The 29th Málaga Film Festival kicked off Friday with a gala televised by Andalucía Televisión and Canal Sur Más, hosted by actress Kira Miró. The festival opened with the premiere of ‘Calle Málaga’, starring Carmen Maura and directed by Maryam Touzani. The film follows a 79-year-traditional Spanish woman living in Tangier as her life is changed by a visit from her daughter.
The Málaga Film Festival is once again building bridges with Ibero-American countries and the opening gala of its twenty-ninth edition addressed the current global conflicts with a resounding “No to war.” “Culture must accept a stand against war,” said gala host Kira Miró, expressing “the deepest ‘no’ to what is happening today in Gaza, in Ukraine, in the Persian Gulf and in any place in the world where damage and pain reside.” The Canarian actress added on stage at the Teatro Cervantes, the “heart” of the Festival, “Let’s hope we wake up soon from this nightmare.”
At the beginning of the gala, Miró took over from her partner, Málaga actor Salva Reina, who hosted the 2025 festival closing ceremony. Reina gave her an intensive lesson in local dialect, teaching her that paying attention is “estar alikindoi,” a water slide is a “chorraera,” something enjoyable is “perita,” and when something is surprising, you say “muerde el rollo, viejo.” As Kira Miró later pointed out, “What makes the Málaga Festival extraordinary is the same thing that makes Spanish cinema extraordinary: the small things.”
“Our cinema lives not only on epic moments, but on its ability to convey truth,” much like recent festival winners such as ‘Sorda’ or ‘Segundo premio’. She highlighted that Málaga provides significant support for emerging directors, with 30 percent of this year’s competition being debut films vying for the Biznagas, and that the Festival has also elevated numerous female directors. The festival’s commitment to new voices is a key part of its growing influence within the Spanish film industry.
The jury for the feature film section also took the stage, led by filmmaker Jaione Camborda, who expressed her and her colleagues’ hope that they would “glimpse some light on the screen in such a turbulent and brutalized world” during the festival. The gala also highlighted the festival’s various sections and its industry area (Mafiz), and specifically noted the extensive list of honorees this year.
Rossy de Palma will receive the Málaga Award. Victoria Vera, the Biznaga Ciudad del Paraíso; Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, the Málaga Talent Award; Peruvian director Francisco Lombardi, the Retrospective Award; and production director Manuela Ocón, the Ricardo Franco-Academia de Cine Award.
Uruguayan actress Natalia Oreiro, Spanish actor Saturnino García, Argentine filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, and, posthumously, Argentine director Fabián Bielinsky will receive Honorary Biznagas. ‘El desencanto’ (1976), by Jaime Chávarri, will be recognized as the Golden Film. Nine days of screenings and events now commence, with “all eyes in the sector focused on Málaga,” which once again becomes “a space for common dialogue,” emphasized Kira Miró.
