Curtas – Festival do Imaxinario (53)

Festival start: 24 October 2025      Festival end: 02 November 2025

Selected as one of the Dread Central's Top 90 Best Genre Film Festivals on Earth. Founded in 1973, Curtas Festival do Imaxinario is a fantastic film festival specialising in Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy, held in Vilagarcía de Arousa, Galicia, in the northwest of Spain. It is the oldest film festival in Galicia and the biggest celebration of the fantastic in all its artistic expressions in the northwest of Spain.

Cash Prizes: 666€

Feature Films

◦ Best Feature Film. Trophy
◦ Best Director. Trophy
◦ Best Performance. Diploma
◦ Best Screenplay. Diploma
◦ Best Original Score. Diploma
◦ "Roberto Camba" Award for Best Special/Visual Effects or Cinematography
◦ Special International Jury Award. Diploma
◦ "Fantástica Latinoamérica" ​​Award for the best Latin American film of the Festival. Trophy

Short Films
◦ Best Short Film. Trophy + 666 euro
◦ Best Director. Trophy

Music Videos
◦ Best Music Video. Trophy

Transversal Awards
◦ Best Film "Made in Galicia". Trophy
◦ Best Director "Made in Galicia". Trophy

The Jury's decision is final.
The Jury may award special mentions to highlight the technical and artistic aspects of the competing works.

The awards may be shared (ex aequo).

Audience Awards.
Attendees of the Curtas Festival do Imaxinario will be able to vote through the Festival App for the Audience Award for Best Short Film and the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. Trophy.

REGULATIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN CURTAS FESTIVAL DO IMAXINARIO 2026

1. PARTICIPATION.
Curtas Festival do Imaxinario is now open to submissions for its 54th edition (2026) to short and feature films in the fantasy genre (horror, science fiction, fantasy, thriller, etc.), both live-action and animated. Productions of any nationality and in any language may be submitted.

Submissions for consideration by the Festival Programming Committee will be made through the FESTHOME digital platform (festhome.com).

The deadline for receiving viewing copies is August 1, 2026.

2. CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION.

The Programming Committee will only consider short films that meet the following conditions:

Official Fantastic Section (Short Films and Feature Films)

Production Date: All short films of any nationality, with a production date between 2025 and 2026, that have not previously been screened in Galicia, are eligible to participate. The selected short or feature film must reserve its premiere in Galicia for the Festival.

The Festival reserves the right to program short films from previous years, or those that have premiered in Galicia out of competition, in the Alucine section.

Running Time: Submitted short films must not exceed 20 minutes in length. Submitted feature films must have a minimum running time of 60 minutes.

The Festival reserves the right to make exceptions.

If the work has not been completed before the closing date of the call for submissions, the Festival will accept submissions of working copies or Work in Progress copies.

Formats: In order to minimize the festival's carbon footprint, the Festival will request screening files that can be submitted digitally (DCP, MOV, MP4, etc.). Only in exceptional cases will other formats be accepted.

Subtitles: If necessary, Spanish subtitles or appropriate material for subtitling the film must be provided: a download link and dialogue list and/or English subtitles. If the film is distributed in Spain, the distributor must provide the Festival with a screening copy in the original version with subtitles.

The Festival reserves the right to make specific exceptions to these rules.

Official Section "Made in Galicia" (Short Films)
Production Date: All short films whose production date is between 2025 and 2026 are eligible to participate. Prior screening in Galicia will be considered.

Nationality: Works of Galician production, or at least 20% of the productions are accredited, and/or Galician authorship (directors of Galician origin or with accredited residence in Galicia for more than two years).

Running Time: Submitted short films must not exceed 20 minutes.

The Festival reserves the right to make exceptions.

Formats: In order to minimize its carbon footprint, the Festival will request screening files that can be sent digitally (DCP, MOV, MP4, etc.). Other formats will only be accepted in exceptional cases.

Subtitles: Spanish and/or English subtitles must be provided. If the film is distributed in Spain, the distributor must provide the Festival with a screening copy in the original version with subtitles.

The Festival reserves the right to make specific exceptions to these rules.

3. Selection
Notification via the enabled platforms will be made by September 1, 2025. From this date, the Festival will contact the selected films, which will receive an additional entry form to formalize their participation in the Festival.

The Festival will not communicate individually the "non-selection" of works. Titles that have not received the request from the organization or have been notified by the platform as "not selected" will be excluded from the various selections.

The company or individual submitting the short film/feature film for participation in the Festival must provide publicity materials: photos, posters, press kits, trailers, clips, etc. so that the organization can promote the film appropriately. In order to reduce its carbon footprint, this material must be sent digitally. The Festival reserves the right not to return these promotional materials.

