Spain’s ECAM Forum, the fast-building Madrid business occasion which in simply two editions has positioned itself as one of many nation’s key launchpads for auteur cinema and worldwide co-production, has unveiled the primary main venture lineup for its third version, operating June Sept. 11, 2026, at Madrid’s Matadero.
Organized by Madrid’s prestigious ECAM movie faculty, the Discussion board returns at a second when Spanish cinema’s international profile continues to be partly pushed by the identical forces that the occasion is designed to foster: rising and mid-career auteurs, nimble impartial producers and cross-border alliances linking Spain with Europe, Latin America and, more and more, the Center East.
This 12 months’s first introduced choice spans the Discussion board’s two headline strands: Final Push, devoted to movies in post-production, and Movies to Come, geared toward function initiatives in growth in search of financing, co-production and worldwide positioning. In all, 204 initiatives have been submitted to Movies to Come and 86 to Final Push, underlining the occasion’s rising pull past Spain.
The 2026 lineup additionally marks an additional broadening of ECAM Discussion board’s worldwide remit. Chosen initiatives hail from, or join, Spain, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Greece, Brazil, Argentina, France, Germany and Palestine, amongst others. The result’s a slate that reads much less as a nationwide showcase than as a gathering level for manufacturing fashions, sensibilities and markets.
Lots of final 12 months’s alumni pushed on to success with Ion De Sosa’s “Balearic” hitting Locarno, “Milk Teeth” from Mihai Mincan enjoying Venice and “Aro berria” by Irati Gorostidi reaching San Sebastian.
The Final Push part expands this 12 months to 10 titles and features a €15,000 ($17.7 million) award, granted by an impartial jury to the producer of the successful movie. Its choice options new work by outstanding Latin American filmmakers equivalent to María Aparicio, Federico Luis, Paz Fábrega and Neto Villalobos Brenes, the function debut of Swiss artists Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier, and upcoming Spanish initiatives by Marc Ferrer, Eloy Enciso, Sebastián Uría and Helena Girón and Samuel Delgado.
Movies to Come, in the meantime, gathers 15 initiatives, together with 5 from ECAM’s La Incubadora, three rising from collaborations with BAM Bogotá, MAFIZ and Abycine, and 7 chosen by the open name. Throughout each sections, the Discussion board highlights a cinema of political cost and poetic drift, with Spanish historic myths, ghosts, heists, love tales, friendship tales and a placing vein of comedy and darkish humor all in play.
Final Push
“Farewell Rivers” (“Adiós, ríos”), Sebastián Uría, Spain
Sebastián Uría’s Galician-language drama “Farewell, Rivers,” produced by Gael Herrera at Tamboura Movies, is about in Galicia’s Ancares mountains, the place sickness, age and rural abandonment reshape fragile lives. As Luis, weakened by most cancers, can not have a tendency his horses, an aged couple face removing to the town, whereas forest rangers observe each human departures and a wandering she-bear.
“The Indies” (“Les Indies”), Pauline Julier, Nicolas Chapoulier, Switzerland-Spain
Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier’s “The Indies,” produced by Alina Movie and Lastor Media (“Alcarràs”), is a historic environmental drama set in a Europe riven by conflict and rebellion. Two French troopers carry the Infanta of Spain’s portrait to younger Louis XIV, joined by Alejandro, a Spanish nobleman enthralled by science, colonization and the New World’s guarantees.
“To the Future” (“Al futuro”), Paz Fábrega, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Spain
Balancing motherhood, monetary strain and artistic urgency, Fábrega turns the digital camera on her personal life in a hybrid exploration of fiction and documentary. Produced by Costa Rica’s Temporal Movies alongside La Mayor Cine (Uruguay) and Edna Cinema (Spain), it builds on the corporate’s internationally acknowledged slate, together with Rotterdam Tiger prizewinner “Agua fría de mar,” “Viaje” and “Medea.” Co-producer Carla Sospedra describes it as “an intensely personal project in which Paz Fábrega not only directs but also appears on-screen alongside her children. Her tender yet uncompromisingly realistic gaze, filming her own life and assuming emotional and formal risks, results in a unique hybrid format …underscoring the film’s artistic ambition and emotional authenticity.” AM
“Love Is The Monster” (“Amor es el monstruo”), Neto Villalobos, Costa Rica-Peru-Panama-Chile
Neto Villalobos’ movie boarded by Mexico’s Liminal Estudio, activates a 70-year-old grandmother, performed by Paulina García, going through the top of life. Set in a tropical dystopia, the Costa Rica-led co-production seems to be set to mix household disaster and social unease and measure what persons are wiling to do in tghe title of affection. Produced by La Sucia Centroamericana, Clara Movies, Cine Infinito and Expansiva Cine.
