SEMINCI joins the European network Young4Film, focused on film education for young people

• The Valladolid Film Festival consolidates and internationalizes its educational program in its 70th edition, with new activities such as an encounter of young European film programmers.
• Directors Jonás Trueba and Celia Rico will lead the first of two training sessions about the creative process on June 9.

The Valladolid International Film Festival (SEMINCI) has joined in 2025 the European film festival initiative Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network (Young4Film), dedicated to the educational development of young audiences supported by the Creative Europe MEDIA program. This membership represents a qualitative leap for SEMINCI’s educational program, which in its 70th edition ranks as an innovative agent in film education in and out of the classroom.

Young4Film brings together six European festivals coordinated by Kino Otok-Isola Cinema IFF (Slovenia) since 2023. Its aim is to awaken the interest of young audiences in European arthouse cinema and to involve them in the programming processes within the festivals themselves. Beldocs International Documentary FF (Serbia), Vilnius Short FF (Lithuania), Piccolo Grande Cinema (Italy) and Cinehill FF (Croatia) complete the group.

Activities of the Young4Film Network at SEMINCI

The activities that SEMINCI will conduct as part of Young4Film, both during its 70th edition (October 24 to November 1, 2025) and during the rest of the year, are structured around three main axes: young programmers encounter, dialogues with filmmakers and teacher training.

The design of these activities follows the Moving Cinema methodology, developed by A Bao A Qu, a cultural association whose work has been recognized with awards such as, among others, the 2015 City of Barcelona Award in Visual Arts, the Pepón Coromina Award from the Acadèmia del Cinema català (2021), the Catalan Association of Art Critics (ACCA) Award in Education 2020, and the Grant for EU Media Literacy Programs from the Evens Foundation (2013). This methodology, which this year has incorporated sustainability and social awareness as cross-cutting criteria, has revolutionized the way young audiences discover, appreciate and enjoy European cinema.

The first scheduled activity in the framework of the Young4Film network will feature a meeting between young audiences, fans of any age, and filmmakers Celia Rico and Jonás Trueba. Taking place on June 9, at 6 pm, at Espacio Seminci, both will share their work process and the material they used to shape their films Viaje al cuarto de una madre (2018) and La reconquista (2016, compiled on the Inside Cinema website. For those who want to delve deeper into the cinema of both directors, Casablanca Cinemas will screen Celia Rico’s production on Saturday 7, at 5 pm, and on Sunday, June 8, at the same time, Jonás Trueba’s. The tickets will be on sale at the box office at a price of 5 euros.

During the 70th edition, a new edition of the Young Programmers Moving Cinema program will be held, which offers a group of young people between 16 and 21 years of age to select and present one of the films in the program, creating a generational bridge between creators and audience.

Organized in conjunction with the other festivals of the European network, the first group of Young International Programmers has also been created, consisting of 12 participants over 18 years of age from Croatia, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Lithuania and Serbia. After several periodic online meetings, they will gather in person for the first time in October 2025 in Valladolid, where two films selected by them will be screened. The ultimate goal is to consolidate the foundations for a future pan-European festival run by and for young people.

In addition, SEMINCI will organize annual teacher training sessions to turn them into ambassadors of film education in recognition of the essential role of educators in bringing children and young people closer to cinema.

Other educational programs will continue

The 70th edition of SEMINCI will also include other well-established educational initiatives: film sessions aimed at schools in the city of Valladolid, with Miniminci for primary school students up to the age of 12 and SEMINCI Youth for students between the ages of 13 and 17; the school sessions of SEMINCI in the province; and the online screening program Cinephile Window, organized in conjunction with Profestivales 21.