Alain Gomis' French-Senegalese feature Dao, a sprawling family epic set across Europe and Africa, was awarded the Golden Spike for best film at the 71st Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci). Marine Atlan's acclaimed debut La Gradiva earned the Silver Spike.
Dao follows a wedding in France and an ancestral memorial in Guinea-Bissau, blending fiction and documentary while assembling a wide cast of professional and non-professional actors to examine family bonds, migration and inherited customs. The international jury praised the film's distinct cinematic language, noting its use of rhythm, duration and movement to create an intimate yet immersive feeling.
The 3-hour feature, which world-premiered in competition at Berlin, marks Gomis' return to fiction after 2017 Berlinale Grand Jury Prize winner Félicité. Variety's Guy Lodge described Dao as the director's "most vibrantly expansive and accessible" work. Party Film Sales handles international sales, while Janus Films holds North American distribution rights.
La Gradiva premiered at Cannes Critics' Week, where it secured the top Grand Prix, and later received the Melbourne International Film Festival Bright Horizons Award in August. At Valladolid, the French-Italian film also won the José Salcedo editing prize for Guillaume Lillo and the Rainbow Spike for LGBTQ-related cinema.
Set during a French school trip to Naples and Pompeii, La Gradiva follows teenagers navigating desire, insecurity and the last moments of adolescence. Variety critic Jessica Kiang called it "seismically sensitive and deeply moving," adding it is "one of the most piercingly accurate and immersive portrayals ever" of that fragile age. MK2 Films represents international sales.
Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso received the Ribera del Duero best director award for Double Freedom, a well-received sequel to his 2001 debut Freedom. The film is sold by Luxbox.
Acting awards went to Alba Rohrwacher for Stéphane Brizé's A Good Little Soldier, in which she portrays a corporate executive trapped in a profit-driven system, and Swann Arlaud for Emmanuel Marre's A Man of His Time, about a French engineer drawn into the Vichy regime. Marre's film also won the cinematography award for Olivier Boonjing.
Austrian filmmaker Sandra Wollner captured the Miguel Delibes screenplay prize for Everytime, a drama exploring grief and memory through digital technology. The official competition jury also gave a special mention to Tiago Guedes' Aquí.
Outside the main competition, Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse took the Meeting Point prize for 9 Temples to Heaven, a family pilgrimage drama that premiered in Cannes Directors' Fortnight. The film marks the fiction-feature debut of a frequent collaborator of Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Marc Ferrer's Cinemanía received the Fundos Award, while Manon Coubia won the ESCAC directing prize for Forest High.
Spanish debut Salen las lobas emerged as a double audience favourite, securing both the Meeting Point Audience Award and the Seminci Youth Prize. Directed by Claudia Estrada Tarascó, the film follows girls in a juvenile justice facility who bond over music and hope for a Barcelona trap competition. Produced by Alba Sotorra's Oceanika, it is sold internationally by MoreThan Films and is slated for a Dec. 11 Spanish theatrical release through Silencio Cinema.
In the Alchemies section, Ivan Marković's Promised Spaces, a portrait of Cambodia's rapidly transformed urban landscape, won the Grand Prize. David Baute's Benigno, about an elderly man preserving a disappearing way of life in the Canary Islands, received a special mention and the environmental Green Spike.
Hassen Ferhani's Algeria-France production Alea Jacarandas claimed the Time of History Grand Prize, while Mariano Llinás' Life of Jorge Luis Borges received the special award. Isabelle Stever's I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming earned the FIPRESCI critics' prize, and Markus Schleinzer's Rose won the main competition Audience Award.
Seminci announced its winners on Saturday morning in Valladolid after the traditional closing gala was cancelled due to a deadly train accident in Toledo province. The 71st edition ran Oct. 23-31, led by interim co-directors Mariona Viader and Javier H. Estrada following José Luis Cienfuegos' death in December. Organisers reported a provisional audience of 100,000, more than 120 film discussions, and participation by over 90% of the directors represented in official sections. The festival closed with the Spanish premiere of Gael García Bernal's Hombre al agua.
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Golden Spike
Alain Gomis, Dao
Silver Spike
Marine Atlan, La Gradiva
Ribera del Duero Award for Best Director
Lisandro Alonso, Double Freedom
Best Actress
Alba Rohrwacher, A Good Little Soldier
Best Actor
Swann Arlaud, A Man of His Time
Best Cinematography
Olivier Boonjing, A Man of His Time
Miguel Delibes Award for Best Screenplay
Sandra Wollner, Everytime
José Salcedo Award for Best Editing
Guillaume Lillo, La Gradiva
Special Mention
Tiago Guedes, Aquí
MEETING POINT
Meeting Point Award
Sompot Chidgasornpongse, 9 Temples to Heaven
Fundos Award
Marc Ferrer, Cinemanía
ESCAC Award for Best Director
Manon Coubia, Forest High
ALCHEMIES
Grand Prize
Ivan Marković, Promised Spaces
Special Mention
David Baute, Benigno
TIME OF HISTORY
Grand Prize
Hassen Ferhani, Alea Jacarandas
Special Award
Mariano Llinás, Life of Jorge Luis Borges
DOC. Spain Award
Eloy Enciso Cachafeiro, Letters from an Inner Exile
Special Mention
Beatrice Gibson, At Night
OTHER FEATURE AWARDS
Pilar Miró Prize for Best New Spanish Director
Sebastián Uría, Adiós, ríos
Miniminci Prize
Javier Martínez and Christian Garnez, Momonsters. Película de Navidad
Seminci Youth Prize
Claudia Estrada Tarascó, Salen las lobas
SHORT FILM AWARDS
Golden Spike
Arnas Balčiūnas, Class Photo
First Silver Spike
Blanca Camell Galí, First Fire
Second Silver Spike
Natalia Marín, Chronicle of Tiredness
Best European Short Film
Wannes Vanspauwen and Pol De Plecker, Pithead
Best Spanish Short Film
Mariona Martínez, L'enterrament de la sardina
Castilla y León Short Film Award
Juan Carlos Mostaza, Under the Lake
NON-OFFICIAL AWARDS
Rainbow Spike
Marine Atlan, La Gradiva
Green Spike
David Baute, Benigno
FIPRESCI Prize
Isabelle Stever, I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming
Audience Award, International Competition
Markus Schleinzer, Rose
Audience Award, Meeting Point
Claudia Estrada Tarascó, Salen las lobas
YOUTH JURY AWARDS
International Competition
Lance Hammer, Queen at Sea
Meeting Point
Jacqueline Lentzou, A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra
Best Short Film
Francisco Visceral Rivera, El tamagochi escarlata
