Espiello, Festival Internacional de Documental Etnográfico de Sobrarbe (24)

Festival start: 12 March 2027      Festival end: 21 March 2027

ESPIELLO, INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ETHNOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY is organized by the Service of Culture of the Comarca de Sobrarbe (an institution that it groups to 19 town halls) along with a wide participation of neighbors of the zone who form the Permanent Commission of the festival. It is celebrated during March and April in Boltaña, a small population of the Pyrenees of Huesca (Spain).

Espiello is the only festival with this specialization in the country. It has an international competition of ethnographic documentary and some different sections out of competition and other activities whith topics related to the documentary and the visual anthropology.

Cash Prizes: 7,100€

AWARDS

The following awards will be granted against item 2027.334022625 of the regional budget:

• ESPIELLO Award: endowed with two thousand four hundred euros (€2,400) and a trophy for the best documentary.

• ESPIELLO RECHIRA Award: endowed with one thousand euros (€1,000) and a trophy for the best research work.

• ESPIELLO CHOBEN Award: endowed with one thousand euros (€1,000) and a trophy for the best documentary made by individuals under 36 years of age. (Age must be verified with a photocopy of an identity document or passport).

• ESPIELLO PIRINEOS Award: endowed with one thousand euros (€1,000) and a trophy for the best mountain documentary (society, ways of life, traditions of mountain areas...).

• ESPIELLO BOLTAÑA Award: endowed with eight hundred euros (€800) and a trophy for the documentary best voted by the public, presented by the City Council of Boltaña.

• ARAGON TV Award: endowed with nine hundred euros (€900) as a transfer of rights for the broadcasting of the audiovisual work on any of Aragon TV's channels, as well as the promotion and dissemination of said work.

These awards, in accordance with the provisions of Article 56 of Royal Decree 887/2006, of July 21, which approves the Regulation of the General Law on Subsidies 38/2003, of November 17, are estimated in nature, expressly stating that the granting of the same is conditioned upon the existence of adequate and sufficient credit at the time of the resolution of the concession.

The jury will have an international character and will be composed of 5 prestigious personalities from the cinematographic, audiovisual, anthropological, and cultural world, who will be appointed by the organization, with a quorum of 3 members. The jury reserves the right to award any runner-up prizes (accésits) it deems appropriate, as well as to declare any award void. None of the listed awards may be granted ex-aequo (shared). The only cumulative awards will be the one granted by the public and the one granted by Aragón TV.

Within the framework of the festival, several honorary awards and the ESPIELLO AGORA X L'ARAGONÉS Award for the best audiovisual in Aragonese made in 2026, which has its own call, will be presented. The organization reserves the possibility of incorporating new awards.

FESTIVAL REGULATIONS

The Sobrarbe County Council organises the 24th Sobrarbe International Ethnographic Documentary Film Festival, Espiello, to be held in Boltaña (Huesca, Spain) from 12 to 21 March 2027, together with its extension "Espiello baixo as estrelas", which will take place during the month of August in several municipalities of Sobrarbe (a selection of festival screenings in an open-air summer cinema format).

GENERAL CONDITIONS

1.Ethnographic documentary is understood, in a broad and interdisciplinary sense, as documentary productions whose primary purpose is to present aspects related to ways of living and understanding life within a culture.

2. All productions completed after 1 January 2021, with a minimum running time of 5 minutes and a maximum running time of 90 minutes, may be entered in the festival. Productions submitted to previous editions of the festival, those whose persons responsible are connected with the organisation, and those of a tourist or advertising nature shall not be eligible.

3. Each director may submit a maximum of three documentaries.

4. Films shall be submitted in their original language. Those whose original version is not in Spanish must be subtitled in Spanish or, exceptionally, in english.


ENTRIES

5. The submission period shall run from 1 September to 15 October 2026.

6. Entries shall be submitted online through the FESTHOME platform by completing the required fields and uploading the file with the necessary subtitles embedded and available for download. Participants who, due to their geographical location and/or conflicts in their country, are unable to register online may request to participate in the competition by contacting the festival at the following email address: info@espiello.com.

SELECTED DOCUMENTARIES

7. The Festival Management shall appoint a Pre-selection Jury composed of students, professionals, experts in anthropology and/or audiovisual media, members of the Festival Standing Committee, and residents of Sobrarbe. This Jury shall be responsible for viewing and evaluating the works submitted and for deciding the Official Selection, taking into account criteria of technical, artistic and scientific quality.

8. Representatives of the selected works shall be informed by email before 12 February 2027 (this date may be extended if required by the organisation). Within 7 days, they must provide the screening copy, preferably in DCP or another HD digital format, indicating the title, format, screen type and sound format, together with the information required for the festival catalogue (press kit, three stills, bio-filmography, director's photograph and poster), as well as english subtitles, where available. The organisation may exclude the work if this requirement is not fulfilled. Once the reference has been included in the catalogue, the film may not be unilaterally withdrawn from the competition.

