ZINEBI 68: Five professionals to form the International Short Film Competition jury

The Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Film will take place from November 20 to 27, featuring 49 competing films.

Generic image: a film reel with abstract light patterns, blurred background of a cinema screen, warm ambient lighting.
AI

Generic image: a film reel with abstract light patterns, blurred background of a cinema screen, warm ambient lighting.

The ZINEBI 68 Festival will be held in Bilbao from November 20 to 27, with a jury of five professionals for its International Short Film Competition, featuring 49 films from 33 countries.

Iratxe Fresneda, Ana Peláez, Varya Yakovleva, Alexe Poukine, and Paola Populin will form the jury for the 68th edition of the ZINEBI – Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Film. These five professionals, with recognized careers in the film industry, will evaluate the selection of short films and decide the main awards of the Official Section.
This year, the 49 films, chosen from over 3,300 submissions, will be screened at the Arriaga Theatre between November 21 and 26. All these works will have their state premiere in Bilbao. The list of winners will be announced during the Festival's closing ceremony on November 27.
The jury's composition brings together diverse perspectives on film creation, ranging from documentary direction and research to audiovisual production, auteur animation, film criticism, and new fiction narratives.

The 49 films selected for the International Short Film Competition will compete for ZINEBI 68's main awards.

The Official Section awards include the ZINEBI Grand Prize (8,000 euros), the Award for Best Basque Short Film (6,000 euros), the Award for Best Spanish Short Film (6,000 euros), the Mikeldi for Best Documentary Short Film (5,000 euros), the Mikeldi for Best Fiction Short Film (5,000 euros), and the Mikeldi for Best Animation Short Film (5,000 euros). Additionally, other recognitions will be presented, such as the EITB Audience Award, the Young Jury Award, and the (H)emen ZINEBI Award, along with the new Caimán Cuadernos de Cine – ZINEBI Critics' Award (2,000 euros).
The awards ceremony and closing event will take place on Friday, November 27, at 7:30 PM, at the Arriaga Theatre, where Hungarian filmmaker István Szabó will also receive this edition's Mikeldi de Honor.
Based on information from the official source: Ayuntamiento de Bilbao (04/11/2026)