Two emerging Spanish-language films have received a boost from the Principality of Asturias, winning €1,500 each to support their development. The awards were presented by Culture, Linguistic Policy and Sports Counselor Vanessa Gutiérrez at the Málaga Film Festival’s industry area, Mafiz, on March 11, 2026.
Benigno, a short film by filmmaker Luis Iglesias Rodríguez, and Timidez botánica, directed by Mónica Arnanz, were selected as the winners of the inaugural Principitch d’Asturies, a new initiative by the Asturian government to promote audiovisual projects. The initiative aims to foster new projects and strengthen the international promotion of the region’s film sector.
The awards ceremony took place during Cine d’Asturies, a collaborative networking event organized by the counselor’s office. The event brought together a delegation of 34 Asturian audiovisual professionals, companies, and institutions with national and international industry representatives at the festival. The Principality of Asturias facilitated the delegation’s attendance at this key event for the international dissemination of Spanish cinema.
For the second consecutive year, the Principality participated in the festival’s industry zone with its own stand under the Cine d’Asturies brand, located in the Industry Club of Spanish Screenings Content, Spain’s leading international audiovisual promotion platform. At the stand, the counselor’s office presented a catalog featuring 21 Asturian projects funded in 2025, seeking partnerships with international producers, distributors, sales agents, and programmers to advance their financing, and development.
Principitch d’Asturies was designed as a pitching session to facilitate the presentation of projects in various stages of development to potential industry partners at Mafiz. A total of 34 projects were submitted, with five finalists selected for the final session: the short film Benigno, by Luis Iglesias Rodríguez; the feature film Los nueve baños de septiembre, scripted by Alberto Rodríguez de la Fuente and Estefanía Salyers Naharro; Pasar el agua, by Irene Menéndez Palomino; Timidez botánica, by Mónica Arnanz; and Turtle Blues, directed by Asur Fuente.
A Professional Jury
The winning proposals were presented to industry professionals and a specialized jury who chose the two winning works. The jury included Ana Torres del Cerro, Inés Calero, and Jaime Weiss, all with extensive experience in film programming, production, and distribution.
Torres del Cerro has over ten years of experience in festival programming, film marketing, and script analysis. Calero works in curation, production, distribution, and film writing, and serves as a festival manager at Begin Again Films. Weiss, a New York-based producer now based in Madrid, has been coordinating international co-productions at El Viaje Films since 2015.
The jury praised Benigno, written and directed by filmmaker Luis Iglesias Rodríguez, as an example of “a simple story” that combines “a hidden interest in observing other people in their daily lives” with “the ease with which one can fall into prejudice,” all combined with “a sensitive approach to integrating grief into everyday life.” Benigno—the author’s first fiction short—previously won the Best Project award at the third edition of the FilmLAB LaC6 film creation laboratory, funded by the Counselor of Culture. The story follows the protagonist, who visits the same spot on a river in his town every day, a sanctuary created after a recent loss. With the arrival of summer, a family begins to swim there, and he feels the require to watch them.
The jury also selected Timidez botánica, by Mónica Arnanz, “a story that finds its strength in small gestures, with a delicate look at childhood, grief, and belonging, and for the intimate relationship it establishes between space, time, and friendship.” The film tells the story of Hua, a nine-year-aged girl whose life changes when her family moves from a large Chinese city to a small town on the Asturian coast. That new environment, initially alien and hostile, transforms through her bond with Nel, a boy who, over a summer of games and discoveries, helps her see the place in a new light.
