Twenty-five years of film in Almería, from Friday 13 to Sunday 22 November. Here is what has been announced, the provisional day-by-day programme and where everything is. And what is still missing, which we will add as the Provincial Council announces it.
Poster by Mariano Carmona. A tribute to 60 years of «The Good, the Bad and the Ugly».
13 → 22November
XXVeditions
100+activities
€113,900in prizes, across three competitions
60 yearsof «The Good, the Bad and the Ugly»
What we know and what we don’t yet.
Five weeks before the festival, the Provincial Council has announced the dates, the poster, the opening gala and the prizes. The films, honorees and guests will come over the next few weeks.
Already announced
13 → 22 NovemberTen days, the 25th edition. Organised by the Almería Provincial Council.
Over a hundred activitiesSo said the Provincial Council when it unveiled the poster. In 2025, all of them were free.
The opening galaFriday 13, at 20:30, at the Maestro Padilla Auditorium. By invitation.
€113,900 across three competitionsShort films, Ópera Prima and Almería projects. Plus the TV series award, whose rules are already approved.
To be announced
19 OctoberThe Ópera Prima filmsThe Provincial Council announces the selection that day.
Early NovemberThe honoreesThe «Almería, Tierra de Cine» award and the rest. In 2025 they were announced on 10 November.
No date yetThe venue replacing the CervantesThe theatre is closed for works and the Provincial Council «is studying different options».
No date yetThe closing galaNo time or place yet. In 2025 it was on the last Saturday, at the Maestro Padilla.
No date yetJuries, hosts and selected short filmsSelected short films have been notified since 21 September, but the list has not been published.
No Teatro Cervantes this year
The Cervantes, where FICAL screened Ópera Prima and held the short film gala, is closed for works since the Cajamar Foundation took it over, and will be «for the next few years». That is why many sessions appear here as venue to be confirmed.
Before the festival, already on.
FICAL does not start on the 13th: award-winning shorts are touring the province and the library has its own series. What is left between now and the gala.
At the municipal box office of Teatro Apolo, the Thursday before the gala.
Galas
By invitation
Provisional
The programme, day by day.
This is the provisional list on the festival website: days, times and venues, still without films or guests. We will add names as they are announced. Tap a day on the ribbon to jump to it.
Show only:
13NovemberFriday
The opening gala
The 25th edition opens at the Maestro Padilla Auditorium with the «Almería, Tierra de Cine» award. Who receives it is not known yet: in 2025 it was announced on 10 November.
By invitation only: collect it on Thursday 12, 10:00 to 14:00, at the municipal box office of Teatro Apolo. Host, honoree and music to be announced.
Galas
By invitation
Nothing of what you picked happens on this day.
14NovemberSaturday
Ópera Prima and the talks begin
First full day: the first competing film and the first panel talk, at the same time.
17:30
Ópera Prima I
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
17:30
Panel talk I
Almería Provincial Council · Patio de Luces · Directions ↗
Free entry until full, and streamed live. The topic and guests have not been announced yet.
Panel talks
Free entry
Nothing of what you picked happens on this day.
15NovemberSunday
Ópera Prima double bill
Two competing films, early evening and at night, with a panel talk in between.
17:30
Ópera Prima II
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
19:00
Panel talk II
Almería Provincial Council · Patio de Luces · Directions ↗
Free entry until full, and streamed live. The topic and guests have not been announced yet.
Panel talks
Free entry
21:00
Ópera Prima III
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
Nothing of what you picked happens on this day.
16NovemberMonday
Two talks and two films
The festival’s only morning panel talk, at noon, and another in the evening.
12:00
Panel talk III
Almería Provincial Council · Patio de Luces · Directions ↗
Free entry until full, and streamed live. The topic and guests have not been announced yet.
Panel talks
Free entry
17:30
Ópera Prima IV
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
19:00
Panel talk IV
Almería Provincial Council · Patio de Luces · Directions ↗
Free entry until full, and streamed live. The topic and guests have not been announced yet.
Panel talks
Free entry
21:00
Ópera Prima V
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
Nothing of what you picked happens on this day.
17NovemberTuesday
Ópera Prima, evening and night
Two competition screenings and the fifth panel talk.
17:30
Ópera Prima VI
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
19:00
Panel talk V
Almería Provincial Council · Patio de Luces · Directions ↗
Free entry until full, and streamed live. The topic and guests have not been announced yet.
Panel talks
Free entry
21:00
Ópera Prima VII
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
Nothing of what you picked happens on this day.
18NovemberWednesday
Ópera Prima at the Apolo
A single session, and this one does have a venue: Teatro Apolo.
Free entry until full, and streamed live. The topic and guests have not been announced yet.
Panel talks
Free entry
21:00
Ópera Prima IX
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
Nothing of what you picked happens on this day.
20NovemberFriday
Ópera Prima, final stretch
The second-to-last pair of competing films.
17:30
Ópera Prima X
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
21:00
Ópera Prima XI
Venue to be confirmed
A session of the first-feature competition. The selection is announced on 19 October. The festival website still lists it at Teatro Cervantes, which is closed for works. We will add the venue as soon as the Provincial Council announces it.
Ópera Prima
Nothing of what you picked happens on this day.
21NovemberSaturday
The last Ópera Prima film
The twelfth competing film, at the Apolo, and a talk at MUREC.
In 2025, all hundred-plus activities were free, and the galas were by invitation. For 2026, the festival website lists the panel talks as free entry until full and the opening gala by invitation. Nothing else has a published price yet.
The competitions and what they award.
Four competitions: short films, debut features, projects from the province and TV series.
Almería en corto
€28,600in prizes
The international short film competition, where the festival began.
The prizes
International, €7,000 · National, €4,000 · Audience, €2,700 · Andalusian (ASECAN), €2,300 · Almería, €2,200 · Ibero-American, €2,200 · Documentary, €2,200 · Direction, screenplay, cinematography, art direction and female and male performance, €1,000 each · And Amnesty International’s Human Rights award.
Ópera Prima
€42,000in prizes
Feature films by first-time directors released since 1 September 2025. Twelve screenings during the festival.
The prizes
Best feature, €18,000 · Special jury prize, €6,000 · Documentary, €6,000 · Direction, screenplay and female performance, €3,000 each · Eduardo Fajardo award for male performance, €3,000.
Almería projects
€43,300in prizes
Money to shoot: it funds audiovisual production projects from the province.
The prizes
Kiko Medina award for best feature, €18,000 · Second feature, €10,600 · Best short, €8,500 · Second short, €6,200.
TV series
The 6th National TV Series Competition. Its rules were approved on 20 July.
The prizes
This year’s categories have not been published yet.
Where everything is.
The festival is spread around the centre of Almería and El Zapillo. Everything except La Casa del Cine is walkable.
This year’s poster looks back at exactly that: the camera, the desert and Sergio Leone’s man with no name, who sixty years ago was shooting «The Good, the Bad and the Ugly» here. That same year, 1966, John Lennon wrote «Strawberry Fields Forever» in the country house that is now La Casa del Cine.
Almost 500 films
Shot in the province, according to La Casa del Cine. The first, an advert in 1927.
The Tabernas desert
The setting for Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. The western towns can be visited: Fort Bravo opens from 9:00 to 19:00.
Cabo de Gata
Scenes from «Lawrence of Arabia» were shot here, and from «Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade» on Mónsul beach.
And it goes on
The regional government puts its support for 59 Andalusian productions this year at almost €6 million.
The 2025 winners, to give you an idea
What the 24th edition awarded. These are not this year’s.
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