Valencia's Cinema Jove festival premieres award‑winning Filipiñana and other international films

The Cinema Jove International Film Festival, organized by the Valencian Conselleria de Educación, Cultura y Universidades and the Institut Valencià de Cultura, ran its June program in Valencia. On 21 June the festival opened with the screened premiere of Filipiñana, a Singapore‑UK co‑production by Filipino director Rafael Manuel that won the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at Sundance. The film uses a luxury golf resort as a metaphor to critique wealth inequality in the Philippines. The same day featured the Taiwanese hybrid documentary‑fiction I Heard That They Are Not Going To See Each Other Anymore, directed by Ka Ki Wong, which blurs reality and performance to explore urban loneliness.

Additional program highlights included the German satire series Das Manko, which lampoons bureaucratic incompetence with physical comedy, and Disney+ Dear Killer Nannies, a drama about the childhood of Pablo Escobar’s son narrated by Juan Pablo Escobar. On 22 June the festival presented Whispers in May, a Chinese‑rural documentary by Dongnan Chen that won Best Feature at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, and hosted the Spanish‑born director Joecar Hanna for a talk on his short film Talk Me and upcoming projects.

The broader audiovisual sector was spotlighted by the sixth edition of the Promercat – València Film Market, held on 17‑18 June at the MN4 cinema in Alfafar. The market promoted co‑production opportunities, launched the Valencia Acting Program to showcase local talent, and featured discussions on fiscal incentives and industry partnerships.