SEMINCI Showcases Auteur Cinema Highlights of 2025 in “constellations” Section
The 70th edition of the Valladolid International Film Festival (SEMINCI) will feature a stellar lineup of auteur cinema in it’s “Constellations” section, bringing together award-winning works from major international festivals like cannes and Venice. Five titles will be showcased, wiht two also shortlisted for the European Film Academy Awards alongside 18 other films in the festival.
A key highlight is the frist Spanish screening of Jim jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, the Golden Lion winner at Venice. Jarmusch previously visited Valladolid in 1982 with his debut, Permanent Vacation. The new film offers an insightful look at family dynamics through three independent storylines set in the US, Dublin, and Paris.
Joachim Trier,a past SEMINCI Youth Award winner,returns with Sentimental Value,starring The Worst Person in the World’s Renate Reinsve. The Cannes Jury Prize winner explores themes of family, memory, and the restorative power of art and has been shortlisted for the European film awards.
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, a Cannes award winner for Best Director, Actor, and FIPRESCI prize, will also be presented. Filho returns to SEMINCI after Picture of Ghosts (awarded at Time of History in 2023) with a film addressing Brazil’s historical amnesia.
Adding to the selection is The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania, a Tunisian director and former SEMINCI Youth Award recipient. The film, which has garnered significant acclaim – including the Grand Jury Prize in Venice, seven other awards, and the San Sebastián audience Award – powerfully documents the conflict in Gaza and has been shortlisted by the European Film Academy.
SEMINCI will offer a unique pairing: alongside Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague,audiences can experiance the film that inspired it,Jean-Luc Godard’s iconic Breathless.
The Secret Agent
set in 1977, during the military dictatorship of General Ernesto Geisel, The Secret Agent introduces a technology expert (Wagner Moura, the star of Narcos) who returns to his hometown during Carnival week hoping to start over and reconnect with his son. Persecuted for political reasons by a group of regime hitmen, his escape through the streets becomes a spy story rather then a historical fresco. The filmmaker set himself the challenge of creating a relatable man, a classic hero, but also a non-violent one.
The Voice of Hind rajab. Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia, France, United States)
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (Youth Award at SEMINCI in 2017 for beauty and the Dogs) manages to give a voice to the voiceless by reconstructing real events with the sensitivity and commitment that characterise Ben Hania’s cinema. Throughout her career (two Oscar nominations for The Man who Sold His Skin and Four Daughters, screened at SEMINCI in 2023) a unique ability to address urgent social and political issues without losing sight of the humanity of her protagonists.