competition; the festival’s Official Section page lists both among the 17 competition titles, and that listing is used here.

Opener, juries and honorary awards

¡Viva Carmen! reworks Bizet’s opera as animation set in 1840s Seville and arrives via a partnership with the Seville Opera Festival, the festival’s September English announcement said (working title Carmen, l’oiseau rebelle). Screen says Laudenbach and French actress-singer Camélia will attend the opening. On the festival site the film sits in the European Film Academy Selection.

Screen names Howard A. Rodman, former Writers Guild of America West president, as competition jury chair, with outgoing San Sebastián director José Luis Rebordinos, UK documentary producer Lisa Marie Russo, producer Denise O’Dell and Spanish director Miguel Ángel Vivas. Cineuropa on 4 November separately covered Frémaux’s Giraldillo de Honor and the jury slate.

Cartoon Saloon’s honorary award is the first the festival has given to an animation studio, per the September festival release, which also noted Ireland’s EU Council presidency partnership and the studio’s Oscar-nominated features including The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner and Wolfwalkers.

European Film Academy Selection (full list)

From the festival’s European Film Academy Selection page:

1. ¡Viva Carmen!, Sébastien Laudenbach (France) – opener 2. All About Corinne, Marc Fitoussi (France) 3. Cartas de estado (Yellow Letters), İlker Çatak (France/Germany/Turkey) 4. Coward, Lukas Dhont (Belgium/France/Netherlands) 5. Everytime, Sandra Wollner (Austria/Germany) 6. Fatherland, Paweł Pawlikowski (Poland/Italy/Germany/France) 7. Fjord, Cristian Mungiu (Romania/France/Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Finland) 8. I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming, Isabelle Stever (Germany/Ukraine) 9. La bola negra, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (Spain/France) 10. La Gradiva, Marine Atlan (France/Italy) 11. La violinista (The Violinist), Ervin Han and Raúl García (Spain/Singapore/Italy) 12. Rose, Markus Schleinzer (Austria/Germany/France) 13. The Spiral, Paolo Strippoli (Italy/France/Belgium)

Rampa (full list)

First and second features, from the festival’s Rampa page:

1. Animol, Ashley Walters (UK) 2. Balcanica, Nicola Sorcinelli (Italy/Serbia/Croatia) 3. California Schemin’, James McAvoy (UK/US) 4. Eklipse, Manuel Wetscher (Austria/Italy) 5. House of the Wind, Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu (Cameroon/France/Belgium/Benin/Saudi Arabia/Qatar) 6. I Understand Your Displeasure, Kilian Armando Friedrich (Germany) 7. In Waves, Phuong Mai Nguyen (France/Belgium) 8. Lover, Not a Fighter (Milovník, nie bojovník), Martina Buchelová (Slovakia/Czech Republic) 9. Marie Madeleine, Gessica Généus (France/Haiti/Belgium/Luxembourg/Canada) 10. Marvelous Mornings, Avril Besson (France/US) 11. Petty Thieves, Mate Ugrin (Croatia/France/Germany/Serbia) 12. Red Code Blue, Oskars Rupenheits (Latvia) 13. Shana, Lila Pinell (France) 14. Skateboarding Is Not for Girls, Dina Duma (North Macedonia/Belgium/Slovenia/Croatia) 15. Summer Meadow, Naël Khleifi and Lisa Debauche (Belgium/France) 16. The Color of the Sun, Xavier Tera (Canada/Italy/Japan) 17. Where Giants Sleep, Arthur Michel (Albania)

Embrujo (full list)

From the festival’s Embrujo page:

1. Bailar la muerte, Luis E. Parés (Spain/Colombia) 2. Balaton, Balázs Szövényi-Lux (Hungary) 3. Guria, Levan Koguashvili (Georgia) 4. Hugo, Pascal Bonitzer (France) 5. I Saw a ‘Suno’, Katalin Bársony (Hungary) 6. If Pigeons Turned to Gold, Pepa Lubojacki (Czech Republic/Slovakia) 7. Ketticè, Giovanni Tortorici (Italy) 8. La muerte no tiene dueño, Jorge Thielen Armand (Venezuela/Canada/Italy/Luxembourg) 9. Monstro, Andrés Goteira (Spain) 10. Oasis, Jannis Lenz (Germany/Austria) 11. Revolutionaries Never Die, Mohanad Yaqubi (Palestine/Belgium/Qatar) 12. Roya, Mahnaz Mohammadi (Germany/Czech Republic/Luxembourg/Iran) 13. Safe Exit, Mohammed Hammad (Egypt/Germany/Qatar/Tunisia/Libya) 14. The Summer That Ended Twice, Matteo Incollu (Italy) 15. Ulya, Viesturs Kairišs (Latvia/Poland/Estonia/Lithuania) 16. Under a Bad Star, Lola Cambourieu and Yann Berlier (France)

