Festival Internacional de Cine Infantil y Juvenil - Zinetxiki Zinemaldia (10)

Festival start: 13 December 2025      Festival end: 28 December 2025

X edition of the Zinetxiki Zinemaldia - International Film Festival for Children and Youth, organised by the cultural association Begira Elkartea, will take place in Bilbao and other Basque cities and towns from 13 to 28 December 2025.

Zinetxiki Zinemaldia aims at offering worldwide quality audiovisual contents to a family audience. Through the projection of selected works in several competitive categories, the festival seeks to promote the audiovisual education and the creation of new audiences.

Cash Prizes: 200€

JUDGING PANEL AND AWARDS

The judging panel of Zinetxiki Zinemaldia will be made up of expert professionals from the cinema field, with a long trajectory and diverse experience. The composition of the panel will be communicated on the festival’s website by November 2025.

To assess the participating films, the judging panel will take into account the technical part, through aspects such as photography or animation technique among others; as well as the script, prioritising plural content and a values-based education.

People responsible for the winning works will be notified via e-mail and awards will be announced publicly during the celebration of Zinetxiki Zinemaldia.

Awards will seek to internationally recognise audiovisual works of the highest quality and best content for family audiences, as a contribution from the festival to the promotion of the film. Likewise, the awards will include an economic contribution in support of the promotion and dissemination of the film by its author.

Official awards are as follows:

• Jury award for the best film for children from 2 years old (€200).

• Jury's award for the best film for children from 5 years old (€200).

• Jury award for the best film for children from 7 years old (€200).

• Jury award for the best children's and young film made by film school students and new directors (€200).

• Jury's award for the best children's short film on film and education (€200).

2. WHICH FILMS CAN BE SUBMITTED?

Any audiovisual work - fiction, animation, documentary or experimental -, produced for the cinema, television and any other screening platform. Only works that have been produced after 1 January 2023 will be accepted.

Films submitted to the festival must be addressed to children or young audiences, or must include children or young people in the leading role.

Any short or feature films that have been awarded or shown in other film festivals can also be submitted.

To enter the competition, films must be submitted by 31 May 2025 in any of the following categories:

• Short films for children + 2 years’ old (This category includes children's films, web series, television content aimed at a family audience of 2 years of age and older. Maximum duration 12min).

• Short films for children + 5 years’ old (This category includes children's films, web series, TV contents aimed at a family audience from 5 years of age onwards. Maximum duration 12min).

• Short films for children + 7 years’ old (This category includes children's films, web series, TV contents aimed at a family audience from 7 years of age onwards. Maximum duration 12min).

• Children's film made by film school students and new directors. (This category will include films for children and young, created by film school students or new creators with no age limit. Given that this year 2025 marks the 77th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this category will also include short films with content related to the theme of human rights and SDGs).

• Children's short film by Cine y Educación (This category is aimed at short films made by students from primary, secondary and high schools. The contents that transmit values of integration, coexistence, respect, tolerance, equality, environment, etc. are valued. Maximum duration 12min).


3. TECHNICAL CRITERIA

The official languages of Zinetxiki Zinemaldia are Spanish, Basque and english.

a) Selection process

Films submitted to enter the competition must include a web address (URL) on the entry form for the festival’s Organisation to watch the film. URL links, private and password-protected, must be available until 14 November 2025.

Films submitted in different languages from the official ones, will have to attach Spanish/english subtitles and their corresponding timecodes in .srt or similar.

The Organisation might consider dubbing or subtitling short films in languages other than Spanish or Basque. Thus, it is requested to provide audio files, subtitles and dialogues in english or Spanish, with their corresponding timecodes.

For feature films that include dialogues in a language different from Basque, Spanish or english, those dialogues must be separately provided in english.

b) Screening of the official section

The person responsible for the entry (director, producer or distributor) commits to provide the final copy for screening before 14 July 2025.

Short films must be submited in .mp4 or .mkv format with a minimum resolution of 1900x1080p. Works will be preferably submitted digitally through tools such as Wetransfer, FTP or Dropbox; platforms like Festhome; or or by a download link via email to komunikazioa@zinetxiki.com.


5. GENERAL RULES AND TERMS

The person responsible for the film entry certifies to be the author or rights owner of the submitted work.

One person or organisation can submit several films to the festival, but not the same film in different categories.

When entering the competition, film authors will automatically authorise Zinetxiki Zinemaldia to use clips of the submitted films for promotion through television, online and other broadcast media.

Participants will temporarily transfer the film’s rights for the its projection by the Zinetxiki Zinemaldia in its different formats, including the educational section Zineskola.

Awarded works at the Zinetxiki Zinemaldia will include a written reference of the obtained recognition at the beginning/end of all the film copies that are made for their exhibition in commercial and/or audio-visual contests, as well as in all the informative material. The aforementioned reference will invariably include the corporate image (logo and name) of Zinetxiki Zinemaldia, which will be provided by the Organisation. Likewise, the award will be announced through the social media platforms used by the person responsible for the work, using the hashtag #zinetxiki25 and handles of the official festival account @BegiraElkartea.