“Cinemanía” — Marc Ferrer, Spain
Marc Ferrer’s satirical comedy follows Marcos, a 40-year-old filmmaker unable to dwell from his work and caught in an unequal relationship with Álex, 22. Round him, siblings, lovers and buddies face CIA threats, tourist-rental anxieties, drug-dealing producers, secret need and lottery desires in a choral portrait of affection, household and pissed off escape.
“The Fortunate Isles” (“Las islas afortunadas”), Helena Girón and Samuel Delgado, Spain-Greece
Helena Girón and Samuel Delgado’s “Las islas afortunadas” travels to the Canary Islands after the Fifteenth-century conquest. Its central determine is Fátima, enslaved by Don Gaspar, a blind, alcoholic marquis who controls the island’s freshwater nicely. Produced by El Viaje, Asterisk* and La Banda Negra, it guarantees a stark historic drama of domination, drought and revolt from administrators to trace Girón and Delgado.
“The Nights” (“Las noches”), Ana Bovino, Argentina
Ana Bovino’s “The Nights,” produced by Natalia de la Vega at Navega Cine, is a drama-comedy biography pitched between documentary and fable. Impressed by Scheherazade, it follows La Pichi, a born storyteller from the outskirts of Buenos Aires, who transforms a life lived on the margins right into a cinematic guide of nights, wit, tenderness and shared dignity.
“Endless Prison” (“Todo es cárcel”), Eloy Enciso, Spain
Eloy Enciso’s “Todo es cárcel” confronts Francoist focus camps, ranging from the ultimate days of Spain’s Civil Battle at Alicante’s port. The movie crosses websites the place camps as soon as stood, setting them towards diaries, memoirs and letters by prisoners. Produced by Filmika Galaika and Umbracle Cine, it extends Enciso’s politically charged engagement with reminiscence and Spanish historical past.
“Pehuen’s Birthday In Spain” (“El cumpleaños de Pehuen en España”), Federico Luis, Argentina
Federico Luis’ “El cumpleaños de Pehuen en España,” produced by Jerónimo Quevedo at Un Puma, follows Pehuén Pedre, approaching 35, after his mom leaves for Málaga and he enters a public shelter. Solid in a Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prix-winning movie, he travels to San Sebastián, then asks Luis to accompany him to Spain to attempt to see her once more. The most recent from Luis, a Cannes 2024 Critics’ Week Grand Prix winner for “Simon of the Mountain.”
“Undefined Things II” (“Las cosas indefinidas II”) — María Aparicio, Argentina
María Aparicio’s dramedy “Las cosas indefinidas II,” produced by Ana María Apontes, Rodrigo Guerrero and Ramiro Sonzini, follows Eva, a filmmaker adrift in Madrid after her brief screens at a French competition. Alone, disinclined to fulfill strangers, she drifts by an unfamiliar metropolis till Dante, an Argentine historian researching Juan Bialet Massé, approaches her on the Reina Sofía.
Movies to Come
“Copy” (“El Participio Del Verbo Oir”), Miguel Machetti, Spain
Miguel Machetti’s “Copy,” a Spanish thriller-dramatic comedy with LGBT+ components, follows Ramón, a younger assistant director employed on the comeback movie of Camille de Valois, a world-famous French actress accused of murdering a co-star 20 years earlier. Produced by Gelatina Películas, the €2 million ($2.4 million) venture explores heartbreak, cinephile obsession and the lure of self-destruction.
“The Imaginary Kings” (“Os Reis Imaxinarios”), Ireland Cid, Spain
Ireland Cid’s Galician-Spanish coming-of-age drama “The Imaginary Kings” follows Impolite, a tattooed, anxious teenager in a working-class Vigo neighborhood, mourning a buddy’s loss of life amid lure, playing and fights. Falling for Valeria provides escape however threatens the delicate masculinity, peer loyalty and privileges that outline him. Produced by Bea Villar at Brava, the venture marks Cid’s function debut.
“Wandering Little Dove” (“Palomita Errante”), Enrique Buleo, Spain
Enrique Buleo’s dramatic comedy with fantasy and horror components, follows Doriluz, an Ecuadorian girl enjoying “The Exorcist” lady at a second-rate amusement park, upsetting laughter relatively than concern. Caught in an unfinished housing growth and empty routines, she tries to seek out her life’s objective, solely to fulfill life’s discreet cruelty. Produced by Cabiria Movie Media.
“Chentian” — Suha Arraf, Palestine-Germany
Suha Arraf’s “Chentian,” produced by Could Odeh’s Mayana Movies, follows sisters-in-law Nabila and Shams as they confront betrayal, energy and survival whereas males disappear. Selection beforehand reported the Palestine-Germany venture received Göteborg’s Tint Submit-Manufacturing Award, marking one other worldwide increase for Arraf, greatest referred to as the author of “Lemon Tree” and “The Syrian Bride.”
