The fifth call for entries is now open for the Zinemaldia Startup Challenge focused on Spanish and European entrepreneurs and startups

The initiative falls within the framework of Zinemaldia & Technology, a strategic commitment by the Festival promoted by the Basque Government through the Department of Economic Development and SPRI.

The competition for Spanish entrepreneurs and startups is part of ‘Spanish Screenings: Financing & Tech’, a branch of Spanish Screenings XXL.

The project is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) to boost Spain’s role as a European audiovisual hub.

The San Sebastian Festival opens the fifth call for the Zinemaldia Startup Challenge, a competition focused on Spanish and European entrepreneurs and startups whose projects include new technologies applied to the audiovisual field. The registration deadline is 1st June.

The initiative falls within the framework of Zinemaldia & Technology, a strategic commitment by the Festival in its aim to position itself as a space for reflecting on technology and the audiovisual industry and for narrowing ties between both sectors.

It is one of the axes of ‘Spanish Screenings XXL. An international market for Spanish audiovisual production’. As well as the aforementioned competition for Spanish startups, ‘Spanish Screenings: Financing & Tech’ will also include the second creative investors meeting.

The projects registered for the two Zinemaldia Startup Challenge competitions must meet several requirements: they must be submitted by a recently created entrepreneur or startup – constituted after 31 December 2017 – no matter what their stage of development; they must be based on the application of new technologies to the audiovisual field; those making the submission must  have their tax residence in either Spain or a European country and must envisage the possibility of launching their business project in the Basque Country.

The selected projects will be presented at the Zinemaldia & Technology event to take place on Thursday 28 September, during the San Sebastian Festival, and which will also include a round table.

A committee of experts made up of professionals from the Basque Business & Innovation Centres (BICs), TECNALIA and Vicomtech will choose the ten finalist projects: five Spanish and five European, which will have the possibility of a year’s free access to an incubation space at one of the BICs situated in the Basque Technology Parks Network. Two independent juries will decide the two winning projects, one for the Spanish competition and another for the European competition, each of which will receive 10,000 euros. In addition, this call will place special emphasis on entrepreneurship and will award another 3,000 euros to the best selected project submitted by an individual person or by an entrepreneurial team. Winners and finalists will also have the possibility of access to funding of up to 500,000 euros for developing their project in the Basque Country.

The Basque Government, through the Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, promotes the Zinemaldia Startup Challenge, leading initiative of the Zinemaldia & Technology event organised by the San Sebastian Festival in collaboration with  TECNALIA, ALÍA (Audiovisual Industrial Alliance) and Vicomtech.
Spanish Screenings is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP) to boost Spain’s role as a European audiovisual hub and is promoted by the Ministry of Culture and Sport through the ICAA and by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation through ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones, the Malaga Festival and the San Sebastian Festival.

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Spanish Screenings is the Spanish audiovisual internationalisation programme receiving a new boost since 2022, taking a step forward in terms of content diversity, generating themed sections and with the vision of incorporating works aligned with the new audiovisual narratives, while also highlighting the complete professional value chain of Spain’s audiovisual.

The new format of Spanish Screenings XXL is therefore an international market for Spanish audiovisual production, a project growing in content and volume of activities in the endeavour to adapt to the new challenges of the audiovisual industry, an area involving the Ministry of Culture and Sport through the ICAA and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation through ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones, the Malaga Festival and the San Sebastian Festival.  

Spanish Screenings is framed within the ‘Spain, European Audiovisual Hub’ aspect of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, promoted by the Ministries of Culture & Sport and Economic Affairs & Digital Transformation.