9. The organisation shall cover the accommodation and meals of one person per selected documentary, from dinner on Friday, 19 March until lunch on Sunday, 21 March 20. Subject to budget availability, a travel allowance of up to €10 for travel within Spain and up to €250 for travel from abroad shall also be provided in cash.

10. The selected documentaries shall become part of the Festival Documentary Archive for the purposes of preservation, research, documentation and private consultation for educational or scientific purposes, without this implying any transfer of intellectual property rights or exploitation rights in the works.

11. The Festival shall not pay any fee to the authors or other persons responsible for the selected works for their screening.

12. The Festival may create parallel sections including works that have not been selected for the competition but are considered of interest for screening, subject to prior agreement with the corresponding directors or producers.

13. The Festival may screen the documentaries selected for the competition section at possible venues running simultaneously with the Festival and as part of the ‘Espiello baixo as estrelas’ programme.

OTHER COMMENTS

17. For the promotion of the festival, the Espiello organization is authorized to publicly use fragments of the selected films of up to three minutes in duration, as well as photographs, film stills, posters, synopses, and other promotional materials provided by the participants. This use may be carried out in mass media, printed publications, websites, social networks, and any other media intended exclusively for the promotion and dissemination of the festival and its activities.

18. Once the festival has concluded, Espiello may exhibit the selected works in showcases, cultural, educational, or dissemination programs organized directly by the Comarca de Sobrarbe or by the festival itself, always on a non-profit basis, prior communication to the persons responsible for the work and properly citing their authorship.

Likewise, non-selected films may be used exclusively for cultural, educational, or pedagogical activities promoted by the Comarca de Sobrarbe, on a non-profit basis and respecting at all times the moral rights of their authors.
In no case shall this authorization imply the transfer of the exploitation rights of the works, nor shall it authorize the organization for their commercialization or transfer to third parties.

19. The person who registers the work declares and guarantees that they have all the authorizations, licenses, transfers of rights, and consents necessary for the participation of the work in the festival and for the uses provided for in these rules.

Likewise, they guarantee that the presented work does not infringe intellectual or industrial property rights, rights to honor, privacy, and self-image, personal data protection regulations, or any other rights of third parties.
The participant will be solely responsible for any judicial or extrajudicial claim derived from the content of the work or the use of protected materials, including images, sound recordings, music, photographs, audiovisual files, performances, trademarks, trade names, or any other element incorporated into the production, holding the festival organization harmless from any claim, damage, cost, or liability that could arise.

20. The registration of a documentary implies the full acceptance of these rules. The organization will resolve any issues that may arise regarding their interpretation and application, respecting in all cases the principles of objectivity, equal treatment, and legal certainty.

21. The festival may be held using a mixed formula, in-person and online.

22. The organization may modify the dates for justified reasons, informing the participants of the new dates.

23. The regulatory framework in which this regulation is inscribed proscribes discrimination on the grounds of sex. In this context, variable nouns or agreed common nouns must be interpreted in an inclusive sense of women and men, when dealing with terms of masculine grammatical gender referring to persons or groups of persons not specifically identified.

24. This regulation is published in Spanish and english. For any difficulty in interpretation, the reference text is Spanish.

PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA

25. The personal data provided by the participants will be processed by the Comarca de Sobrarbe, as the data controller, for the purpose of managing participation in the Espiello Sobrarbe International Ethnographic Documentary Festival, carrying out communications related to the contest, managing the selection of works, the delivery of awards, the organization of activities linked to the festival, and the dissemination of the same.

The legal basis for the processing will be the execution of the relationship derived from participation in the festival, compliance with legal obligations, and, where appropriate, the consent granted by the data subjects.

The data will be kept for the time necessary for the correct management of the festival and during the periods required by applicable regulations.

They may be communicated to public administrations, collaborating entities, members of the juries, and service providers when necessary for the management of the contest.

The data subjects may exercise the rights of access, rectification, erasure, objection, restriction of processing, and data portability under the terms established by current regulations on data protection.

Participation in the festival implies the knowledge and acceptance of this data protection clause.

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND AUTHENTICITY OF CONTENTS

26. The presented works may incorporate artificial intelligence tools during the research, production, editing, or post-production processes, provided that their use respects current legislation and the rights of third parties.

Participants guarantee that they possess the necessary rights, permissions, or authorizations for all materials used in the work, including those generated or modified through artificial intelligence systems.

When a film incorporates images, voices, testimonies, recreations, or any other content generated or altered through artificial intelligence in a way that may affect the perception of the authenticity of the documented facts, the organization may require additional information about the production process and request that this circumstance be communicated to the public or the jury.

The deliberate concealment of the use of content generated through artificial intelligence when relevant to the assessment of the work may lead to its exclusion from the selection or, where appropriate, the withdrawal of any awarded prize.

The organization reserves the right to request clarifications regarding the technical and creative procedures employed in the making of the participating works.