From this year, the 20th RTVE-Otra Mirada Award will honour a woman producer whose work has helped to achieve a more diverse, inclusive and egalitarian audiovisual industry. Competitors for the accolade, which in 2026 celebrates the twentieth anniversary of its creation in the framework of the San Sebastián Festival, will be the women producers and co-producers of a selection of eight feature films from the Official Selection, New Directors and Perlak.
Candidates for the award are the women producers and co-producers of the feature films Artakalan / What Remains, Garrat du váimmu / Brace Your Heart, Krux and Markens grøde / Growth of the Soil, showing in the Official Selection; Body of Glass and Obuvkite na bashta mi / My Father's Shoes, showing in New Directors; and Josephine and Soudain / All of a Sudden, showing in Perlak.
Until now, the award had honoured films focussing on subjects related to the world of women, and which were directed, starred or written by women or by men showing particular sensitivity towards the experiences, concerns, desires and realities of women. Coinciding with its twentieth edition, RTVE has revamped the award to turn the spotlight on the industrial aspect of cinematography and thereby recognise the key role of female producers as the essential cog of audiovisual creation. The goal is therefore to promote a more plural industry from the very basis of its production, in the endeavour to ensure that greater diversity in production will lead, in the long term, to greater diversity of stories, gazes and on-screen representations.
Designed by the San Sebastián Festival and RTVE and its Equality Observatory, the jury presided over by María Solana, journalist and board member at RTVE, alongside the actress Laia Costa and the producer Marisa Fernández Armenteros, will decide the winner of the 20th RTVE-Otra Mirada Award, to be presented at the Festival closing gala on Saturday 26.
Last year the honour went to the film Las corrientes / The Currents, by Milagros Mumenthaler, with a Special Mention going to Belén, by Dolores Fonzi.
With this award, RTVE aims to continue promoting equal opportunities, a diversity of gazes and the creation of contents committed to a more plural and cohesive society, reinforcing the transformative impact of the audiovisual industry from its foundations.
Official Selection
A poet breaks free from a life that has become suffocating to reconnect with her inner voice and conscience and allow her creativity to flow again. As she begins to question the conventions of family, identity and the meaning of life, her journey towards self-discovery challenges those around her to reconsider their own lives — taking the whole family in a new direction.
Ejva inherits her late father's reindeer herd. As she struggles to keep the herd thriving, local leader Heaika falls for her, and though hesitant, she feels compelled to accept. But everything changes when Nejla, Heaika's cousin, arrives, and Ejva discovers true love for the first time. Betrayed and jealous, Heaika reacts harshly, leaving Ejva with a condition that makes her hands shake uncontrollably, threatening her ability to care for the herd.
Inspired by true events, Krux tells the dark story of a small northeastern German village at the end of WWII, when the Nazi regime gave its citizens the order to leave nothing alive for the enemy to find. Most of the men are at the front. What remains is a handful of women, children, and the few men who were allowed to stay behind. Life still runs on its old rituals: school, church, weddings, work. The villagers still believe it will end well. Then the river gives up bodies no one can name. No one knows when the enemy will come, or what will happen when they do. Rumors fill the silence where facts should be. Out of that silence grows a fear larger than the enemy itself.
A stranger appears over the mountain, carrying little more than his determination. Isak, a man without a past, seeks a place to settle and carve life from the earth. High above the tree line, he finds a barren stretch of land, as unforgiving as it is full of promise. The land tests him to his limits, until he meets Inger, a solitary woman shaped by resilience and quiet secrecy. Together, they endure the elements and build a life, cultivating both the soil and a growing family as the seasons turn. Yet as years pass and the world closes in, and time, hardship, and desire reshape them.
New Directors
After a violent incident with her controlling partner Felix, dancer Tian flees their shared life in Marseille. Isolated and desperate for connection, she infiltrates the grieving circle of a young man she never knew. But as she becomes entangled in their mourning and affection, she hides a dangerous secret at home. When lies, grief and reality collapse into each other, Tian must choose whether to break the cycle.
Mima has grown up in the shadow of her father's absence, raised by her uncompromising mother, Boyka. When news of his death arrives and his body returns to their village, recognition becomes both duty and dilemma. As Boyka refuses to face the man she once loved, mother and daughter confront a silent past, forcing Mima to decide what it means to inherit a life she never chose.
Perlak
After accidentally witnessing a rape in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, 8-year-old Josephine starts to demonstrate violent and paranoid behaviour. The trauma destabilises her family as her parents seek justice and a way to recover her lost security.
As the director of a care facility for the elderly, Marie-Lou strives to introduce an innovative care philosophy based on listening and respecting residents’ dignity, despite resistance from some members of her staff. Her encounter with Mari, a Japanese theater director battling cancer, will forever change her life. By forming a deep, supportive friendship, the two women join forces in a shared struggle to “make the impossible possible.”