Emergente CineLab 2025 (9)

Festival start: 04 November 2025      Festival end: 05 November 2025

Emergente! Designed for up-and-coming creators from Spain and Latin America with fiction, documentary, animation, or experimental projects in development, it aims to become a vibrant meeting point for new producers and storytellers. Its mission is to showcase emerging Spanish-speaking talent to the world and boost the international short film industry through development, financing, and co-production opportunities.

They will be announced at a later stage.

Participation Rules

emergente! CINE LAB is a Short Film Development Lab and Co-Production Forum, organized by AIC (Short Film Industry Association).

With the support of the Ministry of Culture, Madrid City Council and EGEDA, we consolidate ourselves in this ninth edition as the world’s first laboratory specialized in the development of short films for emerging Spanish-speaking creators, as well as an international short film co-production forum for Europe and Latin America.

Once again, we continue working to identify and foster the professional growth of the best emerging audiovisual talent in Spanish worldwide, with the aim of being the first promoters of this young talent before a national and international audiovisual industry that is always in search of new perspectives. We provide a meeting and growth point for emerging audiovisual screenwriters, producers, and directors in Spanish, working together on the development, financing, and national and international co-production of their short film projects.

After receiving 300 projects from 16 different countries last year, this year our call is definitively open to Spanish-speaking creators and producers from any country in the world. You are all welcome.

Given the unstoppable growth in applications in recent editions, for the fourth consecutive year we will focus exclusively on emerging creators (screenwriters, directors, and producers): those who are developing their first or second professional film work (1).

In this edition, for the first time, project submissions to our professional event will be made exclusively through the Festhome platform.

Spanish production companies (legal entities or individuals): €15.

AIC members: €10.

Spanish professionals (directors and/or screenwriters): €10.

Production companies outside Spain (legal entities or individuals): $10 USD.

Professionals outside Spain (directors and/or screenwriters): $10 USD.

We are looking for projects with the following characteristics:

That they are in any stage of development (no prior financing required).

That they are submitted by:

a complete creative team (screenwriter, director, and producer),

a screenwriter and a director (seeking a producer),

or solely a screenwriter (seeking a director and producer).

That they offer real narrative possibilities for raising an international co-production between Latin America, Spain, and Europe.

The selected projects and their representatives will work during our development lab, where creative aspects will be developed and essential facets of current production will be addressed. This work will take place online during the month of October, and in person on November 4 and 5.

As the final point of this process, the projects will be publicly presented at our international co-production forum, in person, before potential co-producers, investors, and TV broadcasters from Spain and other countries in Latin America and Europe. This event will take place on November 4 and 5 in Madrid.

Short film creators (screenwriters, directors, and producers) wishing to participate with one of their projects in emergente CINE LAB! must meet the following conditions:

Short film projects of any genre and format (fiction, documentary), whether live action or animation, in Spanish (as well as any other co-official language), will be accepted, at any stage of development, seeking further development and financing.

The person submitting the official entry must be an independent screenwriter, director, or producer who has not yet written/directed/produced more than two professional film works.

If submitted by a producer, they must be legally recognized in their country as a production legal entity (company) or production natural person (individual), and must provide proof of registration in the corresponding national registry or an official certificate accrediting this.

The final deadline for submissions is September 15, 2025.

Each applicant must complete all fields in the entry form.

Required documentation:

Entry form through Festhome (via this link).

Screenplay.

Complete project dossier, with a maximum length of 15 pages. In the case of a project seeking a producer, points d and e of this section will not be mandatory:
a. Synopsis (max. 2 pages).
b. Creative or directorial statement (max. 5 pages): references, visual and filmmaking style, motivations, etc.
c. Committed technical and artistic teams, including short biofilmographies. If applicable, proposal for breakdown of these teams by territories or countries (max. 3 pages).
d. Production statement, including (max. 5 pages):

professional and creative motivations of the project,

what production, financing, or distribution needs it seeks to achieve in emergente CINE LAB! (search for co-producers, international investors, sales agents, distributors, TV broadcasters, territorial sales, etc.),

national and international co-production and financing strategy: with which countries or territories it wishes to connect,

exploitation strategy for the work, both nationally and internationally,

production calendar: development, production, post-production, and premiere.
e. Financial project.

Budget (summary by items) (max. 1 page).

Detailed financing plan, with a proposal for distribution among current (or pending) contributions from co-producing countries. Confirmed, estimated, or pending amounts must be specified (in the case of confirmed amounts, supporting documentation must be attached). (max. 1 page).

Production locations: proposal of territories, regions, or countries for development, production, or post-production of the project.

Optional documentation:

Video pitch.

Trailer or teaser of the project (or link access).

Summary reel of director’s previous work (link access).

Letters of commitment or interest from artistic and/or technical team members.

Once projects are received, documentation will be checked. Incomplete projects will be automatically rejected.

A committee of professionals selected and coordinated by AIC, in collaboration with its LATAM market partners, will choose between 6 and 12 projects from among all those submitted. Half of this selection will be reserved for projects that include a woman as screenwriter, director, or emerging executive producer.

Projects will be scored based on:

Originality and quality: script, characters, narrative structure, etc.

Risk-taking, innovation, and creativity of the proposals.

Talent and professional growth potential of the producers and creative leads (director and screenwriter).

Track record of the confirmed technical and artistic teams.

Potential for international distribution and exploitation of the works.

Real justification for a co-production or the need for international financing.

Inclusion of women in the creative and executive production teams, as well as in the leadership of different production departments.

Once the participating projects have been selected, the chosen applicants will be notified.

Three of the projects participating in this ninth edition of emergente CINE LAB! have already been pre-selected by three collaborating labs: one from BFM at the Bogoshorts Festival (Bogotá, Colombia), another from Curt Creixent at the Cinema Jove Festival (Valencia), and a third from ECAM Forum (Madrid). These three projects will participate in our lab phase and will be eligible for all awards.

The selected creators and producers must confirm their availability to attend the virtual lab sessions, as well as the in-person sessions of the co-production forum. If they cannot dedicate enough time to attend the lab phase, the selected projects will be withdrawn from the initial list.

emergente CINE LAB! will cover travel expenses in the event that the selected project is from outside the Autonomous Community of Madrid, and hotel expenses (1 night for projects from outside Madrid, and 2 nights for projects from outside Spain), for 1 team member and only if no team member resides in Madrid or Spain.

Selected projects will compete for different cash prizes and development awards at various forums in Spain, Europe, and Latin America, to be announced shortly.

All producers of the awarded short films agree to include the emergente CINE LAB! logo in a separate opening credit card of the final copy of their short film.

Participation in emergente CINE LAB! implies acceptance of these rules. The organization reserves the right to decide on any organizational aspects not expressly covered in these rules.

More information: emergentecinelab@gmail.com