Housing, land and family tensions take centre stage at Mostra de València

The 12-film competition brings together stories from across the Mediterranean, with Croatian, Egyptian and Spanish productions exploring property disputes, displacement pressures and the struggle for independence.

Valencia, 19 October 2026. The 41st Mostra de València–Cinema del Mediterrani, organised by the Palau de la Música and running from 3 to 15 November, will present twelve features in its Official Competition. Spanning fiction and documentary, comedy, drama and thriller, the selection portrays a Mediterranean shaped by inequality, social change and questions of identity. The programme was announced today at a press conference by Sara Mansanet, festival director and Deputy Director of Film and Audiovisual at the Palau de la Música de València, alongside the institution’s director, Vicente Llimera.

Featuring films from across the Mediterranean, including Türkiye, Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Algeria, France, Palestine, Egypt and Greece, the competition offers a €30,000 Palmera de Oro award for the winning production, plus €15,000 towards its distribution in Spain. The festival will also present the Palmera de Plata–Special Jury Prize, worth €20,000.

Three Valencian productions challenge conventions

Three Valencian productions stand out in the competition, each exploring challenging subjects through distinctive approaches to storytelling.

Els dies clars marks the feature debut of Sandra Ferrús. Produced by Suica Films and shot entirely in Valencian, on location in Valencia and the Ribera Alta area, the film examines mental health and the strain placed on families when institutional support falls short. Starring Sandra Ferrús, Sergi Torrecilla, Pilar Martínez and Toni Misó, this comedy-drama challenges stigma through the intense experiences of Vicent, a young man with a rock ’n’ roll spirit who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Toni Agustí and María S. Torregrosa return with La gran fiesta del cine, continuing their exploration of unconventional filmmaking. Following their acclaimed debut La última cena, presented at the Mostra in 2021, their new film was shot in a single day, using improvised performances and a continuous 90-minute take unfolding in real time. Produced by Hanoi Producciones and starring Valencian actors Marta Belenguer, Lorena López and Amparo Fernández, it goes behind the scenes of the film world to examine the industry’s dynamics and tensions.

Completing the trio is Calle de los Ángeles, a documentary produced by Limbus Filmak with the participation of the Institut Valencià de Cultura and À Punt. Its director, Silvia Rey Canudo, was born in Murcia and is based in Valencia. Drawing on more than a decade living in the city’s distinctive El Cabanyal neighbourhood, the filmmaker — a Goya nominee for her short Wan Xia. La última luz del atardecer — crafts a biting satire of the housing crisis and property speculation.

Emerging voices and women filmmakers take centre stage

Alongside the Valencian productions, the Official Competition brings together new voices and films showcased at major international festivals. Drawing on experiences from both shores of the Mediterranean, the contenders explore contemporary pressures, from precarious livelihoods to family conflict, reflecting the region’s cinematic vitality and diversity.

Emerging talent features prominently. Italian filmmaker Alberto Palmiero makes his debut with Keep Me in Mind, a comedy-drama about a generation struggling to achieve independence amid employment insecurity. The film won Best First Feature in the Freestyle section of the Rome Film Fest.

Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib makes his fiction feature debut with Chronicles from the Siege, a story of survival in wartime that premiered at the Berlinale, where it received the GWFF Best First Feature Award. These debut features are joined by A Turkish Case, from French-Turkish director Hüseyin Aydin Gürsoy, a political thriller in which a Parisian lawyer confronts the contradictions of his identity.

The competition also features four international films by women directors, examining social pressures and the pursuit of personal autonomy.

Premiering at the Berlinale, Hear the Yellow, by Turkish filmmaker Banu Sivaci, tells a story of returning to family roots. Sivaci, who won the Mostra’s Palmera de Oro in 2018 with The Pigeon, saw her latest film collect four awards at the Taormina Film Festival, as well as the prestigious Vanguard Award.

Greek filmmaker Mary Bouli’s At No Cost, a documentary exploring the ethical dilemmas of the fertility industry, received the top award at the Thessaloniki Festival.

Following its appearance at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, French director Lila Pinell’s Shana explores everyday survival and female solidarity. Named Best International Film at the University of Buenos Aires International Film Festival, it shares its Spanish premiere with the Seville European Film Festival.

Egyptian director Ashgan El-Hamus competes with Al Baraneya, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Set in a rural community, it follows a pregnant young woman and her family as they struggle to preserve their identity under pressure from a powerful landowner.

