The Ibiza Film Festival, Ibicine, recognized for its contribution to culture by various institutions -including UNESCO- and official qualifier of the Goya, Forqué and Fugaz Awards, presents the Official Short Film Section (SOC) of its 9th edition, which will begin on January 7. This year, the festival will be dedicated to space, a theme that, according to its director Helher Escribano, proposes “a cosmic edition, a journey that unites cinema, creativity, artificial intelligence, sustainability and global phenomena such as the total solar eclipse of 2026 and the comet 3I/Atlas, whose irruption in networks has awakened a renewed interest in the universe and our big questions as a species”.
The SOC, qualifier for the Goya Awards, will be screened entirely at Can Ventosa and will bring together 45 short films selected from 554 fiction, animation and documentary works from more than 26 countries. Among them are titles already nominated for the Goya 2026, such as Cólera, Insalvable, Pálpito, Pipiolos, Sexo a los 70, Les imatges arribaren a temps, Buffet Paraíso, Carmela or Behind the Wall.
For Escribano, this edition “is presented as a journey that connects local and international talent. A proposal that will run from January to April and that, according to him, turns the island “into a global meeting point for cinema, industry and public”, maintaining the founding values of the festival: equality, diversity and sustainability.
A festival that grows and expands its projection
Ibicine is a co-production between Dicho y Hecho Producciones and the IACI Association, and has the support of institutions and brands such as Ibiza Travel, Consell d’Eivissa, Eivissacultural, Adlib Ibiza, the town councils of Eivissa, Santa Eulària des Riu and Sant Antoni de Portmany, as well as the support of entities and sponsors such as DAMA and Nassau Beach Club.
The festival is already preparing its 2026 edition, which is announced as the most ambitious to date, with a thematic axis dedicated to space, creative energy and the capacity of cinema to connect cultures. That year, Ibicine will strengthen its external projection and its international identity, with the aspiration of consolidating itself as a Mediterranean benchmark for audiovisual innovation. “We want the public to experience this edition as a shared space journey, where stories lift us up and connect us,” says Escribano.
The director’s trajectory adds a new recognition after her recent participation as International Jury of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the only class A event in America. Her presence there reinforces Ibicine’s curatorial criteria and confirms its global vocation, which will be manifested in the programming of international short and feature films, many of them premieres in Ibiza. In addition, the agreements reached with the Mar del Plata Festival itself and with the FRAPA International Script Market, the largest audiovisual script meeting in Latin America, strengthen this international dimension.
What’s new in the 9th edition
Ibicine’s short film screenings will take place on four Wednesdays in January and two more in February at the auditorium of the Can Ventosa Cultural Center in Ibiza. As a novelty, this year the public will also be able to attend the screenings of the feature films of the Official Section (SOL) in weekly sessions during February and March in the towns of Santa Eulària des Riu and Sant Antoni de Portmany. The titles of the six feature films competing in the SOL will be announced in January.
From April 8 to 11, 2026, the festival will celebrate its industry days, consolidating Ibiza as a space for creation and development in the cinematographic field. On those dates the Ibiza Film Campus will also be held, in collaboration with the Ibiza Film School, and the first Script Lab of the Ibiza Film Market, a script lab that will include consultancies and residencies for selected projects.
The Astarté Awards gala, which this year incorporates a category for projects in development, will take place on April 11 at Can Ventosa, with awards for international short and feature films.
Tickets and memberships now available
Ibicine puts on sale today the tickets for all the short film screenings and launches for the first time the Ibicine Club memberships, which replace the old accreditations. This “membership card” will be valid for the entire duration of the festival -16 days of programming between January and April- and will allow access to:
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Screenings of the Official Short Film Section
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Feature Films in the Official Selection
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Parallel sections
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Cineforums
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Professional and industrial activities
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Masterclasses and round tables
All information and ticket purchases are available at www.ibicine.com.
45 short films to understand the present
The selection committee of this edition -formed by Elsa León, Esther Smith, Luis Jurado, Jesús Blázquez and Jose Luis Sierra-has highlighted the high technical and narrative level of the works received. The SOC will include nine productions from the Balearic Islands.
The sessions will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., followed by a cineforum featuring members of the short film crews and specialists in the topics addressed. “This year’s selection speaks to us about the world we inhabit. They are stories that cross identities, mental health, bonds, precariousness, fears and social realities,” explains Escribano. “Each session is designed to open conversation and reflect together.”
