Spain’s ECAM Forum, the fast-building Madrid industry event which in just two editions has positioned itself as one of the country’s key launchpads for auteur cinema and international co-production, has unveiled the first major project lineup for its third edition, running June 9-11, 2026, at Madrid’s Matadero.
Organized by Madrid’s prestigious ECAM film school, the Forum returns at a moment when Spanish cinema’s global profile continues to be partly driven by the same forces that the event is designed to foster: emerging and mid-career auteurs, nimble independent producers and cross-border alliances linking Spain with Europe, Latin America and, increasingly, the Middle East.
This year’s first announced selection spans the Forum’s two headline strands: Last Push, dedicated to films in post-production, and Films to Come, aimed at feature projects in development seeking financing, co-production and international positioning. In all, 204 projects were submitted to Films to Come and 86 to Last Push, underlining the event’s growing pull beyond Spain.
The 2026 lineup also marks a further broadening of ECAM Forum’s international remit. Selected projects hail from, or connect, Spain, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Greece, Brazil, Argentina, France, Germany and Palestine, among others. The result is a slate that reads less as a national showcase than as a meeting point for production models, sensibilities and markets.
Many of last year’s alumni pushed on to success with Ion De Sosa’s “Balearic” hitting Locarno, “Milk Teeth” from Mihai Mincan playing Venice and “Aro berria” by Irati Gorostidi reaching San Sebastian.
The Last Push section expands this year to 10 titles and includes a €15,000 ($17.7 million) award, granted by an independent jury to the producer of the winning film. Its selection features new work by prominent Latin American filmmakers such as María Aparicio, Federico Luis, Paz Fábrega and Neto Villalobos Brenes, the feature debut of Swiss artists Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier, and upcoming Spanish projects by Marc Ferrer, Eloy Enciso, Sebastián Uría and Helena Girón and Samuel Delgado.
Films to Come, meanwhile, gathers 15 projects, including five from ECAM’s La Incubadora, three emerging from collaborations with BAM Bogotá, MAFIZ and Abycine, and seven selected through the open call. Across both sections, the Forum highlights a cinema of political charge and poetic drift, with Spanish historical myths, ghosts, heists, love stories, friendship tales and a striking vein of comedy and dark humor all in play.
Last Push
“Farewell Rivers” (“Adiós, ríos”), Sebastián Uría, Spain
Sebastián Uría’s Galician-language drama “Farewell, Rivers,” produced by Gael Herrera at Tamboura Films, is set in Galicia’s Ancares mountains, where illness, age and rural abandonment reshape fragile lives. As Luis, weakened by cancer, can no longer tend his horses, an elderly couple face removal to the city, while forest rangers track both human departures and a wandering she-bear.
“The Indies” (“Les Indies”), Pauline Julier, Nicolas Chapoulier, Switzerland-Spain
Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier’s “The Indies,” produced by Alina Film and Lastor Media (“Alcarràs”), is a historical environmental drama set in a Europe riven by war and uprising. Two French soldiers carry the Infanta of Spain’s portrait to young Louis XIV, joined by Alejandro, a Spanish nobleman enthralled by science, colonization and the New World’s promises.
“To the Future” (“Al futuro”), Paz Fábrega, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Spain
Balancing motherhood, financial pressure and creative urgency, Fábrega turns the camera on her own life in a hybrid exploration of fiction and documentary. Produced by Costa Rica’s Temporal Films alongside La Mayor Cine (Uruguay) and Edna Cinema (Spain), it builds on the company’s internationally recognized slate, including Rotterdam Tiger prizewinner “Agua fría de mar,” “Viaje” and “Medea.” Co-producer Carla Sospedra describes it as “an intensely personal project in which Paz Fábrega not only directs but also appears on-screen alongside her children. Her tender yet uncompromisingly realistic gaze, filming her own life and assuming emotional and formal risks, results in a unique hybrid format …underscoring the film’s artistic ambition and emotional authenticity.” AM
“Love Is The Monster” (“Amor es el monstruo”), Neto Villalobos, Costa Rica-Peru-Panama-Chile
Neto Villalobos’ film boarded by Mexico’s Liminal Estudio, turns on a 70-year-old grandmother, played by Paulina García, facing the end of life. Set in a tropical dystopia, the Costa Rica-led co-production looks set to blend family crisis and social unease and measure what people are wiling to do in tghe name of love. Produced by La Sucia Centroamericana, Clara Films, Cine Infinito and Expansiva Cine.
“Cinemanía” — Marc Ferrer, Spain
Marc Ferrer’s satirical comedy follows Marcos, a 40-year-old filmmaker unable to live from his work and stuck in an unequal relationship with Álex, 22. Around him, siblings, lovers and friends face CIA threats, tourist-rental anxieties, drug-dealing producers, secret desire and lottery dreams in a choral portrait of love, family and frustrated escape.
