Cineteca Madrid Opens the Season with a Retrospective Dedicated to Internationally Acclaimed Choreographer Damien Jalet

• The L.E.V. Matadero festival will present the audiovisual installation H U M Ī by artist Riccardo Giovinetto, which invites audiences to rethink borders as fluid spaces.
• From September 5 to 11, in collaboration with Centro Danza Matadero, Cineteca will screen Damien Jalet's most outstanding works, featuring the artist in attendance
• Highly anticipated premieres will feature award-winning feature debuts by directors Gabriel Azorín and Alejandro Castro.
• The "Permanence of the Ephemeral" cycle will highlight filmmakers who have transformed the transience of social media imagery into lasting testimony.
• Cineteca will host the exclusive premiere of the uncut version—330 minutes—of Pedro Pinho's masterpiece on neocolonialism and European guilt, The Laughing Stock (La risa y la navaja).
• September once again welcomes the city's major film events, such as Directed by Women Spain and the Madrid Film Festival-PNR.
• "Cineteca for Families" will transform the screening room into a play space where children can interact with celluloid, get close to projectors, and experiment with imagery.
• Cineteca Madrid—a venue of the Department of Culture, Tourism, and Sport located in Matadero Madrid—is launching its September program with a retrospective dedicated to Damien Jalet, running from September 5 to 11. Widely regarded as one of the most prominent choreographers on the international scene, Jalet is known for blurring the boundaries between contemporary dance, cinema, and the visual arts. Additionally, from September 17 to 20, Cineteca Madrid will take part in the 8th edition of the L.E.V. Matadero festival by hosting H U M Ī, an audiovisual installation by artist Riccardo Giovinetto.
• Furthermore, Cineteca Madrid kicks off the season with premieres and preview screenings that explore the boundaries of genre, memory, and identity from diverse perspectives: the feature debuts of Gabriel Azorín and Alejandro Castro, a musical documentary by Manuel Bellido and Sigfrid Monléon, and a love letter to cinema signed by Ramiro Sonzini and Ezequiel Salinas. The venue will also host the exclusive premiere of the uncut 330-minute version of Pedro Pinho's masterpiece on neocolonialism, The Laughing Stock.
• And, as every September, Cineteca Madrid becomes a meeting point for some of the city's premier film events, including Directed by Women Spain and the Madrid Film Festival-PNR.

Damien Jalet Cycle

Renowned for his visually striking and contemporary style, the Franco-Belgian creator and choreographer has drawn international acclaim in recent years for his highly praised work. Highlights include serving as choreographer for Jacques Audiard's award-winning musical film Emilia Pérez; creative advisor and choreographer for Madonna on The Celebration Tour and her recent Confessions II; and choreographer for the viral music video STORM by rapper Yung Lean.

In collaboration with Centro Danza Matadero, Cineteca will screen:Suspiria (2018) by Luca Guadagnino, where dance becomes the secret language of a coven (September 5). Emilia Pérez (2024) by Jacques Audiard, a transgressive phenomenon in contemporary musicals (September 6). Two lesser-known films: The Ferryman (2016) by Gilles Delmas, in which the choreographer unleashes his talent for building contemporary imagery alongside major artists like Marina Abramovic and Ryuichi Sakamoto (September 6); and DuEls (2024) by Jonas Åkerlund, a journey through Oslo's Vigeland Museum where the choreography of Jalet and Erna Ómarsdóttir engages in a dialogue with Gustav Vigeland's sculptures (September 11).

Additionally, on September 5 in Sala Azcona, a selection of music videos and short films showcasing Jalet's body language in short-form format will be screened, with the choreographer in attendance. On September 12, the artist will also hold a public conversation in Sala Plató with film director Carlos Marqués-Marcet.

L.E.V. Matadero: Festival of Visual Electronics and Extended Realities

This year, the L.E.V. Matadero festival celebrates its eighth edition, exploring the possibilities of sound, audiovisual, and digital creation through concerts, installations, and immersive experiences. Within this framework, Cineteca hosts H U M Ī, an audiovisual installation by artist Riccardo Giovinetto that uses satellite imagery and real-time soundscapes to invite reflection on borders as fluid and constantly transforming spaces.

