The week at a glance — every day of the 21st Marbella International Film Festival, 7–12 October 2026. Click any film or session for more.
Provisional and subject to change. Screening tickets are on the viewing schedule.
Wednesday 7 October
Registration
Screening
Screening
Thursday 8 October
Registration
Workshop
Fund Your Film
Screening
Screening
Screening
Friday 9 October
Registration
Panel
AI & Media Creation
Screening
Screening
Screening
Saturday 10 October
Registration
Workshop
Acting on Camera
Pitch session
Pitch Your Vision
Screening
Screening
Sunday 11 October
Registration
Open call
Reveal Your Talent
Workshop
Director’s Cut Masterclass
The translator
Milad shiri · Iran · 15 min
A translator caring for her Alzheimer's-stricken father-in-law loses him one day through a moment's negligence.
BROTHER-IN-LAW
SZYMON JAKUBOWSKI · POLAND · 104 min
A brutal present-day prologue, then ten years told in six immersive fifteen-minute mastershots: the escalating violence inside an “ordinary” Polish family. What begins as a hopeful wedding dissolves into a cycle of abuse, as Ewa hides her bruises through one family gathering after another and keeps shielding the man who causes them. When the violence finally becomes public, the family must face both the truth and a judicial system that lets the perpetrator prolong the fight indefinitely while his victims live in fear.
The Victorians
Dwight A. Gabbert · Netherlands · 75 min
As unsuspecting tourists flood the city of Amsterdam, a band of rogues lies in wait.
Priority Seat
Shaun Preece · Wales, United Kingdom · 3 min
On a cold, rain-soaked morning at a forgotten Welsh bus stop, a hostile hooded teenager and a frail elderly war veteran share a few silent minutes waiting for a bus that will not hurry. The sight of an old scar pulls the boy into a glimpse of the man the veteran once was, a soldier who gave everything for others on a distant shore. Confronted with the life behind that tired face, the boy is forced to see the man the world walks straight past, and in a final quiet act of grace he gives him the coat off his back. Priority Seat is a three minute drama about the heroes we overlook, adapted from a scene the director’s own father witnessed and carried for years.
The Inheritance Clause
Charles Henri Belleville (41 Blackford) · England · 15 min
A billionaire's heirs are flown to the Maldives to hear his will — only to find the dead man has set them a deadly game.
Something Pointless
Asa Bailey · United Kingdom · 14 min
When a bullied young boy discovers an older man quietly affixing painted eggshells to a forgotten brick wall in their neighbourhood, an unlikely friendship forms — and he begins to understand how even the smallest, “pointless” acts can leave behind something transformative and lasting.
Reunion
Maura Foley · Ireland · 13 min
Aoife and Jen travel home for a reunion, reminiscing on love, loss and life.
The Land We Fight For
Dimitri Nasennik · Estonia, Ukraine · 39 min
Two 67-year-old farmers from Ukraine and Estonia, former Soviet soldiers, volunteer for the Ukrainian army so their countries are never occupied again.
CHOICE
Naddine Madell · Canada · 16 min
A solitary priest wanders into a diner, where a waitress draws out the pact his father once made for his survival — now come due.
LONELY
Bobby Bosko Grubic · Croatia / USA · 19 min
In the twilight of a life marked by disappointment and regret, an old man discovers a flicker of hope through an unexpected friendship.
ENDLESS PLUM RAIN
ZHIXUAN LIU · CHINA · 19 min
Lin Xiaoyu earns her way out of a rural village through education, only to be slowly consumed by the city's demands and dependency.
MONDAY
Lisa Giles · USA · 7 min
In the final minutes before oxygen runs out, one exhausted scientist races to save humanity as the world ends.
Dobrina
Hannes Rall · Germany/Singapore · 5 min
Lotte Reiniger meets Sergio Leone in this award-laden animated short where desire burns as bright as the desert sun.
Comatogen
Igor Cobileanski · Romania · 104 min
Nurse Alina rekindles an old love with Pavel, who hires her son — until the boy steals €18,000 and money reshapes every bond.
The Last Dance
Leo WEN · China · 3 min
An AIGC nostalgic short film built on the visual language of Bradford Young's warm skin tones, Barry Jenkins' saturated golden palette, and Spike Lee's choreography of Black community gatherings. Structured on a dual-timeline single-thread design, the film moves between the present — a Black community Sunday gathering in the summer of 1955 — and flashbacks to 1905, when the protagonist and his wife were twenty: their first meeting, and their wedding beneath the stained glass of a small Black church. A seventy-year-old man sits at the edge of the dance, watching, while he himself does not move. Only when the sun has set and the crowd has gone home does he finally rise — and dance, alone, the last dance he owes her. The film does not dramatize grief; it stages the dignity of farewell. Joy is the surface, and the private ritual is a tender layer buried within the celebration. Core Innovations: 1. An inverted homage to the floating feather — Referencing Forrest Gump's opening feather but assigning it the opposite meaning: here the feather is not "the randomness of fate" but the embodiment of the departed wife, traveling across fifty years from her bridal veil in 1905 to his shoulder in 1955. 2. A metaphor driven by historical research — Based on the fact that American men did not wear wedding rings in 1905, the film builds a silent metaphor: the ring on the old man's finger was never his, but hers. A single thin gold band carries the full weight of "she is no longer here," with no dialogue at all. 3. One melody, three arrangements — The original OST "The Last One" presents the same theme in three forms — 1905 ragtime piano, 1955 soul-jazz, and 1955 stripped-down solo — anchoring temporal shifts in the audience's ear as "the same song wearing three faces."
