Facom Fest (5)

Festival start: 23 November 2026      Festival end: 26 November 2026

About the festival.

Facom Fest is, in a few words, “a Galician audiovisual festival for students”. Consequently, its main interest lies in its commitment to Galician production and its focus on the student body. In this edition, we intend to give the greatest possible visibility to all filmmakers from Galicia. However, there is also room for other nationalities depending on the section.

From the festival organization, our position as students plays a crucial role in establishing dialogues with the participants. For this reason, despite being in a learning process ourselves, we hope to build a collectively enriching and nurturing dynamic. That is to say, to be able to share, among peers, a wealth of ideas, techniques… And even form a team!

As you surely know, often the projects we develop during this academic stage do not reach the dissemination we would like. Consequently, we intend to allow these works to opt for having their run on the screens. Crossing borders often seems like a complicated milestone in the professional world, so we hope this window can be useful.

Thus, in this new edition we dedicate our attention to students who are currently enrolled, or who completed their studies during or after the 2024-2025 academic year, at any university, or training center of any educational level, regardless of the geographical location.

This new edition of Facom Fest 2026 will take place between November 23th and 26th, 2026, in Santiago de Compostela. We look forward to seeing you!

Cash Prizes: 200€

Jury and awards

There will be awards within the competitive section, formed by the three categories cited previously (Galician fiction plus non-fiction, national fiction plus non-fiction, and national music video). These will be recognized with trophies and accrediting diplomas and, additionally:

In the case of Galician fiction plus non-fiction: a prize valued at €200 and a 4-hour virtual mentorship on the world of distribution and promotion with the distributor La Machina for the production team. This mentorship can be condensed into a single session or divided into two sessions of two hours depending on availability.

In the case of national fiction and non-fiction: a prize valued at €200.

In the case of national music video: a prize valued at €200.

In addition to this, the jury will have the freedom to grant as many mentions and types of mentions as they deem appropriate within this section for the works they consider fit, both in the competitive and non-competitive sections. The organization reserves the right to additionally grant an honorable mention to any piece(s) that extraordinarily represent the values of the festival.

Finally, there will be an Audience Award that will be recognized with a diploma. The procedure to award it will be based on screening a QR code on the screen at the end of each category's projection in the competitive section. The attending audience will be able to scan it and take part in a vote where all pieces will be rated individually from 1 to 5. With this, an average score will be calculated for each work. The piece with the highest score will win, and in case of a tie, the one with the highest number of maximum scores. In the event of a tie by this method as well, both pieces will receive recognition, resulting in two Audience Awards. For this prize, all pieces from all categories of the competitive section compete, regardless of their category.

Within the competitive section, there will be a jury for each category composed of three people (one youth jury member and two professional jury members) in order to allow for a broader range of perceptions and evaluations. Therefore, we will have the Galician Jury, the Spanish Jury, and the Music Video Jury.

The youth jury will be formed by USC student members who offer to participate in this activity by filling out a form. 3 people will be selected by the organization.

The professional jury will consist of two individuals dedicated to the audiovisual sector with grounded cinephile judgment and experience. Each member of the professional jury will participate in selecting pieces for one of the festival sections, alongside one of the three different youth jury members. Thus, each jury will be composed of two professionals and one youth member.

We highlight our commitment to avoiding the reproduction of inequalities in terms of gender, origin, and identity, as well as ensuring balanced representation. We reaffirm our commitment to gender equality and the visibility of oppressed minorities regarding the configuration of both the jury and the programming.

1. Sections.

1.1. Competitive.

From the festival programming team, we consider that, in the context of the 21st century, the boundaries between the different film modalities are increasingly blurred. At present, fiction and non-fiction present numerous points of convergence, while at the same time proposals of a more experimental nature emerge that, in our view, should not be relegated to a separate category. In this way, we believe that the fairest approach is to condense all types of film within the same framework.

Furthermore, as a novelty compared to the previous edition, the programming department has decided to incorporate a music video category into the competitive section. Since this is a format that is often forgotten in festivals, we want to vindicate its value and offer it a space of its own within the competitive line-up.