Premieres and Previews

Cineteca Madrid opens the season with premieres and preview screenings that explore the boundaries of genre, memory, and identity from diverse viewpoints. From September 4 to 6, Gabriel Azorín's feature debut, We Conquered Thebes (Anoche conquisté Tebas, Spain-Portugal, 2025), will be screened following its acclaimed run at the Venice Giornate degli Autori, where it won the Bisato d'Oro for Best Screenplay and Cinematography. Also presented to Madrid audiences will be Harakiri, I Need You (Harakiri, me haces falta, Spain, 2025) by Panamanian director Alejandro Castro—winner of the Best First Feature Award at the Oldenburg Film Festival—which offers a visceral portrait of broken masculinity (September 25 to 27).

Cineteca will also offer the preview screening of Back in Time! (Spain, 2026) by Manuel Bellido and Sigfrid Monléon on September 5, a documentary reconstructing the boom of music and freedom in 1960s and 70s Torremolinos. Finally, on September 26, The Night Is Leaving (La noche está marchándose ya, Argentina, 2025) by Ramiro Sonzini and Ezequiel Salinas will be screened. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Seminci and Best Direction at Doclisboa, it stands as a bittersweet love letter to cinema as a communal refuge.

'Permanence of the Ephemeral' Cycle

In collaboration with the Punto de Vista Festival, the Filmoteca de Valencia, and the Filmoteca de Galicia, this cycle brings together filmmakers and artists who have navigated the magma of social media, rescuing and rearranging its fragments to uncover patterns, connections, and collective identities. Their films are appropriation works that turn the ephemeral into permanent memory, transforming the fleeting nature of amateur imagery into a lasting testimony of the present. Screenings will take place from September 23 to 27.

Pedro Pinho: A Clear-Sighted View on the Impact of Neocolonialism

Cineteca Madrid is exclusively premiering (from September 24 to 27) the uncut 330-minute version of The Laughing Stock (La risa y la navaja), Pedro Pinho's masterpiece and an ambitious reflection on neocolonialism, identity, and European guilt. Furthermore, the venue will screen As cidades e as trocas, the documentary co-directed by Pinho and Luísa Homem in 2008, on September 22. Through this cycle, Cineteca offers a journey through two of the most significant works by one of contemporary cinema's most astute creators, united by their fascination with Cape Verde—a former Portuguese colony—and their exploration of the complex relations between Europe and Africa.

Film Festivals

September once again establishes Cineteca Madrid as a meeting point for some of the city's primary film events. The festival season kicks off with the 12th edition of Directed by Women Spain (September 8 to 13), a gathering dedicated to celebrating cinema directed by women, followed by the 35th edition of the Madrid Film Festival-PNR (September 15 to 20), the capital's longest-running film event focusing on works by emerging filmmakers.

'Cineteca for Families'

Cineteca opens its doors to young audiences with a morning matinee series designed for children to discover cinema as a living, tactile, and collective experience. In collaboration with Deneb Martos and Pablo Useros—filmmakers and educators with an extensive background in using cinema as an educational tool—the program proposes a sensory journey to the heart of the cinematic medium. Far from the passivity of digital screens, here cinema can be touched, smelled, and heard. The sessions combine 16mm, Super 8, and digital projections, turning the screening room into a space for play and discovery. Children will not be mere spectators: they will interact with celluloid, approach the projectors, experiment with light and moving imagery, and create their own intuitive forms of cinema.

Cinezeta: The Natural History of Pliny

The 9th generation of youth programmers at Cineteca Madrid bids farewell to audiences with the audiovisual performance The Natural History of Pliny (Historia Natural de Plinio) by Pablo Eguía: an expanded cinema piece in Super 8 conceived as a live concert, where the analog projector becomes another instrument in the performance. The program gathers six films shot between 2024 and 2025 in New York, presenting an experience that champions the materiality of celluloid and the act of projection as a living event.