Grid
Leo WEN · China · 2 min
An experimental AIGC short crafted in the distinct visual style of Wes Anderson.
Lonely Angling
FENG SHI · CHINA · 3 min
By a desolate lake at dusk, a lonely old man fishes alone — a spare, poetic meditation on loneliness, oblivion and fate.
LAST MEMORY
Ahmed Youssef · Egypt · 5 min
After a catastrophic accident, Daniel awakens inside an artificial memory built to give him one final perfect moment.
THE 18TH HOLE
Mike Ferrara · United States · 9 min
When a frustrated Florida husband, father and weekend golfer steals a mysterious black book from the library, he thinks he has found the secret to getting his chaotic life under control. But the book does not fix his problems. It feeds his wounded pride, turning one man’s petty suburban meltdown into something much darker. Think Clark Griswold with the Necronomicon.
VOID RESONANCE
Yu Zhao · China · 10 min
This short film follows three astronauts who board the Boroos, a mining ship lost for sixty years, on a deep‑space recovery mission. But they soon discover that the ship carries a mysterious substance from a forbidden zone. This substance magnifies human fears and desires, killing everyone who steps aboard. As supernatural events multiply, the entire crew perishes. The universe is a mirror that reflects our hidden selves—it is neither a beginning nor an end, but an unfathomable abyss within us that can never be filled. Writer, Director, Editor, Producer: Zhao Yu
A million thanks
Fernando Merinero · Spain · 87 min
A self-proclaimed “Founding Emperor” who built an empire on the beach — and founded the Intergalactic Fun Bank.
Lélek
Joseph Iyore · United Kingdom · 28 min
A seemingly innocent act of kindness sets off a chain of events that unearths a centuries-old tragedy, revealing an inexplicable connection between a struggling single mother and an immortal man haunted by the family he lost.
BEVERAGES
Adrian Morar & Moe Essa · United Kingdom · 22 min
When a simple intimidation job becomes a botched gunfight, four aspiring mobsters face their own incompetence — a stylish, self-aware crime comedy.
LET'S PRETEND I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU
DANIEL PRADILLA DE BEDOUT · SPAIN / USA · 19 min
A sommelier spends a weekend in the woods with a mysterious woman; their intimate escape is slowly disturbed by a past relationship.
Letters Of Love SHORT
Johan Wickholm · Gibraltar · 21 min
Spain, 1977: bright teenager Peter falls into a cartel's grip, until a mysterious girl's letters spark his fight to reclaim himself.
The Sands of Redemption
Antoni McMillan · United Kingdom · 45 min
An independent drama written, produced by and starring Aberdeen filmmaker Antoni McMillan.
Contrition
Marco Beyermann & Ben Keenan · United Kingdom · 13 min
In a volatile Northern Irish town, Damien is haunted by a childhood IRA hostage ordeal that tore his family apart.
BEFORE LOVE
BEDA DOCAMPO FEIJOO · SPAIN · 91 min
Two neighbouring couples; a powerful attraction sparks between a remarkable woman and her audacious neighbour.
Burial Permit
Hashem Aliakbari · Iran · 12 min
A mother dies. Her son, leaving Iran, faces unexpected challenges to bury her. Religious laws and government structures that have controlled women throughout their lives follow them even into death.
Til Death Do us Part
Charles Belleville (41 Blackford) · england · 14 min
In a quiet English village, an improbable run of dead husbands draws a detective to a roomful of unbothered widows.
The Last Sun
Orlando Charvetto and Nigel Canepa · Gibraltar · 29 min
In a future where the sun is blocked and humanity lives underground, Gibraltar holds the last light and a scientist fights to bring it back.
The Fall guys
Charles Belleville (41 Blackford) · United Kingdom · 16 min
Two weary hitmen on a job get tangled up with a group of unsuspecting weekend guests at a remote rental house.
Fund Your Film
A masterclass on financing your film — planning, tax incentives, co-productions, sales and investment.
AI & Media Creation
How artificial intelligence is reshaping every stage of film-making — script, production, marketing and visual effects. Live panels, AI film premieres, and networking with leading creatives.
Acting on Camera
A practical masterclass in acting for camera and in directing actors, with David Schaal and Alex Fidelski — natural on-screen performance, continuity across takes, and giving clear direction.
Pitch Your Vision
Your story. Their investment. Our stage. Selected film-makers present their projects to a panel of investors and producers and receive feedback in the room. Entries for 2026 are closed.
Reveal Your Talent
An open call for actors — put yourself forward, the festival selects, and selected candidates audition before the festival panel. Free to enter.
Director’s Cut Masterclass
“Shoot to Cut: the Director’s POV.” Actor-director Simon Reynolds on seeing the edit before you shoot — budget-conscious directing, staging and coverage, and deciding with the final cut in mind.