SEPTEMBER 8-12, 2025
OFFICIAL FEATURE FILM SECTION
Fiction, documentary, and animated feature films produced since January 1, 2019. National and international. Competing for the Melitón Award for Best Film, Best Performance, and the Melitón Award for Best Ibero-American Film.
JAVIER TOLENTINO
President of the Official Section Jury
A graduate in Information Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid, he studied Law at the University of Salamanca. He has directed some of the most charismatic news programs on radio (Siete días, Informe Abierto, La Jornada, El Ciempiés). He is the creator, founder, and director of El Otro Cine Posible (Radio 5), El Árbol de las Palabras (Radio Exterior de España), and El Séptimo Vicio (Radio 3); the latter, with seventeen years of presence on the cultural network of public radio, has earned him awards such as the Critics' Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Sebastian Film Festival, among others.
MAITE IRISO
Member of the Official Section Jury
A graduate in Labor Sciences and a Social Graduate, she is the Territorial Director of the Spanish Red Cross Employment Plan in Navarre. She works to integrate disadvantaged people, empowering and strengthening their employability to better position them for employment, regardless of their origin, gender, and/or age. She has extensive work experience managing various programs aimed at integrating migrants, people over 45, women, and young people. She was Deputy Director of Youth for the Government of Navarre, and served on juries for various artistic disciplines in the Navarre Young Artists Gathering program.
ALBERTO CAÑADA
Member of the Official Section Jury
Programming Director of the Filmoteca de Navarra. He holds a PhD in Communication from the University of Navarra. He is the author of the books Arrival and Implementation of the Cinematography in Navarre (1896-1930), Simón Blasco Salas: A Doctor from Estella in the World of Cinema (1885-1968), and Cinema in Pamplona During the Second Republic and the Civil War (1931-1939). A member of the translation team for the Larousse Dictionnaire du Cinéma, he has worked as a film critic for various media outlets and has served on a jury at several film festivals and competitions. He also worked in the Communications and Programming Department of the film exhibition company SAIDE from 1991 to 2011.
JAVIER GRUÑEIRO
Member of the Official Section Jury
Javier Gruñeiro is a filmmaker and one of the founders of the collective "Dispongo de Barcos." In his pieces, he explores the impact of the individual on the collective, and how the collective's reality is the result of its confrontation with the past. Javier has served as a jury member for DOCUMENTAMADRID 2018 (Best Photography Award - National Feature Film), among others. He is currently working on a collective feature film with Javier Rebollo and Noemi García Díaz, in which the introduction or application of obstructions conceptualizes a different view of The Night.
JOAQUÍN CALDERÓN
Member of the Official Section Jury
Director of the Navarra International Film Festival. He runs his own production company, Arquetipo Comunicación, with which he has produced Caminante, Sarasate El Rey del Violín, Arte Flamenco on Fire, and Basque Selfie. He also works for ELAMEDIA and is the director of La Residencia Navarra/LRN, a new film laboratory supported by the ICAA and soon to be launched.
OFFICIAL SHORT FILM SECTION
Fiction, documentary, and animated short films produced after January 1, 2019. National and international. They are eligible for the Melitón Award for Best Short Film, Best Performance in a Short Film, and the Melitón Award for Best Ibero-American Short Film.
PABLO ECHART
President of the Jury, Official Short Film Section
Full Professor at the University of Navarra, where he teaches scriptwriting and analysis for audiovisual fiction. Author of the book Romantic Comedy of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s (Cátedra, 2005). He has held a BBVA Foundation scholarship to write a feature film. He also provides script consulting for production companies and screenwriters.
SARA SEVILLA
Member of the Jury, Official Short Film Section
She holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the University of Navarra and a Master of Business Administration from the Chamber of Commerce of Navarra. She has worked at the INAAC Foundation (Institute of Audiovisual Arts and Cinematography) since 2011. Since 2014, she has been the Director of the Navarra Film Commission, an office for the development of the audiovisual sector in the region and attracting filming to the territory belonging to NICDO (Navarra Infrastructure for Culture, Sport and Leisure of the Government of Navarra). She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Spain Film Commission since 2018 and has participated as a jury in several film festivals and competitions. Since 2017, she has been a jury member for the Generazinema Grants (Department of Culture of the Government of Navarra).
AMAIA MERINO
Member of the Jury, Official Short Film Section
She studied acting at the Navarra Theater School (1987-1988), the Cristina Rota Acting School in Madrid (1989-1993), and the León Sierra Actors Studio in Quito (2009-2012).
At the age of twelve, she began her acting career and has appeared in films such as Akelarre and Tasio, by Montxo Armendáriz. She is the co-director, co-writer, co-producer, and editor of the feature-length documentary Asier ETA biok (Asier and I), a Spanish-Ecuadorian co-production that won the Irizar Award at the 2013 San Sebastián Film Festival, among other international awards, and has been commercially released in theaters in Spain, France, and Ecuador.