By accepting their participation, the producers and/or distributors of the selected films (short and feature films) authorize
the use of one or more excerpts from their title for dissemination as informational material in any media or institutional presentation. For these purposes, the producers and/or distributors will make available to the Festival Press Department a selection of sequences with a maximum duration of three minutes.

The selected works will guarantee and assign, solely and exclusively for the screening of the film at the festival, all necessary rights. They release the festival from any claim and/or liability arising from its screening.

Depending on programming needs, or motivated by the receipt of an award, the selected short or feature film may have more than one screening at the discretion of the organization, always with prior notification.

The submission of a film to the Festival implies full acceptance and compliance with these Regulations and any Annexes.

Once the Festival has selected a film for any of its sections and notified it, and once its participation has been confirmed by the production company/distributor who submitted it by submitting the entry form, participants may not withdraw their films from the program and will guarantee their premiere.

Selected films may be included in the following Festival sections:

◦ Official Fantastic Short Film Section. In competition.
◦ Official Fantastic Feature Film Section. In competition.
◦ Official Alucine Short Film Section. Out of competition.
◦ Official Alucine Feature Film Section. Out of competition.

The selection of a feature or short film to participate in any of the sections, or the receipt of an award, does not entail an invitation (including travel, accommodation, or subsistence allowances) to the distributor's representative, the director, or members of the artistic or technical team, etc. This decision will be subject to the Festival's discretion.

The Festival organizers reserve the right to invite any of the participants.

4. SCREENING COPIES.
The selected short and feature films must be made available to the Curtas Festival do Imaxinario organizers by September 25, 2026.

In order to minimize the festival's carbon footprint, the festival will request screening files that can be sent digitally (DCP, MOV, MP4, etc.). In exceptional cases, other formats may be accepted.

The Festival reserves the right to refuse copies that, after the necessary technical checks, are deemed unsuitable for screening. A new copy may be requested from the festival's representatives and/or authors.

If, for reasons beyond the organization's control, the screening copy cannot arrive in time for screening, the festival may replace the title with another.

If a physical screening copy is provided, the festival undertakes to return it as soon as possible, but no later than 20 days after the end of the festival.

5. PROGRAMMING.
Curtas Festival do Imaxinario will screen the selected short and feature films as part of its 2025 edition.

The festival organizers will decide the start and end dates of the event, as well as the screening days and times, which may vary depending on the festival's needs. Those interested will be notified in due time.

The date of the festival may be postponed or the screening days extended due to scheduling issues or circumstances not covered in these Regulations and due to force majeure.

The Festival will decide the screening time for each film.

6. AWARDS.
An International Jury made up of professionals involved in film and the fantasy genre will select the winning films from the Official Fantastic and Made in Galicia Section.

The following awards will be given:

Feature Films

◦ Best Feature Film. Trophy
◦ Best Director. Trophy
◦ Best Performance. Diploma
◦ Best Screenplay. Diploma
◦ Best Original Score. Diploma
◦ "Roberto Camba" Award for Best Special/Visual Effects or Cinematography
◦ Special International Jury Award. Diploma
◦ "Fantástica Latinoamérica" ​​Award for the best Latin American film of the Festival. Trophy

Short Films
◦ Best Short Film. Trophy + 666 euro
◦ Best Director. Trophy

Music Videos
◦ Best Music Video. Trophy

Transversal Awards
◦ Best Film "Made in Galicia". Trophy
◦ Best Director "Made in Galicia". Trophy

The Jury's decision is final.
The Jury may award special mentions to highlight the technical and artistic aspects of the competing works.

The awards may be shared (ex aequo).

Audience Awards.
Attendees of the Curtas Festival do Imaxinario will be able to vote through the Festival App for the Audience Award for Best Short Film and the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. Trophy.

7. LEGAL LIABILITY.
The contestant will be solely responsible for his or her short film/feature film in terms of copyright and/or civil, criminal, or any other type of liability or jurisdictional and/or administrative order arising from its content.

8. ACCEPTANCE OF THE REGULATIONS.

Participation in the Curtas Festival do Imaxinario implies full acceptance of these Regulations and any Annexes.

The interpretation of these Regulations will be the exclusive responsibility of the Festival organizers.

Any question or dispute not covered by these Regulations will be resolved by the Festival organizers.

In the event of a disagreement, the Festival organizers' judgment shall prevail.

These Regulations may be supplemented or modified, prior to the start date of this edition of the Curtas Festival do Imaxinario and with prior notification to the interested parties, with any additional annexes deemed appropriate by the members of the organization.