“The Fortunate Isles” (“Las islas afortunadas”), Helena Girón and Samuel Delgado, Spain-Greece
Helena Girón and Samuel Delgado’s “Las islas afortunadas” travels to the Canary Islands after the 15th-century conquest. Its central figure is Fátima, enslaved by Don Gaspar, a blind, alcoholic marquis who controls the island’s freshwater well. Produced by El Viaje, Asterisk* and La Banda Negra, it promises a stark historical drama of domination, drought and revolt from directors to track Girón and Delgado.
“The Nights” (“Las noches”), Ana Bovino, Argentina
Ana Bovino’s “The Nights,” produced by Natalia de la Vega at Navega Cine, is a drama-comedy biography pitched between documentary and fable. Inspired by Scheherazade, it follows La Pichi, a born storyteller from the outskirts of Buenos Aires, who transforms a life lived on the margins into a cinematic book of nights, wit, tenderness and shared dignity.
“Endless Prison” (“Todo es cárcel”), Eloy Enciso, Spain
Eloy Enciso’s “Todo es cárcel” confronts Francoist concentration camps, starting from the final days of Spain’s Civil War at Alicante’s port. The film crosses sites where camps once stood, setting them against diaries, memoirs and letters by prisoners. Produced by Filmika Galaika and Umbracle Cine, it extends Enciso’s politically charged engagement with memory and Spanish history.
“Pehuen’s Birthday In Spain” (“El cumpleaños de Pehuen en España”), Federico Luis, Argentina
Federico Luis’ “El cumpleaños de Pehuen en España,” produced by Jerónimo Quevedo at Un Puma, follows Pehuén Pedre, approaching 35, after his mother leaves for Málaga and he enters a public shelter. Cast in a Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prix-winning film, he travels to San Sebastián, then asks Luis to accompany him to Spain to try to see her again. The latest from Luis, a Cannes 2024 Critics’ Week Grand Prix winner for “Simon of the Mountain.”
“Undefined Things II” (“Las cosas indefinidas II”) — María Aparicio, Argentina
María Aparicio’s dramedy “Las cosas indefinidas II,” produced by Ana María Apontes, Rodrigo Guerrero and Ramiro Sonzini, follows Eva, a filmmaker adrift in Madrid after her short screens at a French festival. Alone, disinclined to meet strangers, she drifts through an unfamiliar city until Dante, an Argentine historian researching Juan Bialet Massé, approaches her at the Reina Sofía.
Films to Come
“Copy” (“El Participio Del Verbo Oir”), Miguel Machetti, Spain
Miguel Machetti’s “Copy,” a Spanish thriller-dramatic comedy with LGBT+ elements, follows Ramón, a young assistant director hired on the comeback film of Camille de Valois, a world-famous French actress accused of murdering a co-star two decades earlier. Produced by Gelatina Películas, the €2 million ($2.4 million) project explores heartbreak, cinephile obsession and the lure of self-destruction.
“The Imaginary Kings” (“Os Reis Imaxinarios”), Eire Cid, Spain
Eire Cid’s Galician-Spanish coming-of-age drama “The Imaginary Kings” follows Rude, a tattooed, anxious teenager in a working-class Vigo neighborhood, mourning a friend’s death amid trap, gambling and fights. Falling for Valeria offers escape but threatens the fragile masculinity, peer loyalty and privileges that define him. Produced by Bea Villar at Brava, the project marks Cid’s feature debut.
“Wandering Little Dove” (“Palomita Errante”), Enrique Buleo, Spain
Enrique Buleo’s dramatic comedy with fantasy and horror elements, follows Doriluz, an Ecuadorian woman playing “The Exorcist” girl at a second-rate amusement park, provoking laughter rather than fear. Stuck in an unfinished housing development and empty routines, she tries to find her life’s purpose, only to meet life’s discreet cruelty. Produced by Cabiria Film Media.
“Chentian” — Suha Arraf, Palestine-Germany
Suha Arraf’s “Chentian,” produced by May Odeh’s Mayana Films, follows sisters-in-law Nabila and Shams as they confront betrayal, power and survival while men disappear. Variety previously reported the Palestine-Germany project won Göteborg’s Tint Post-Production Award, marking another international boost for Arraf, best known as the writer of “Lemon Tree” and “The Syrian Bride.”