Thus, as previously indicated, anyone currently studying or who completed their studies in the 2024-2025 academic year may submit works belonging to any genre or modality, but completing their registration in one of these three categories:

1.1.1. Galician Official Section: In the Galician category, works made by the following may participate:

* Galician students enrolled in a Galician university or study center;
* Galician students who created their work in an academic institution outside Galician territory;
* Non-Galician students who created their work while carrying out their studies at a Galician university or study center.
For a project to be eligible for this category, regardless of the creator's origin, it must have a 60% Galician crew (people born in Galicia or residing in Galician territory).

1.1.2. Spanish Official Section: The national section includes works made by:

* Spanish (non-Galician) students enrolled in a university or study center within Spanish territory, with the exception of Galician study centers.
* Spanish students who created their work in an academic institution outside Spanish territory.
* Students who are neither Spanish nor Galician enrolled in a university or study center located within Spanish territory.

1.1.3. Music Video: This section will include short films that visually represent and contain a musical piece coming from both Galicia and any other point of Spanish territory.

1.2. Non-competitive.

The non-competitive section will be intended to showcase pieces that fall outside the competitive framework. This can occur for two reasons: the first being the authors' own desire to show their projects outside the competitive context. The second being the nature of the pieces themselves: the organization opens a space in this section for works that do not fit into the categories indicated above (international films, advertising, fashion films, pieces made by people who do not meet the requirements to compete...), as well as for those works considered unsuitable for competition due to inequality of resources.

As a novelty in this edition, the festival programming department has decided to add a FACOM SHOWCASE (MOSTRA FACOM) to the non-competitive section, intended for the screening of works made by students and alumni of the Faculty. With this initiative, the festival seeks to engage with the academic community and encourage both current and graduated students to submit their works, thus promoting their involvement and recognizing the talent and creativity emerging from the Faculty. It should be clarified that the inclusion of this showcase does not exclude works made by faculty students from being part of the competitive section. This section exists as an honorary tribute to FaCom students, who deserve to have an exclusive space to highlight their creations. We want to grant this showcase to our peers so they can display all their talent.

The selected pieces for this section will be included in the programming and screened at the festival in categories to be determined at a later date, once entries are received, without exceeding the limit of three sections in addition to the FACOM Showcase.

2. Submission of works.

2.1. Requirements.

The submission period for works ranges from October 16th to November 3rd, 2026. Once closed, the festival organization will form a selection committee that will decide which works form part of the program. Each director may submit a maximum of 3 works, with an independent submission for each. The person submitting a work to the festival must hold the rights to that piece.

If the work is chosen, the author will be contacted prior to the announcement of the line-up to ensure their agreement with the assigned category and the screening of their piece. The festival reserves the rights to exhibit the selected works for a period of one year for screening at other potential events in Galician universities and study centers, always for non-profit purposes.

As previously mentioned, it is essential that all works are created by students from academic centers with education that grants an official degree. Likewise, all works submitted for both the competitive and non-competitive sections must have been finished, at the earliest, on January 1st, 2025.

For the competitive section, it is an essential requirement that any person or team submitting their works includes a link to a shared folder that contains a dossier of the piece in editable format (.docx or .odt) along with graphic materials provided separately. In case of selection, the information and materials provided may be used for the creation of content on the festival's website and social media networks.

This dossier must include the following data where applicable:

* Title of the work
* Year of completion
* Country of production
* Educational center
* Last year of enrollment
* Language of the work
* Duration of the work
* Direction
* Production
* Screenplay / Writing
* Cast and characters
* Editing
* Cinematography
* Sound
* Original soundtrack
* Production design / Art direction
* Brief synopsis/summary of the piece (between 25 and 250 words)
Previous background/run of the piece, specifying in what context it was made and if it was selected in any contest or festival previously.

The graphic materials that must be attached are:

* Film stills and poster (if available)
* Trailer or teaser (if available; in place of a file, a downloadable link to the clip is also accepted)

Those works sent without attaching the requested information will be contacted and will have two business days to complete the information, as well as those missing the previously required data. If they do not meet that deadline, they will be automatically discarded.

3.1.1. Technical specifications.

* Duration: 60 minutes maximum.
* Resolution: minimum 720p and maximum 1080p upon submission. Selected works must provide a version in 1080p or the highest quality available for screening when the festival contacts the authors.
* File formats: .mp4, .mov or QuickTime.
* Codec: H.264 or H.265.
* Subtitles for works made in languages other than Galician or Spanish (.srt format). If it is not possible, due to technical or practical incompatibility, to provide subtitles in either of these two languages, English subtitles must be attached.