• Filmmakers whose careers have grown alongside the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival will show the evolution of the island audiovisual industry
• Four feature films and fourteen short films make up this section devoted to Canarian cinema, which now comes marked by powerful landscapes, the environment and the ravages of the past
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, April 10, 2026.- Canarias Cinema has always offered a panoramic view of the current state of our island audiovisual production, and in this 25th edition of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival (April 23 to May 3) things won’t be any different: the section devoted to Canarian cinema will screen eighteen new pieces including four features films and fourteen short films.
In this current edition, the competing pieces revolve around powerful landscapes, the environment, and the cultural, social and historical memory.
Feature films
As a result of its commitment to local production, Canarias Cinema has showcased the continuous growth of Canarian filmmakers beside the Gran-Canarian event. One of those artists is Tenerife-native producer and director José Ángel Alayón, who participated in previous editions with films such as Entre perro y lobo (which he produced in 2020) or Slimane (which won the Richard Leacock Award in 2014), and is now competing with the feature La lucha / Dance of the Living (2025), a family story built around Canarian wrestling and the Fuerteventura landscape.
Arima León is another one of the filmmakers whose career has grown within the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. After having competed in Canarias Cinema with six different short films, from Elektra (2018) to Koyas (2025), she has finally made her first feature film: Tal vez / Love on a Tightrope, a drama about homosexuality in the sixties.
The Canarian production company La Banda Negra is one of the driving figures behind Krakatoa (2025), a feature by Carlos Casas who has already been well-received in other film festivals. The island company, run by Helena Girón and Samuel M. Delgado, has become a force to be reckoned with in recent years thanks to short films such as Bloom (2023) and the mythological approach of their productions.
The last feature competing in this edition of Canarias Cinema is Isabel Fernández’s Por qué no escribo nada / Why I Don’t Write Anything, a documentary about writer Carmen Laforet’s life which has been co-produced by the Canarian company Imaco 89 and that will premiere prior to its arrival in Gran Canaria at the Barcelona Film Fest.
Short films
Fourteen short films have been selected for one of the most anticipated sections of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. Several filmmakers who have already left their mark in the Gran-Canarian event will return with new pieces in which their personal filming styles are even more defined: Marta Torrecilla with Somos islas / We Are Islands, Fátima Luzardo with Querido diario / Dear Diary, or Fernando Alcántara with Acúfeno / Tinnitus. Additionally, Octavio Guerra, who didn’t want to miss the section he is so familiar with (he competed in 2018 with the feature In Search of Oscar), has now made La mujer imaginada / The Imagined Woman.
David Delgado San Ginés is another regular of Canarias Cinema whose Sonidos en el monte / Sounds in the Countryside is competing in this year’s edition. Likewise, Jesús F. Cruz will be returning with Elles son, cruces de neón / Them, the Neon Crosses. For her part, Cayetana H. Cuyás, whose first feature screened in the 2025 Film Festival (The Prado & The Moon), will premiere Escultura / Is Culture. And Nayra Sanz Fuentes, who made her debut back in 2009 with Anniversary and has participated in several editions since, is coming back with Cosecha / Harvest.
Carla Valdés, Cuban programmer of Festival Insularia, also participates in this section with Mariners. And the founders of the Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote, Marco Arrocha and Busky Curbelo, will do so with Las mayorets / The Mayorettes.
Yon Bengoechea (Toma tierra / Take Ground) and Lucía Grimaldi (El pez rojo / The Red Fish) have now taken the mantle of directors after having previously participated in the festival while being in charge of other functions within the filming process. Paula C. Ventura (documentary maker) and Javi Armas (screenwriter and actor) have directed Kipuka, set in the aftermath of La Palma’s volcanic eruption. And, last but not least, actress Marte Fuenar has created the intense short film Muy bien / Great.
Thus, these fourteen short films make up a diverse selection of pieces which showcases different approaches and sensitivities on screen while painting an accurate panorama of current Canarian film production.
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