Bueu, July 7, 2026 – As it prepares to present its 19th edition, FICBUEU looks back on a season marked by intense activity, with an extensive programme and numerous collaborations with cultural events and national and international festivals.
Throughout the year, the festival worked to raise the profile of short films and strengthen its presence on the international film scene, expanding its network of partnerships and promoting cultural exchange and the dissemination of short-form cinema.
The year began with the celebration in Bueu, for the third consecutive year, of a new Shortcutz Amsterdam session, an international circuit that connects audiences from all over the world to award the International Audience Award of this Dutch festival. More information here.
In the same month of January, FICBUEU took part in the conference A Matter of Perspective: Women in Galician Audiovisuals, organised by Pontevedra City Council as part of the cultural programme leading up to the Feroz Awards. The festival’s Head of Communications, Lucía Rodríguez, participated in the round table The Circuits of Galician Cinema, which addressed issues such as gender perspectives in festivals, film programming in cinemas and other spaces for exhibition, dissemination and audiovisual consumption.
In April, a new edition of Festival Night was held, an initiative that has become firmly established as a meeting point between international festivals and Galician audiences around short cinema. The event brings together, in a special screening, short films selected by invited festivals from different countries, offering audiences the opportunity to discover works that are rarely accessible through the usual distribution channels. More information here.
It was also in April that FICBUEU launched the development of the European project EIYEI, Youth Empowerment Initiative, in Marseille (France). The project is promoted within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme together with organisations from France, Italy and Greece.
The initiative aims to foster the social and professional inclusion of young people in vulnerable situations through culture, cinema and new immersive technologies. The project revolves around the creation of a digital hub conceived as a space for training, experimentation and audiovisual production, where participants will be able to acquire both technical and transferable skills linked to the professions of the future.
In addition, EIYEI will provide educational resources to teachers and socio-educational professionals in order to strengthen support for young people facing social exclusion or school dropout. The project will run over the next two years, during which the four partners will hold working meetings in the participating countries.
The festival’s international activity continued in May with the participation of María Ruiz-Falcó, co-director of FICBUEU, in the Professional Meetings organised by the Viana do Castelo Film Festival (Portugal) as part of the Cinema and School Forum. Ruiz-Falcó took part in the third round table of the event, focused on educational practices in Portugal and Galicia, and presented the educational project developed by FICBUEU. The event also addressed issues related to the connection between the audiovisual industry and cinema aimed at children and young people, with the goal of strengthening ties between film education projects, teachers and cultural agents.
This July, María Ruiz-Falcó returns to Portugal as a guest of the 34th edition of the Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival, one of the most important short film festivals on the international scene.
FICBUEU’s international presence was further reinforced through its participation in the Adriatic Film Festival (Italy), where María Ruiz-Falcó presented the festival’s project within the framework of the professional programme Coproduction Forum. In addition, the festival had the opportunity to screen Although It Is Night, by Guillermo García López, winner of the Best Spanish Short Film Award at the 17th edition of FICBUEU, in the Fuori Concorso section.
Alongside these international collaborations, the festival continued to strengthen its social commitment through its participation in different initiatives and programmes developed in collaboration with organisations such as Ambienta, Cineclube Entre Cortiñas and Polari. More information about these activities here.
All these experiences help to strengthen partnerships, open new avenues for cooperation and continue enriching a cinematic, cultural and social project that grows with each new edition.
As the culmination of an especially intense year, FICBUEU received significant recognition from the Spanish Film Academy by being included in the official list of qualifying festivals for the Goya Awards in the categories of Best Fiction Short Film, Best Documentary Short Film and Best Animated Short Film.
The festival’s inclusion on this list represents a major milestone in its trajectory and endorses its ongoing commitment to excellence in programming and to the promotion of the short-film format throughout its eighteen editions. This recognition further consolidates FICBUEU’s position as a key event for filmmakers, production companies and professionals in the audiovisual sector.
We look forward to welcoming you to the 19th edition of the festival, which will take place from 4 to 19 September!