Alumbramiento (full list)

Titles without Spanish distribution, from the festival’s Alumbramiento page:

1. A Man’s Skin, Léa Domenach (France) 2. Clanes de Dios, Tino de la Huerta (Spain) 3. Flood, Martin Gonda (Slovakia/Poland/Czech Republic/Belgium) 4. Four Minus Three (Vier Minus Drei), Adrian Goiginger (Austria/Germany) 5. I Matter, Alina Şerban (Romania/Germany/Belgium) 6. Muyi, Julien Chheng (France) 7. The Green Eyes, Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh (France/Belgium/Sweden) 8. Thirteen in Gaza, Hosam Abu Dan (Palestine)

Panorama Andaluz – features (full list)

From the festival’s Panorama Andaluz features page. Screen’s 15-feature tally is close; the festival page lists the following features (a paired 200 vidas. Paco Rabal / Juncal screening is also flagged on the page):

1. 200 vidas. Paco Rabal, Vanesa Benítez (Spain/France) 2. Acuérdate de mí, Remedios Malvárez (Spain) 3. Bajañí, Fernando Trueba (Spain) 4. Bernabé, la sonrisa del flamenco, Dany Ruz (Spain) 5. Caballero Bonald, fragmentos de navegante, Paula Romero (Spain/Colombia) 6. Como todo mortal, María Molina Peiró (Spain) 7. El abrazo de los peces (15 años después), Chema Rodríguez (Spain) 8. El pezón de Elena, Esteban Magaz (Spain) 9. La ventana abierta, Ana Graciani Fernández (Spain/US) 10. Naquerar, José Romero and Patricio Hidalgo (Spain) 11. Plus Ultra, Elías Pérez (Spain) 12. Rtva + Rito, Emilio Belmonte (Spain) 13. Salta la tapia, Mariano Agudo (Spain) 14. Todos los días domingo, Abrahám López Feria (Spain) 15. Un hombre en un puente (A Man on a Bridge), David Martín de los Santos (Spain/Peru)

Panorama Andaluz – shorts (full list)

From the festival’s Panorama Andaluz shorts page (including page 2):

1. Así son, Rebeca Márquez (Spain) 2. Avera Glase: Otras voces, Ainhoa Carnicero (Spain) 3. Beauty, Eduardo Muñoz and José del Corral (Spain) 4. Centrifuga, Elena de Aras (Spain) 5. Educación física obligatoria, Pablo Porcuna (Spain/Switzerland) 6. El ensayo, Carmen Ayala Marín and Alberto Martín Menacho (Spain/Switzerland) 7. El valle, Javi del Estal and Quique Hidalgo (Spain) 8. Epifanía, Chiqui Carabante (Spain) 9. Influyencers, Thomas Barrera Howarth (Spain) 10. Inquilinos, Adrián Ordóñez (Spain) 11. Junio, julio, Alfonso Villanueva García (Spain) 12. La hora escrita, Coke Arijo (Spain) 13. La lucha de los tontos, María Koselig (Spain) 14. Las malas, Elisa Moreno (Spain) 15. Me quedo aquí, Javier Barbero Montes (Spain) 16. Noche de amor desesperada, Jesús Pascual (Spain) 17. OAO, Rocío Mesa (Spain) 18. Pedanía, David Sainz (Spain) 19. Por las venas, Sebastián Haro and Beatriz Rojas (Spain) 20. Que me alimente, Olga Navalón and Bea Hohenleiter (Spain) 21. Rreina, Rosendo M. Diezma (Spain) 22. Sequidivú, Paula Román (Spain) 23. stellzz2000, Rosendo M. Diezma (Spain/UK) 24. Tiempo prestado, Paco Ortiz (Spain) 25. Un ángel para Maruja, Elisa Manzano and José Luis Pineda (Spain) 26. Un ruido azul, Rafael Martínez Calle (Spain) 27. ¿Qué comen los dragones?, Álvaro León (Spain)

Special Screenings (full list)