ÁLVARO GONZÁLEZ
Member of the Jury, Official Short Film Section
He holds a Diploma in Film Directing from ECAM (the School of Cinematography and Audiovisuals of the Community of Madrid), where he was tutored by Ana Díez, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, and Gracia Querejeta, and directed actors by Mariano Barroso and Jaime Chávarri. He has been working as a director in advertising and on TV series and programs for twenty years. He is a professor at the Faculty of Communication of the University of Navarra in the Bachelor's Degree in Audiovisual Communication, where he teaches Directing, Screenwriting, Film and TV Production, and Directing Actors and Acting. He is also a tutor for Final Degree Projects in Fiction, Animation, and TV Programs. He has directed three short films: El Cinéfilo, Casa Fouce, and Titan.
JOAQUÍN CALDERÓN
Member of the Jury, Official Short Film Section
Director of the Navarra International Film Festival. He runs his own production company, Arquetipo Comunicación, with which he has produced Caminante, Sarasate El Rey del Violín, Arte Flamenco on Fire, and Basque Selfie. He also works for ELAMEDIA and is the director of La Residencia Navarra/LRN, a new film laboratory supported by the ICAA and soon to be launched.
SPANISH SHORT SECTION
Spanish short films produced from 2022 onwards are nominated for the Melitón Award for Best Spanish Short Film.
MIRYAM GALLEGO
President of the Jury, Spanish Short Film Section
Actress born in Ourense. Graduated in Dramatic Arts from RESAD. Television work includes: Instinct, State Secrets, The Ministry of Time, Aguila Roja, and Journalists. In film, she has performed in Paradise (Mariana Chenillo), The Sleeping Voice (Benito Zambrano), and Contestant (Rodrigo Cortés). In theater, Numancia (J.L. García Pérez, CDN), King Lear (Gerardo Vera, CDN), Don Juan de Alcalá (Eduardo Vasco), and Arsenic Please (Gonzalo Suárez).
CAP Teaching Aptitude Course. Didactics of Artistic Expression. She has conducted workshops with Antonio Faba, Carla Matteini, Lourdes Ortiz, Mia Patterson, Luis Landero, Luca Aprea, Inés Ribadeneira, and Tomas Clement.
PAUL URKIJO
Member of the Jury, Spanish Short Film Section
Since he was very young he has been passionate about cinema, illustration, literature, and comics. With a predilection for the fantasy genre. Being a great fan of reading mythology and traditional tales. In 2008 he graduated in Fine Arts and professionally dedicates himself to audiovisual production, illustration and infographics. Thus he began to write and make his own fiction and animation short films. The short films he has written and directed have won 85 national and international awards and more than 400 selections around the world. In 2016 he wrote, produced and directed his first feature film entitled Errementari. Dar-Dar, his latest short film (2020) premiered at Sitges, obtaining the Silver Méliès.
ESTHER GARCÍA
Member of the Jury, Spanish Short Film Section
She began her career working as a production secretary on Pim, pam, pum... fuego (Pedro Olea, 1975) and the television series Curro Jiménez. She has subsequently worked with directors such as Álex de la Iglesia, Fernando Trueba, Fernando Colomo, Isabel Coixet, and Guillermo del Toro. On Matador (Pedro Almodóvar, 1986), she worked with the Almodóvar brothers and has since been part of the El Deseo team, producing all of Pedro Almodóvar's films. She has received seven Goyas: three for Best Production Management and four more as a producer. She won the 2018 National Film Award for her career spanning more than 30 years at the national and international level, becoming the first female producer to receive the award.
LOLA MAYO
Member of the Jury, Spanish Short Film Section
Screenwriter, producer, and film professor. She has directed documentaries for the Spanish National Television (TVE) program Documentos TV and has won the Queen Sofía Journalism Award. She teaches narrative at film schools and universities in Spain and Latin America, including the Carlos III University of Madrid, the ECAM (National Institute of Film Studies), the Madrid Film Institute, the Lusofona University of Lisbon, and Hamilton College in the United States. She directs the Feminist Documentary Creation Lab at the Francesca Bonnemaison Center in Barcelona. She is a programmer for the DocumentaMadrid and Alcine festivals. For three years, she coordinated the Documentary Film Chair at the San Antonio de los Baños Film School in Cuba and founded the Master's Program in Documentary Project Creation there. She is a producer and co-writer of many of director Javier Rebollo's works.
PILAR CASTRO
Member of the Jury, Spanish Short Film Section
Film, theater, and television actress. She won two Silver Biznagas at the Málaga Film Festival for the short films Test (2007) and El premio (2010). In 2010, she was nominated for a Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Gordos (2009). In her latest film, Ventajas de Viajar en Tren (Advantages of Traveling by Train), she was nominated for Best Actress at the Forqué Awards.
STUDENT FILMS SECTION
National and international short films produced in the academic field from January 1, 2018 onwards. They are eligible for the Melitón Award for Best Student Film.
EKHIÑE ETXEBERRÍA
President of the Student Films Section Jury
She graduated from ESCAC (Catalan School of Film and Audiovisuals) with a specialty in documentary directing and is a member of DOCMA (Spanish Documentary Film Association).
