Salomé, winner in a diverse awards list

The debut feature by Brazilian filmmaker André Antônio has won the highest cash prize at the D’A – Festival de Cinema de Barcelona. The rest of the festival’s awards reflect the authorial, thematic, and national diversity of an edition full of special celebrations. We’ve turned 15, and now we have the names with whom to share this latest celebration:

  • Talents x ESCAC Award: Salomé, by André Antônio (Brazil, 2024)
  • Green Talent Award: Cabo Negro, by Abdellah Taïa (Morocco, France, 2024)
  • Un Impulso Colectivo Award: Jone, batzuetan (Jone, a veces), by Sara Fantova (Spain, 2025)
  • Un Impulso Colectivo x Antaviana Award: On eres quan hi eres?, by Jana Montllor (Spain, 2025)
  • Un Impulso Colectivo Special Mention: Turismo de guerra. De la guerra también se sale, by Kikol Grau (Spain, 2024)
  • Un Impulso Colectivo – Short Films Award: El viento que golpea mi ventana, by Emilio Hupe (Spain, 2025)
  • Un Impulso Colectivo – Short Films Special Mention: Ohio Sonata, by Lluís Galter (Spain, 2025)
  • Critics’ Jury Award: To Kill a Mongolian Horse, by Xiaoxuan Jiang (Hong Kong, 2024)
  • Young Jury Award: El diablo fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja), by Ernesto Martínez Bucio (Mexico, 2025)
  • D’A Film Lab Barcelona Award: La noche de la infancia, by Xisi Sofia Ye Chen (Spain, 2026)
  • ECAM Impulso Award and Music Library Award: last night i heard my laptop breathing through my headphones, directed by Daniel Grandes and produced by Igone Franco
  • Lokro Productions Award: Canción Animal, directed by Nerea Castro and produced by Katixa de Silva (CSC Films)
  • Audience Award for the best feature: Premi del Públic al millor llargmetratge: El año nuevo que nunca llegó, de Bogdan Mureșanu (Romania, 2024)
  • Audience Award for Best Short in Un Impulso Colectivo – Short Films: El norte, by Cordelia Alegre (Spain, 2024)

The jury of the Talents section, composed of filmmakers and producers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, along with producer Paz Lázaro, awarded the Talents x ESCAC prize, endowed with €15,000, to the Brazilian film Salomé by director André Antônio. In their statement, the jury noted: “Salomé is a queer fantasy that overwhelmed us with its imaginative, original, and playful energy. A film full of unforgettable images that made us fall in love with both the film and its cast.”

The film Cabo Negro by Moroccan director Abdellah Taïa received the Green Talent Award, given to the film that best embodies the values of the 2030 Agenda: ecology, equality, and sustainability. For this award, the Talents jury included the expert vote of green manager Natàlia Ejarque. In their statement, they highlighted: “Cabo Negro offers a brave and delicate perspective that confronts us with the invisible wounds of the system, elevating silenced voices. A work committed to emotional sustainability and social awareness, it sheds light on forgotten territories and sparks reflection.”

The Un Impulso Colectivo Award, with a €5,000 prize for the best film in the section, went to Jone, batzuetan (Jone, a veces) by Sara Fantova. The jury, made up of composer Aranzazu Calleja, director Celia Rico, and the head programmer of the Gijón Festival, praised the film: “For its honesty and freshness in addressing a complex family situation, offering a perspective free from prejudice and constraints, and providing an alternative vision of a youth capable of handling everything—despite everything.”

The jury also gave a special mention to Turismo de guerra. De la guerra también se sale by Catalan director Kikol Grau, “for its ability to delve into a serious topic without losing its sense of humor, maintaining historical rigor through a distinctly punk perspective.”

The Un Impulso Colectivo x Antaviana Award was granted to Jana Montllor, director of the documentary On eres quan hi eres?. The award includes image postproduction services for the filmmaker’s next project.

The award for best short film in the Un Impulso Colectivo section, which featured 47 Catalan premieres, went to El viento que golpea mi ventana by Emilio Hupe, for “preserving the literary legacy of the working class through a family portrait, and doing so while exposing the seams of the cinematic device without losing closeness or love for the subject filmed.” The €1,000 prize was decided by a jury composed of illustrator and animator Rocío Quillahuaman and filmmakers Isa Luengo, Marina Freixa, and Sofia Esteve. The jury also gave a special mention to Ohio Sonata by Lluís Galter.

For the first time, the D’A – Festival de Cinema de Barcelona included a Young Jury, composed of 15 people aged 18 to 25, who selected the best film from a curated list of ten titles from the full festival lineup. The winner of the Young Jury Award was El diablo fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja) by Ernesto Martínez Bucio (Mexico, 2025).

The Critics’ Jury Award went to To Kill a Mongolian Horse by Xiaoxuan Jiang, “for its compassionate and critical gaze on characters displaced by a globalized world. A narrative of impeccable formal beauty and a powerful message on endangered ways of being in the world.” The jury was composed of Agus Izquierdo, Laura Blanco, and Francesc Miró.

The D’A Film Lab Barcelona, which awards €20,000 to the best film in the Final Cut section for works in postproduction, honored the documentary La noche de la infancia by Xisi Sofia Ye Chen. It is the director’s first film, having grown up between Catalan and Chinese cultures. She studied Humanities, specialized in Philosophy, and earned a Master’s in Creative Documentary at Pompeu Fabra University. The goal of the D’A Film Lab Barcelona is to support the development, completion, and international reach of first, second, and third feature films. The jury was made up of Ewa Szablowska (artistic director of New Horizons IFF in Poland), producer Sandra Tapia, and film programmer Francesca Palleschi.

Finally, the Audience Award for Best Short Film, voted on by festivalgoers, went to El norte by director Cordelia Alegre—a subtle and tender short film about space and memory that turns Barcelona’s Verneda neighborhood into a small urban and mental labyrinth. The Audience Award for Best Feature Film will be announced on Monday, after the festival’s closing.