From the festival’s Special Screenings pages. Package headers that only group other listed titles are omitted; individual titles are kept:

1. Back in Time!, Manuel Bellido and Sigfrid Monleón (Spain) 2. Batrachian’s Ballad, Leonor Teles (Portugal) 3. Blanca Manchón, contra viento y marea, José Luis Hdez. Arango (Spain) 4. Califato 3/4: Bale el êffuerço que emo exo, Dani Llamas and Silvia Moreno (Spain) 5. Carta Blanca, Gerardo Herrero (Spain) 6. Chavo, Alecio Araci (Sweden) 7. Clint Spain Connection, Víctor Matellano (Spain) 8. Cuántica Rave, Paco L. Campano (Spain) 9. Edgar Neville. El español que vino de Hollywood, José del Río (Spain/Argentina) 10. El Confidente, Daniel Calparsoro (Spain/France) 11. El hombre que siembra árboles, César Fernández-Ramos (Spain) 12. Est deus in nobis, Olivia Ramírez de Haro (Spain) 13. Fútbol en tu mano: Mucho Betis, Uroš Popović (Serbia) 14. Julián, Louise Bagnall (Ireland/Luxembourg/Canada/Denmark) 15. Juncal. Episodio 1, Jaime de Armiñán (Spain) 16. La casa de mis abuelos, Simon Verhoeven (Germany) 17. La maravilla que se muerde la cola, Manuel Correa (Spain) 18. La planta que pinta, Margarita Morales (Spain) 19. La Priora, Jaime Daza Lucena (Spain) 20. Las 3.000 maravillas, Carmen Perona Cabrera (Spain) 21. Le llamaban J.R., Francisco Lara Polop (Spain) 22. Los Pericet. Familia de bailarines y maestros, Vladimir Ráez and Fali Álvarez (Spain) 23. Maestros del arte. Episodios 1 y 2, Lola Álvarez (Spain) 24. Magna, el alma de Sevilla, Miguel Ángel Fernández (Spain) 25. Nadie, Mario L. Fajardo (Spain) 26. Nadie escuchó el Portal 23, Tino de la Huerta (Spain) 27. Recuerdo de Nonio Parejo: 28-F Andalucía, Nonio Parejo (Spain) 28. Recuerdo de Nonio Parejo: El regreso, Nonio Parejo (Spain) 29. Sevilla FC hasta la muerte, Andrés Torres Rubio (Spain) 30. Smooth the Edges, Charles Newland (UK) 31. The Chosen (Los elegidos), season 6 episodes 1–2, Dallas Jenkins (US; festival listing “Dajans Jenkins”) 32. Tu hijo, Miguel Ángel Vivas (Spain/France) 33. Un hijo, Nacho La Casa (Spain/Portugal) 34. We the Hispanos, José Luis López-Linares (Spain/US) 35. ¡A la melée!, Antonio Mejías Ortiz and Rocío Rodríguez Cruz (Spain)

The festival’s Nonio Parejo package text also cites Campos de Níjar (1984) alongside the two Parejo titles listed above.

Industry track

FRAME runs from 7 to 13 November. Screen reports the launch of Ínsula, a screenplay market offering 58 selected projects to producers in one-to-one meetings on 9 November, alongside European Film Promotion’s Future Frames shorts showcase and workshops on international casting and exporting Andalusian documentaries.

Our reading

For sales agents and Spanish buyers, Seville’s value this year is concentrated in the Official Section’s Oscar-submission titles (Adult Supervision, Elephants in the Fog) and the new Ínsula meetings rather than in volume claims. The next useful evidence is which Alumbramiento titles leave with Spanish distribution and whether Ínsula’s 58 projects produce announced attachments after 9 November.

Related FilmBunch festival coverage includes South Investors Week in Cádiz for 2027, La bola negra on Spain’s all-time Spanish box-office list, FilmFestival Cottbus and MedFilm in Rome. More under Festivals & Markets.

Sources

• Screen Daily, Seville European Film Festival 2026 programme round-up (4 November 2026; opener, 17-film competition, jury, strands, FRAME, Giraldillos)
• Seville European Film Festival, Official Section 2026 page (titles and credits)
• Seville European Film Festival, Official Section unveiled (28 September 2026; early slate, Cartoon Saloon honorary, Spanish strands)
• Cineuropa, The Seville European Film Festival honours Thierry Frémaux with the Giraldillo de Honor and announces its juries (4 November 2026)