Her medium-length documentary Mikele, which premiered at DocumentaMadrid, was screened at national and international festivals, winning awards at several festivals, including DocumentaMadrid, Alcances, the Barcelona Human Rights Festival, the Pamplona Film and Women's Festival, and more. She is currently producing her next documentary.
She is currently training as an audiovisual curator at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE) film school in San Sebastián, where she is also part of a research group on the history of the San Sebastián Film Festival, Zinemaldia 70!
BELÉN GALINDO
Member of the Student Films Section Jury
A journalist for three decades, she is the Communications Manager for the La Información Group, where she also works as a reporter, host, and event organizer. She also provides the voice and soul of the Diario de Navarra podcast "Con voz propia" (With Her Own Voice) and was the driving force behind the newspaper's Reading Club, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. She worked as an editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press in Tennessee. Her writing career has led her to publish "People of Chattanooga," "Gente Op," and "Un blog para cruza el Océano." She participates in numerous cultural, social, and journalistic events, such as the NIFF, where she has collaborated since its first edition.
DANIEL MALDONADO
Member of the Student Films Section Jury
He trained as an actor at Remiendo Teatro, Work in Progress, and Juan Carlos Corazza schools, and in film directing with filmmakers such as Oliver Laxe, Víctor Erice, and Albert Serra. He directed, produced, and acted in "La Fantasía" (Fantasy), and through this project presented his research "Fantasy and Playful Hedonism." He has collaborated with the ZEP program for social inclusion in high schools in Marseille, France, to use film and creative processes as educational tools. Along these lines, he is preparing a filmmaking project with adolescents at the "Collège de Pao-Pao" in Moorea, French Polynesia. He is currently working on several film projects, including "Somos Fuego" (We Are Fire), with a script by playwright Dario Facal, and "Silencio," his first feature film with screenwriter Jose Canas.
BÁRBARA ROS
Member of the Student Films Section Jury
Art Director. Graduated in “Creation and Design” from the University of Fine Arts. Specialized in the development of content for animation through the master's degree “Pre-production for animation series” in Barreira, Valencia. Since 2014, she has been a collaborator of the Archive of Intangible Heritage of Navarra, creating illustrations for multiplatform, interactive and Augmented Reality content. In 2018, she founded “The Magpie´s Nest” thanks to the Iníciate Award (best innovative project), where she develops series selected at festivals such as 3D Wire, Non Stop Festival and 948 Merkatua. Art Director on “D'Artacán and the Three Muskehounds” by Apolo Films. Her strong point is color script: narrative of emotions through color.
NATALIA ARDANAZ
Member of the Student Films Section Jury
PhD in Contemporary History from the University of Barcelona. Editor of the magazine, collaborating professor in the Master's Degree in Film and Contemporary History. Professor of Film and Gender within the Postgraduate Program in Film and History. She teaches history in high school.
CLIMATE CHANGE SECTION
Works with climate change themes or with an ecological seal are eligible for the Climate Change Meliton.
RODRIGO SOPEÑA
President of the Quarantine Films Section Jury
Director and screenwriter—along with Luis Piedrahita—of the film Fermat's Room. He has also directed highly successful entertainment programs with José Mota (La1) and the first seasons of Me resbala (A3). He recently directed Lol: si te ríes pierdes (Amazon Prime) and has published the comic El último tahúr (The Last Gambler) as a screenwriter.
TERESA MORALES
Member of the Quarantine Films Section Jury
In 2010, she joined Telecinco Cinema as Marketing Director, until she returned to her homeland in 2018 to take over as Executive Director of the Punto de Vista Festival and join the Navarra Film Commission team.
ITZIAR GARCÍA
Miembro del Jurado Sección Quarantine Films
Creative Producer. Her professional career has led her to different formats and styles over 20 years; from television programs and series, to documentary and fiction feature films, to the production of events, video installations, and film and music festivals.
For 12 years, she has directed the production of Arena Comunicación projects. During that time, she has produced works that have led her to film in nearly 30 countries. These include Pura Vida, Muros, Cholitas, and Dardara. She is responsible for the distribution plan for these and other films, all of which have achieved wide distribution in theaters, festivals, and on international television.
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JOSÉ FELIZ COLLAZO
Member of the Quarantine Films Section Jury
Silver Horse at the Larissa New Filmmakers Festival (Greece). He has collaborated with the San Sebastián International Film Festival as a radio scriptwriter and is a film critic for various media outlets and specialized magazines.
JOAQUÍN CALDERÓN
Member of the Quarantine Films Section Jury
Director of the Navarra International Film Festival. He runs his own production company, Arquetipo Comunicación, with which he has produced Caminante, Sarasate El Rey del Violín, Arte Flamenco on Fire, and Basque Selfie. He also works for ELAMEDIA and is the director of La Residencia Navarra/LRN, a new film laboratory supported by the ICAA and soon to be launched.