Family conflict and power dynamics also drive the final two titles in the selection. Croatian filmmaker Igor Jelinović’s Honey Bunny, which premiered in Rotterdam and shares its Spanish premiere with the Gijón International Film Festival, turns two sisters’ bitter dispute over a holiday home into an acerbic portrait of greed. The film won four awards at the Pula Film Festival, including the Grand Golden Arena for Best Film.

A more intimate reckoning unfolds in My Father’s Scent, which premiered in Venice. This uncompromising thriller by Egyptian director Mohamed Siam follows a father and son as long-held resentments surface during a night they are forced to spend together.

The 41st Mostra de València–Cinema del Mediterrani is organised by the Palau de la Música de València, with support from the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), DAMA, Fundación SGAE and the Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture (PICE). Collaborating organisations include La Filmoteca del IVC, València Film Office, Veles e Vents, Valencia Music City and FIAPF, with À Punt Mèdia as the official media partner.

Mostra de València 2026 — Official Competition

Hear the Yellow

Türkiye | 2026
Director: Banu Sivaci

Suna returns to her hometown in Türkiye to attend to family matters. Scarred by drought, her childhood home is as fragile as the relationships between the villagers. Undaunted, Suna sheds light on the darker corners of the past.

Honey Bunny

Croatia, Serbia | 2026
Director: Igor Jelinović

Tonina has always looked after her family, yet has never felt that they have offered her the same support and affection in return. Convinced that it is rightfully hers, she decides to take ownership of a small family holiday home on the island of Hvar.

Keep Me in Mind

Italy | 2025
Director: Alberto Palmiero

Disillusioned young director Alberto is convinced that cinema has nothing left to offer him. After years in Rome, he decides to return to his hometown. Provincial life seems to offer an unexpected refuge, but doubts soon resurface, bringing deferred ambitions and the question that has never stopped haunting him: what should he really do with his life?

Chronicles from the Siege

Algeria, France, Palestine | 2026
Director: Abdallah Al-Khatib

When their city comes under siege, ordinary people’s lives are shattered. As they struggle to survive in a war-torn landscape, they are forced to make impossible choices.

La gran fiesta del cine

Spain | 2025
Directors: Toni Agustí and María S. Torregrosa

Five years after making La última cena, an experimental feature with no budget, a group of film crew members and artists reunite to celebrate its unexpected success and decide what to do with the profits generated by its theatrical and streaming release.

Calle de los Ángeles

Spain | 2026
Director: Silvia Rey

A wealthy young woman impulsively buys a dilapidated apartment in El Cabanyal. As she attempts to begin renovations, problems rooted in the realities of the neighbourhood and its residents threaten her ownership of the property. To protect her investment, she must confront a series of moral dilemmas.

My Father’s Scent

Egypt, Norway, France, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Qatar | 2025
Director: Mohamed Siam

A tense, poetic odyssey unfolds over a single night as a father and son confront each other to settle old scores. Confined to an apartment, their raw, emotional confrontation quickly escalates, exposing the layers of a relationship marked by conflict.

At No Cost

Greece | 2026
Director: Mary Bouli

Dane is a young woman from Athens who works in a bar and dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. She decides to become an egg donor, only to discover that the procedure is far from straightforward.

A Turkish Case

Türkiye, France | 2026
Director: Hüseyin Aydin Gürsoy

Mathieu has distanced himself from his Turkish community to climb the social ladder. A determined and ambitious lawyer, he is working towards a partnership at a prestigious Paris law firm. When a vulnerable young Turkish man seeking help enters his life, Mathieu becomes embroiled in a corruption scandal that threatens to destroy everything he has built.

Al Baraneya

Netherlands, Egypt, Belgium, Saudi Arabia | 2026
Director: Ashgan El-Hamus

Pregnant Amal lives with her family in Al Baraneya, a jasmine-growing village on the outskirts of Cairo. When a landowner pressures them to sell their land, the family is divided. A visit from her city-dwelling cousin awakens Amal’s desire to break with tradition and pursue a different future.

Shana

France | 2026
Director: Lila Pinell

Shana tackles everyday difficulties with boundless energy and the support of her friends. When her grandmother dies, she inherits a ring said to ward off the evil eye. She could use a little help: with her toxic partner about to leave prison, her problems keep mounting.

Els dies clars

Spain | 2026
Director: Sandra Ferrús

Vicent has a rock ’n’ roll soul. His gift is knowing what people are about to say. His burden, shared by his family, is living with schizophrenia in a country unable to provide the mental healthcare he needs.