“The Woodworm” (“El corquim”), Laura Obradors, Spain
Laura Obradors’ drama facilities on Ricard, a painter in artistic disaster, who hosts Cecilia, a French alternate scholar, in hopes of bettering his 16-year-old daughter Clara’s faculty efficiency. Cecilia’s arrival steadily upends the household’s routines. Produced by Sergio Adrià’s Espurna Movies, the venture comes backed by Cine Qua Non Lab and Catalan authorities ICEC agebcy growth assist.
“Handen” — Ángel Filgueira, Spain
Ángel Filgueira’s story follows a Galician author who heads to the Netherlands to work on a vegetable farm. There, migrant labor, financial want and repressed need collide, particularly by his uneasy bond with Arvydas, a Czech co-worker whose open homophobia masks darker tensions. Produced by Sétima, “Handen” received the Ventura Award in 2025.
“The Bastard Daughter” (“La hija bastarda”), Olivia Delcán, Spain
Olivia Delcán’s function debut is led by Nora Navas (“Libertad”), the two-time Goya winner and San Sebastián greatest actress laureate. A tragicomedy, it follows a 56-year-old girl on a Spanish Mediterranean island whose mom’s loss of life pushes her to query her life, her daughter and her personal exhaustion. Produced by Solita Movies and Sumendi Filmak.
“The Unmoving Hands” (“Las Manos Quietas”), — Víctor Diago, Spain
Víctor Diago’s fantasy-horror LGBT function produced by Diacrònic and Boogaloo Movies, follows Hakim, who lures younger males to the Physician’s home, the place need is granted at the price of their our bodies and very important power. When he falls for Bilal, a brand new sufferer, escape beckons, however Hakim hides the identical darkish reward as his masters.
“Magnetic Animals” (“Les animaux magnétiques”), Gala Hernández López, France-Spain
Gala Hernández López’s hyperlinks near-future Berlin and France in 1786. Hedda, a bat bioacoustics researcher, is pressured by a pro-natalist regime; Berthe, an aristocrat, is subjected to animal-magnetism remedies for infertility. Produced by New Sight and Caos Dept, the primary function explores motherhood, patriarchy, colonial domination and transhistorical feminine inheritance.
“Our Raised Skin” (“Nuestra piel levantada”), Paolo Natale, Spain
Paolo Natale’s movie is an autofictional documentary inquiry into masculinity, our bodies and inheritance. Paolo units out to find who his Italian trucker father actually is, turning additionally to his grandfather Antonio. The three males share household traits, together with an consuming dysfunction that solely Paolo acknowledges. Produced by Manuela Gutiérrez Arrieta and Mubox Studio.
“The Garden of Delights” (“O Jardim das Delícias”), Rafaela Camelo, Brazil
Rafaela Camelo’s “The Garden of Delights,” produced by Moveo Filmes and Apoteótica Cinematográfica, activates Débora and Roberta, a younger couple whose rented home begins secreting honey at any time when Débora orgasms. Utilized in pastries, it unleashes need and energy in whoever consumes it. As a misplaced little one seems and the home reveals itself as a residing organism, drama, horror and queer need collide.
“The Phantom Plot” (“La trama fantasma”), Nicolás Schujman, Argentina)
Nicolás Schujman’s fantastical horror comedy “La trama fantasma,” produced by Ingrid Pokropek at 36 Caballos, follows Bernardo, a Buenos Aires theater actor who freezes throughout his first Macbeth lead, speaks Yiddish and collapses. Recognized by an esoteric rabbi as possessed by his father’s dybbuk, Bernardo should exorcise the spirit and face maturity.
“The Noise of Long Distances” (“El ruido de las largas distancias”), Leinad Pájaro de la Hoz, Colombia
Leinad Pájaro de la Hoz’s “El ruido de las largas distancias” follows Leticia, a solitary aged girl within the Colombian Caribbean, who learns that Saúl, her son lacking for greater than 20 years, has been discovered close to the Magdalena River remodeled right into a caiman. Her journey to reunite with him opens onto a previous story of affection and tragedy.
“African Grey” — Yorgos Goussis, Greece-Bulgaria
Yorgos Goussis’ drama-comedy “African Grey,” produced by ΠLANKTON and Portokal Movies, follows a grieving locksmith who discovers a parrot similar to his misplaced hen whereas opening a useless man’s hidden protected. A homicide, a stolen brooch and a vanished parrot draw him right into a scheme preying on the lonely, in Goussis’ follow-up to Greece’s Oscar submission for brief “Magnetic Fields.”
“Snow Country” (“País De Nieve”), Víctor Iriarte, Spain-France
Víctor Iriarte’s Spain-France sci-fi drama “Snow Country,” produced by Inicia Movies (“20,000 Species of Bees”) and 4A4 Productions, follows a Japanese migrant household in Uruguay cut up between custom, expertise and displacement. When disaster sends Johnny to Japan, he drifts by Tokyo, encounters a robotic double of his girlfriend and journeys to Yuzawa’s “Snow Country,” whereas his sister imagines a narrative past actuality.
