Direct cinema, the boundaries of intimacy, and the exploration of memory: The 23rd Documenta Madrid across five venues
- A retrospective at Filmoteca Española revisits U.S. militant cinema of the 60s and 70s as a tool for political action.
- A journey through the work of Chilean filmmaker Marilú Mallet at the Reina Sofía Museum connects exile, memory, and personal narrative.
- La Casa Encendida hosts the first retrospective in Spain of British filmmaker Charlie Shackleton, alongside a workshop led by the author.
- The cinema of German director Jan Soldat, which investigates the "backstage" of contemporary morality, will headline the ECAM Encounter and will be screened at Cineteca Madrid and the Goethe-Institut.
The Documenta Madrid International Film Festival, organized by the Department of Culture, Tourism and Sport, will celebrate its 23rd edition from May 26 to 31 at Cineteca Madrid and four other city venues: Filmoteca Española, the Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Center (MNCARS), La Casa Encendida, and the Goethe-Institut. Under the artistic direction of Luis E. Parés, the festival structures its program this year around the concept of 'Taking the Pulse'—a look at direct cinema that asserts its capacity to record contemporary reality without mediation, capturing its tensions, conflicts, and transformations in real time.
In this context, the parallel sections are consolidated as one of the fundamental pillars of the festival, offering a journey through different ways of understanding cinema as a testimony of its time.
Images in conflict: Third World Newsreel and cinema as a political tool
In collaboration with Filmoteca Española, Documenta Madrid presents a retrospective dedicated to the Third World Newsreel collective, one of the most radical experiences of militant cinema to emerge in the United States between 1968 and 1972. Conceived as an urgent and collective practice, this movement used film as a tool to document social struggles ignored by mainstream media.
The cycle brings together a selection of key titles in four sessions, such as Columbia Revolt (1968), screening May 27; The Woman’s Film (1971), on May 28; and El Pueblo se levanta (1971) and Break and Enter (1971), both on May 29. Together with short pieces such as Garbage (1968) and Chicago Convention Challenge (1968), screening on May 29 and 30 respectively, the program traces a path through student movements, feminism, housing struggles, and the rise of Black Power, recovering a form of cinema that does not merely document history, but intervenes in it.
Charlie Shackleton and the deconstruction of the documentary
La Casa Encendida hosts the first retrospective in Spain of British filmmaker Charlie Shackleton, one of the most singular voices in contemporary non-fiction cinema. His work occupies a hybrid territory between documentary, essay, and formal experimentation, questioning narrative conventions and the mechanisms that construct audiovisual storytelling.
The program includes titles such as Beyond Clueless (2014) on May 26; The Afterlight (2021) on May 27; and Zodiac Killer Project (2025) on May 29. Furthermore, a video essay session will be held on May 28 featuring pieces such as Copycat (2016), Fish Story (2018), and Camera Test (2024), accompanied by a workshop with the author on May 27. Through these works, Shackleton dismantles the codes of "true crime" and the classic documentary, proposing a critical reflection on the relationship between image, spectator, and truth.
Memory and exile: The ‘filmed letters’ of Marilú Mallet
In collaboration with Documenta Madrid, the MNCARS presents a retrospective dedicated to Chilean filmmaker Marilú Mallet, a key figure of the first generation of female Chilean directors. Her work, marked by exile following the 1973 coup d'état, is articulated as an intimate exploration of memory, identity, and distance.
The cycle gathers four fundamental films from a filmography that combines the autobiographical with the political: Andahuaylillas (1983) and El evangelio de Solentiname (1978), both on May 29; Diario inacabado (1982) and Doble retrato (2000), on May 28; and Geografía personal (2016) on May 31. Through these "filmed letters," Mallet constructs a deeply personal gaze on recent history, positioning cinema as a space for emotional and narrative reconstruction.
The cycle will conclude on May 30 with a tribute to two other Chilean filmmakers who also suffered exile: Valeria Sarmiento, with Huellas (2023), and Angelina Vázquez, with Dos años en Finlandia (1975).
Jan Soldat and the boundaries of intimacy
The ECAM Encounter, developed in collaboration between Cineteca Madrid, the Goethe-Institut, and ECAM (School of Cinematography and the Audiovisual of the Community of Madrid), is dedicated to German filmmaker Jan Soldat, whose work is characterized by a direct exploration of intimacy, the human body, and power dynamics. His cinema delves into underrepresented territories, constructing a complex portrait of society that investigates the "backstage" of contemporary morality.
The program, curated by ECAM documentary students, is structured into four retrospective sessions. Two take place at Cineteca Madrid on May 27 and 30—Preparativos felices (Happy Preparations) and El fetiche y el poder (The Fetish and Power)—with titles such as Das Spielzimmer (2024) or Die Unfertige (2013). Two more take place at the Goethe-Institut on May 28 and 29—Espacio personal (Personal Space) and El deseo de amar (The Desire to Love)—with titles such as Open House (2025), Blind Date (2022), or Coming of Age (2016). Additionally, a masterclass on the creative and ethical processes of his work will be held at ECAM on May 28.
Hidden territories: Slovenian experimental cinema and cinematic rescues
The parallel programming is completed by the cycle Una vanguardia recóndita. Cine experimental esloveno (A Hidden Avant-Garde. Slovenian Experimental Cinema), running May 29 and 31. Curated in collaboration with the Slovenian Cinematheque, it recovers lesser-known works by authors such as Vinko Rozman, Karpo Godina, and Vasko Pregelj, offering a look at a marginal yet fundamental filmography within European experimental cinema.
This program is joined by special sessions such as Las aventuras de un operador Lumière alrededor del mundo, where filmmaker Javier Rebollo will provide live commentary on May 26 for films shot by Lumière cameraman Gabriel Veyre, a pioneer of filming in various countries at the end of the 19th century. The festival also includes the recovery and presentation on May 31 of unreleased materials by cameraman and correspondent José Luis de Pablos, in collaboration with the ECAM Archive, which allows for a revisiting of major 20th-century political and social events from a cinematic perspective.
Documenta Madrid 2026 Documenta Madrid is the International Film Festival of the Madrid City Council and one of the premier spaces for the exhibition, reflection, and creation of non-fiction cinema in Spain. In its 23rd edition, the festival reaffirms its commitment to cinema as a tool for observing the present, promoting auteur cinema, formal experimentation, and dialogue with the history of the seventh art.
More information: documentamadrid.com