The Aragonese capital reaffirms itself as an international epicenter for historical cinema with the celebration of the V Saraqusta Film Festival. From April 25 to May 2, Zaragoza will host a new edition of this specialized festival, organized by the Zaragoza City Council and Cosmos Fan, which will bring together prominent figures from the audiovisual landscape and screen more than twenty titles among competing works and those out of competition.
The festival will pay tribute to three actors with the Saraqusta Awards 2025: Juanjo Artero and Ana Turpin will be recognized at the inaugural gala on Friday, the 25th, and the German actress Nastassja Kinski will receive her award at the closing gala on May 2. According to the festival director, José Ángel Delgado, “Nastassja Kinski will be the first foreign woman to receive the Saraqusta Award,” thus joining a recognition that in previous editions has honored Joaquim de Almeida and Fabio Testi.
The Saraqusta Film Festival will feature ten competing works — five documentaries and five feature films — vying for awards in the categories of Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Direction, Screenplay, Actor, Actress, and the Young Jury Award.
The opening gala will take place on Friday the 25th at 7:00 PM in the Patio de la Infanta. That same night, the festival will kick off with the out-of-competition screening of the documentary Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre: Discovering Pompeii and Herculaneum, directed by Silvia Pradas, which brings to light the figure of the Zaragoza military engineer who excavated the cities buried by Vesuvius in the 18th century.
In the same Cervantes Cinema where the festival will open, it will close on May 2 with the screening of Tess (1979), the emblematic film by Roman Polanski starring Kinski. The film, based on the novel by Thomas Hardy, won three Academy Awards and marked the international confirmation of the German-American actress, who received a Golden Globe for her role.
The Museum of the Theater of Caesaraugusta will be the morning venue for the festival. From April 27 to May 1, it will host presentations from technical teams and screenings of Aragonese documentaries such as Manolo Kabezabolo and Los fugaces párpados, with free entry until capacity is reached. Additionally, each day will include round tables on topics such as the use of Wikipedia in historical cinema, the series Sin límites, or the work of Ridley Scott.
In the afternoons, the festival will move to the Patio de la Infanta to showcase titles from the Panorama Saraqusta section, including The Giant of Es Vedrá, Wild Valley, or episodes from the series Arqueomanía.
The evenings will be reserved for the feature films in competition, which will be screened at the Cervantes Cinema. Selected films include Solos en la noche by Guillermo Rojas, Seoul Spring by Korean director Kim Sung-su, and Battlefield by Italian director Gianni Amelio.
On Saturday, April 26, there will be a special day featuring films by Ana Turpin and Juanjo Artero, as well as the documentary White Coffins and the film Bartolomé Bermejo: The Awakening of a Genius.
As a new addition, this year will include an outdoor screening in the Plaza del Pilar: on April 30 at 6:00 PM, Gladiator by Ridley Scott will be shown, with free access.
Tickets and passes are available on the official festival website (saraqustafilmfestival.com), with affordable prices and free sessions to facilitate access for as many spectators as possible.