“The Woodworm” (“El corquim”), Laura Obradors, Spain
Laura Obradors’ drama centers on Ricard, a painter in creative crisis, who hosts Cecilia, a French exchange student, in hopes of improving his 16-year-old daughter Clara’s school performance. Cecilia’s arrival gradually upends the family’s routines. Produced by Sergio Adrià’s Espurna Films, the project comes backed by Cine Qua Non Lab and Catalan government ICEC agebcy development support.
“Handen” — Ángel Filgueira, Spain
Ángel Filgueira’s story follows a Galician writer who heads to the Netherlands to work on a vegetable farm. There, migrant labor, economic need and repressed desire collide, especially through his uneasy bond with Arvydas, a Czech co-worker whose open homophobia masks darker tensions. Produced by Sétima, “Handen” won the Ventura Award in 2025.
“The Bastard Daughter” (“La hija bastarda”), Olivia Delcán, Spain
Olivia Delcán’s feature debut is led by Nora Navas (“Libertad”), the two-time Goya winner and San Sebastián best actress laureate. A tragicomedy, it follows a 56-year-old woman on a Spanish Mediterranean island whose mother’s death pushes her to question her life, her daughter and her own exhaustion. Produced by Solita Films and Sumendi Filmak.
“The Unmoving Hands” (“Las Manos Quietas”), — Víctor Diago, Spain
Víctor Diago’s fantasy-horror LGBT feature produced by Diacrònic and Boogaloo Films, follows Hakim, who lures young men to the Doctor’s house, where desire is granted at the cost of their bodies and vital energy. When he falls for Bilal, a new victim, escape beckons, but Hakim hides the same dark gift as his masters.
“Magnetic Animals” (“Les animaux magnétiques”), Gala Hernández López, France-Spain
Gala Hernández López’s links near-future Berlin and France in 1786. Hedda, a bat bioacoustics researcher, is pressured by a pro-natalist regime; Berthe, an aristocrat, is subjected to animal-magnetism treatments for infertility. Produced by New Sight and Caos Dept, the first feature explores motherhood, patriarchy, colonial domination and transhistorical female inheritance.
“Our Raised Skin” (“Nuestra piel levantada”), Paolo Natale, Spain
Paolo Natale’s film is an autofictional documentary inquiry into masculinity, bodies and inheritance. Paolo sets out to discover who his Italian trucker father really is, turning also to his grandfather Antonio. The three men share family traits, including an eating disorder that only Paolo recognizes. Produced by Manuela Gutiérrez Arrieta and Mubox Studio.
“The Garden of Delights” (“O Jardim das Delícias”), Rafaela Camelo, Brazil
Rafaela Camelo’s “The Garden of Delights,” produced by Moveo Filmes and Apoteótica Cinematográfica, turns on Débora and Roberta, a young couple whose rented house begins secreting honey whenever Débora orgasms. Used in pastries, it unleashes desire and power in whoever consumes it. As a lost child appears and the house reveals itself as a living organism, drama, horror and queer desire collide.
“The Phantom Plot” (“La trama fantasma”), Nicolás Schujman, Argentina)
Nicolás Schujman’s fantastical horror comedy “La trama fantasma,” produced by Ingrid Pokropek at 36 Caballos, follows Bernardo, a Buenos Aires theater actor who freezes during his first Macbeth lead, speaks Yiddish and collapses. Diagnosed by an esoteric rabbi as possessed by his father’s dybbuk, Bernardo must exorcise the spirit and face adulthood.
“The Noise of Long Distances” (“El ruido de las largas distancias”), Leinad Pájaro de la Hoz, Colombia
Leinad Pájaro de la Hoz’s “El ruido de las largas distancias” follows Leticia, a solitary elderly woman in the Colombian Caribbean, who learns that Saúl, her son missing for more than 20 years, has been found near the Magdalena River transformed into a caiman. Her journey to reunite with him opens onto a past story of love and tragedy.
“African Grey” — Yorgos Goussis, Greece-Bulgaria
Yorgos Goussis’ drama-comedy “African Grey,” produced by ΠLANKTON and Portokal Films, follows a grieving locksmith who discovers a parrot identical to his lost bird while opening a dead man’s hidden safe. A murder, a stolen brooch and a vanished parrot draw him into a scheme preying on the lonely, in Goussis’ follow-up to Greece’s Oscar submission for short “Magnetic Fields.”
“Snow Country” (“País De Nieve”), Víctor Iriarte, Spain-France
Víctor Iriarte’s Spain-France sci-fi drama “Snow Country,” produced by Inicia Films (“20,000 Species of Bees”) and 4A4 Productions, follows a Japanese migrant family in Uruguay split between tradition, technology and displacement. When crisis sends Johnny to Japan, he drifts through Tokyo, encounters a robot double of his girlfriend and journeys to Yuzawa’s “Snow Country,” while his sister imagines a story beyond reality.
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