Film heritage, contemporary cinema and industry development shape this year’s programme
Play-Doc presents a focus on Maureen Fazendeiro and strengthens VENTURA as a platform for development and international co-production
Play-Doc returns for its 22nd edition, consolidating a distinctive model: a human-scale festival rooted in its surroundings, with a carefully curated programme and a strong international outlook. Based in the historic Spanish town of Tui, on the Portuguese border, the festival brings together avant-garde and tradition, emerging voices and established filmmakers, the local and the international, in a continuous exchange. The programme, already announced, includes retrospectives dedicated to Viola Stephan—presented here in her first international retrospective—and Eduardo Coutinho, a major figure in documentary cinema. These are joined by the Sombras section, which this year focuses on Rafael Luca de Tena and continues its work of recovering and re-evaluating the history of Galician cinema.
The programme also features the Galicia Competition, a key showcase for the vitality and diversity of contemporary Galician cinema, alongside the International Competition, bringing together films from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Beyond the cinema space, Play-Doc expands into the city itself, activating heritage sites as part of the viewing experience through initiatives such as Cine Recorridosand silent film screenings with live music at the Church of San Domingos. The festival also hosts a range of professional activities, training initiatives and online events.
Play-Doc Presents a Focus on Franco-Portuguese Filmmaker Maureen Fazendeiro
This year, Play-Doc launches Filmmaker in Focus, a new section dedicated to contemporary cinema, opening with the work of Maureen Fazendeiro. The section creates a space within the festival to highlight filmmakers whose work is shaping the current cinematic landscape.
Fazendeiro has a longstanding connection with the festival. Her first film, Motu Maeva, was recognised at Play-Doc in 2014, and her most recent project, As Estações, was awarded at the first edition of VENTURA, the festival’s development and industry platform. The project went on to premiere at the Locarno Film Festival.
This trajectory reflects the link between Play-Doc’s programming and its industry strand, situating Fazendeiro’s work at the intersection of creation and international circulation, within the broader framework of VENTURA.
Across her filmography, Fazendeiro has developed a highly consistent body of work, marked by the use of analogue formats, the presence of archival materials, and a sustained attention to writing—through letters, texts and correspondence. Her films are shaped by the interplay between image and sound, which do not always align, and by a pared-down mise-en-scène built on absence and silence.
Now in its fourth edition, VENTURA has become one of the festival’s key industry initiatives. It unfolds in three stages: an intensive writing residency; an online training programme led by international professionals; and a final phase of professional meetings with producers, distributors, funds and industry representatives, culminating in project presentations and pitching sessions. This final stage takes place during the festival, reinforcing its role as a space for exchange and international co-production.