Documenta Madrid’s competitive sections map out images in conflict between memory and territory

The international competition gathers films from 16 countries that investigate the image as a space of conflict and a contemporary field of dispute.

In the national competition, films start from personal experiences to construct narratives shaped by territory and forms of resistance.

The ‘Corte Final’ section presents works-in-progress that revisit memory through intimate, transformative processes.

The three sections consolidate a curatorial line committed to cinema as a critical tool and a space for reflection.

Alongside Cineteca Madrid, Documenta Madrid will be held at Filmoteca Española, the Reina Sofía Museum, La Casa Encendida, ECAM, 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 other city venues (Filmoteca Española, the Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Center, La Casa Encendida, ECAM, and the Goethe-Institut). With 26 films and four projects in competition, and 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.

Competitive Sections

The competitive sections are structured into three categories: International Competition, National Competition, and ‘Corte Final’, dedicated to Spanish projects in an advanced stage of editing. Both the National and International Competitions grant jury and audience awards and incorporate the ‘Fugas’ award, which distinguishes formal innovation and creative risk, distributing a total of 36,000 euros in prizes. ‘Corte Final’ features a distribution award granted by Agencia Freak, valued at 6,000 euros.

The image as a disputed territory in the International Competition

The International Competition brings together titles from 16 countries that approach the contemporary image as a field of dispute. In Afterlives (screening May 28), Kevin B. Lee investigates latent violence in the audiovisual ecosystem; As estações (May 27) by Maureen Fazendeiro intertwines oral memory and history in the Alentejo region; Debut, or, Objects of the Field of Debris as Currently Catalogued (May 29) by Julián Castronovo turns research into an unfathomable digital archive; and El príncipe de Nanawa (May 30) by Clarisa Navas traverses the transition to adulthood in a border context between Argentina and Paraguay. From the perspective of the political essay, Evidence (May 29) by Lee Anne Schmitt reviews the structures of conservative thought in the United States, while Far from Beyrouth (May 28) by Mon Dewulf constructs a visual correspondence marked by distance and war.

The section also includes proposals such as Lengua muerta (screening May 30) by Chilean director José Jiménez, focusing on the ineffable, as well as the May 27 screenings: Lloyd Wong, unfinished by Lesley Loksi Chan, which reflects on the heritage of images in queer memory in Canada; Nova ’78 by Aaron Brookner, which recovers the countercultural imaginary surrounding William Burroughs; and Perseidas by Natalia del Mar Kasik, which returns cinema to a primal experience.

The selection is completed by Remake (May 29) by Ross McElwee, where the filmmaker reflects on how the compulsion to film has affected his life and those around him; two films with a post-colonial reflection, Sauf le passé (May 30) by Sanaz Azari, and The Recce (May 28) by Daniel Mann; and the work on 2001 Gaza, With Hasan in Gaza (May 28) by Kamal Aljafari—all marked by a reflection on archives, representation, and the power relations inscribed within images.

National Competition: New forms of resistance from the intimate

The National Competition offers a collection of works that explore territory, affect, and forms of resistance from personal perspectives. In Atlas de la desaparición (screening May 29), Manuel Correa accompanies search processes linked to historical memory; Crías (May 27) by Xiana do Teixeiro activates an archive of female adolescent writing; and Después de las ciudades (May 28) by Xacio Baño constructs the city as a device of memory based on mediated images. Time and introspection run through El milagro (May 30) by David Varela, while Estados generales (May 29) by Mauricio Freyre explores the persistent traces of colonial violence.

From the sphere of care, Este cuerpo mío (May 27) by Afioco Gnecco and Carolina Yuste documents a gender transition process shaped by intimacy and affect. Family memory and the archive are intertwined in Fomos ficando sós (May 30) by Adrián Canoura, and sensory experience occupies the center in Krakatoa (May 28) by Carlos Casas.

The section is completed by Like Moths to Light (May 28) by Gala Hernández López, which reflects on the exposure of the inner life in the technological age; No hay camino (May 29) by Luciana Espinoza Hoempler, which observes migration from a distance filtered by image and technology; OAO (May 27) by Rocío Mesa, which connects with primal emotions; and Perpetual Radiance (May 28) by Magdalena Orellana, which finds a core of beauty in urban fragmentation.

‘Corte Final’: Works-in-progress revisiting memory and heritage

The ‘Corte Final’ section gathers Spanish projects in an advanced stage of editing that approach memory and heritage from intimate perspectives. Screened on May 28, Escribir nuestro nombre y seguir, by Fernando Vílchez Rodriguez and Lili Albornoz, accompanies women reconstructing a memory marked by violence; and Las termas, by Armin Marcheisini Weihmuler, approaches old age with affection and fragility. Additionally, Memorias del exilio (May 27) by Manuel Correa explores the traces of political violence with sobriety; and Río (May 27) by Chus Domínguez Sánchez proposes an experience of estrangement between sound, landscape, and displacement. These works point toward a cinema-in-progress that finds in editing and formal exploration a way to continue questioning the present.

A prestigious jury

The various sections will feature juries composed of professionals from the art and film sectors who embody different ways of engaging with the contemporary image. The International Competition jury consists of filmmaker Jessica Sarah Rinland, Laura García-Lorca (president of the Federico García Lorca Foundation), and Christophe Piette (programmer at CINEMATEK, the Royal Film Archive of Belgium). The National Competition jury includes Hélder Beja (director of Doclisboa), Maite Conesa (director of the Filmoteca de Castilla y León), and Iris Martín-Peralta (curator and film producer).

The ‘Corte Final’ jury will feature documentary producer Rocío Cabrera, Aimar Arriola (head of the Intermediae program at Matadero Madrid), and programmer Joan Sala. The section will also present the Agencia Freak distribution award and the CineZeta Young Jury prize.

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.

Organized by Cineteca Madrid, the festival maintains its three competitive sections—International, National, and ‘Corte Final’—and a robust parallel program spread across various city venues, including Filmoteca Española, the Reina Sofía Museum, La Casa Encendida, ECAM, and the Goethe-Institut, consolidating its role as a meeting point for filmmakers, professionals, and the public.