The Punto de Vista festival reaches its 20th edition, firmly placed as an international landmark in contemporary film.

The international documentary film festival of Navarre, backed by the government of Navarre and organised by the public company NICDO, held its twentieth edition from 20th to 25th April, a symbolic number that confirms the solidity of the project after a history spanning two decades, as well as marking the beginning of a new stage, with Miquel Martí Freixas as its artistic director. The festival also announces that in 2027 its twenty-first edition will begin on Monday 8th March, coinciding with international Women's Day.

Over six days, Pamplona again became a meeting place for contemporary film, bringing together 6,300 attendees including the general public, industry professionals, students and pass holders, in a programme combining screenings with parallel activities and forums for discussion about current forms of non-fiction film. The figure for pass holders at the festival came to a total of 383, including 189 industry profiles, 123 students and 52 representatives of the press. In addition to these figures, there were another two programmes aimed specifically at young audiences, with 14 members of the Youth Jury and 5 Young Programmers, selected from a considerably larger number of applications, some 160 in all, showing the growing interest in these schemes among teenage and young audiences.

This year's programme was organised in six broad areas - Official Selection, In Focus, Lan, Ricercata, X Films and Txinparta - bringing together a selection of 90 films from the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa in 66 sessions. The Official Selection, made up of 19 titles including seven feature films, one mid-length and eleven shorts, stood out for its diversity in terms of both form and geographical origin, with four world premieres, one international premiere and fourteen Spanish premieres, all competing for the top prizes at the festival. I Lit the Fire! by Valeria Lemesevskaya took the Punto de Vista Grand Prize for Best Film. In turn, Víctor Ladera won the Jean Vigo prize for Best Director for Sin ton ni son; 3cm of Complexity by Anna Vasof took the Best Short prize; Krakatoa by Carlos Casas won the Special Audience Prize for Best Film and Fomos Ficando Sós by Adrián Canoura was selected by the Youth Jury as Best Film. Also, Masayume by Nao Yoshigai and Daria’s Night Flowers by Maryam Tafakory received Special Jury Commendations. In addition, the Lan section included the discussion El porvenir de lo cinematográfico. Mutaciones y persistencias (The Future of Film: Mutations and Persistences), featuring three of the artistic directors of Punto de Vista: Josetxo Cerdán, Oskar Alegria and Manuel Asín.

The programme once again showcased films hard to see on commercial circuits, consolidating the festival's identity as a space for discovery. In this respect, Punto de Vista has reinforced its commitment to film as a terrain for aesthetic and political exploration, through cross-cutting pathways allowing the programme to be seen from different thematic points of view including Earth, Our Bodies, The Planet We Live On, (Im)passable Frontiers, Traces of Life and Come Along to Punto de Vista, as well as a specific pathway aimed at students.

The festival was attended by around 125 guests, among them film-makers, programmers, researchers and other cultural figures, who took part in presentations, encounters and professional activities, reinforcing the international character of the event. Their presence makes Punto de Vista a landmark above and beyond its programme of screenings, by providing direct contact between audiences and key voices in film. For fans of the genre in Navarre, it represents an asset with added value, as it offers the possibility of taking part at first hand in conversations, debates and experiences with international creative talents, as well as professionals who are not a regular part of the usual cultural circuit in the region, so enriching local cultural life and expanding opportunities for cinematic learning and discovery.

This activity took place in nine main venues - Baluarte, Cines Golem, Museo Universidad de Navarra, UPNA, Filmoteca de Navarra, Museo Oteiza, Civivox Condestable, Civivox Pompelo and Civivox Mendillorri - joined by others like Txintxarri, Tarántula and Laba for the music programme, once again accompanying the festival experience with a bill of eight dates, including concerts, DJ sessions and live music with Radio 3.

In its twentieth edition, Punto de Vista also reinforced its commitment to a responsible festival model. Accessibility was one of its priorities, in line with the working model in place at Baluarte. Added to this is progress in the field of sustainability, with a reduction in materials used, encouragement of sustainable transport and partnership with local suppliers, as well as working to gain the Mrs. Greenfilm seal by means of an externally-audited improvement plan.

The festival has also stuck to its commitment to gender equality, work-life balance and the creation of safe spaces, with schemes like the Red Balloon play scheme to make it easier for families and carers to take part in the events, and with its association with the Pamplona city programme for leisure free from sexist violence. For families, a highlight was on Saturday morning, when a film and astronomy session was organised at the Pamplona Planetarium, attended by over 200 people, including children and their families.

On the other hand, the international side of the festival was reinforced through an extensive network of institutional and cultural partnerships including bodies like ICAA, Acción Cultural Española, the SGAE foundation, Pamplona city council, Centro Huarte, public universities in Navarre, EITB, Filmoteca de Navarra, Filmoteca Valenciana, Filmoteca de Galicia, Cineteca Madrid, Navarra Music Commission, CIMA, Courtisane Festival, Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola and Radio 3, among many others. This is added to ongoing work with industry networks such as Navarra Film Industry, NAPAR, Doklab Navarra and (H)emen, which help to strengthen the audiovisual ecosystem.

In this respect, the festival continues to consolidate its role within the international documentary film network and its vocation for exchange through partnerships with landmark bodies and projects including FIAP (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) and DAE (Documentary Association of Europe), raising its profile and its ability to generate critical thought about contemporary images.