Jury
Meet our Jury of the Benidorm Skyline Film Festival 2025
The jury of this 9th Edition of the Skyline Benidorm Film Festival is composed of outstanding professionals from the film industry and will be responsible for awarding the prizes.
The jury may declare any of the awards void if deemed appropriate, as well as grant honorable mentions without financial endowment. No person with a vested interest in the production or exhibition of the films under evaluation may serve as a jury member.
The jury’s decisions will be final and irrevocable.
Official Section Jury
Marta Nieto
Actress, Screenwriter, and Film Director
She is an actress, screenwriter, and director. She has accompanied us by portraying characters for more than a decade in films such as El camino de los ingleses, directed by Antonio Banderas; Madre by Sorogoyen, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival; or Tres by Juanjo Giménez.
In theater, she won the Max Award for Best Actress with the monologue La infamia by José Martret. This year, in addition to her role in the double Vania por Vania by Pablo Remón, we discover her talent as a director and screenwriter through her debut feature film La mitad de Ana.
Gorka Lasaosa
Actor, Film and Theater Director, and Altafulla Festival coDirector
An actor with a solid career in film, theater, and especially television. He has worked on national and international productions for various platforms, with his latest titles including Narcos: México, Cóyotl, Pollos sin cabeza, and 1992. He will soon premiere The Coach and Si es martes, es asesinato.
In 2014, he founded Intemperie Teatro, with which he has produced and directed more than ten shows. In 2023, he expanded his work into audiovisual production with Intemperie Producciones. His first short film as a director was selected for the Gaudí Awards shortlist and won awards at Goya and Oscar-qualifying festivals. Currently, the production company is developing projects with a focus on international co-production.
He is the co-founder and co-director of the Altafulla International Film Festival, whose first edition will take place in May 2025.
Belén Sánchez-Arévalo
Screenwriter and Film Director
Graduated in Audiovisual Communication from the Complutense University of Madrid. She is the screenwriter of the feature film Josefina, directed by Javier Marco, which premiered at the San Sebastián Film Festival in the New Directors section in 2021.
Her second feature film script, also directed by Javier Marco and currently in post-production, A la cara, is based on the short film of the same name, for which she was the screenwriter and which won the Goya Award for Best Short Film in 2021.
She is currently working on her third feature film script, Blanca, as well as her debut feature film as a director, Cantando y desnudo, a script she has developed over the past year at the Academy of Cinema Residencies.
In the world of short films, a field in which she has been working alongside Javier for over fifteen years, she has been the screenwriter of works such as A la cara, Amianto, Muero por volver, Uno, El vestido, and Classmate, among many others.
International Sections Jury
Tim Redford
Executive Director of the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival
Master’s in Cultural Management from UOC Barcelona (Spain). He worked as a project manager for Signals Media Arts in Colchester, United Kingdom, before moving to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, to take on the role of director of the Curtocircuito Short Film Festival, which he led for eight years. Since 2014, he has been the executive director of the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, overseeing the International Competition, the African Perspectives program, and international development.
Yolanda Flores
Journalist and Director of De Película on RNE
Graduated in Information Sciences from UCM and holds a Master’s degree from Cadena SER, where she began her career. In 1989, she joined RNE, directing and hosting programs such as No es un sueño (Antena de Plata Award). She has worked for TVE, Telemadrid, and Tele 5. Since 1998, she has been the director of De película, the first public radio program dedicated to cinema, with 25 years of uninterrupted broadcasting. She has received awards such as the Golden Microphone, the Golden Antenna, and the Writers’ Circle Medal. A jury member at festivals like San Sebastián and Málaga, she is the voice of the Platino and Forqué Awards on TVE and frequently participates in film discussions, conferences, and journalism master’s programs at various universities.
Miguel Dias
Director of the Curtas Vila do Conde International Film Festival
In 1993, he founded Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival, where he is currently the director and programmer. He is also the director of Agência – Portuguese Short Film Agency, dedicated to the promotion, sales, and international distribution of Portuguese short films. Producer of several short films. Curator of retrospectives on short films and contemporary Portuguese cinema, as well as film events. Programmer for Short Film Day in Portugal. He was a producer in the film department of Porto 2001 – European Capital of Culture, coordinating film production and the launch of the international documentary and new media festival Odisseia Nas Imagens.
Script Jury
Maria Zaragoza
Screenwriter, Writer, and Creative Writing Professor
María Zaragoza won the Margarita Xirgu Radio Script Award for Un candidato para el fin del mundo (2020). In film, she has collaborated on the adaptation of her story Realidades de humo into a feature film and is currently working on Sutileza. She wrote the scripts for Agonía (Sitges 2024) and Cuentas divinas (Goya 2024), both directed by Eulàlia Ramon. She has also worked on the documentary Soy Cloe, existo and has four short films in production, with two expected to premiere in the fall. With a 25-year career in narrative writing, she has published numerous novels, comics, and short stories. She is a professor in the Master’s in Creative Writing program at The Core and has been recognized for her contributions to the cultural sector.
Jan Amor
Screenwriter, director, and producer
Born in Rabat and raised between Barcelona and Cairo, Jan Amor Sandiumenge is a screenwriter, director, and producer, trained in Directing at ENSAV Toulouse and in Screenwriting at EICTV Cuba. His latest project in development, Angles Morts, won the DAMA Award for Best Screenplay at the Skyline Benidorm Film Festival 2024 and has participated in international labs such as Les Courts d’Armor 2023, Emergente Cinelab 2023, and Talents Connexion at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival 2025.
Chelo Loureiro
Producer and director
She has produced over 20 films that have won more than 300 awards at international festivals, including 4 Goya Awards, 11 nominations, 1 Gaudí Award, and 12 Mestre Mateo Awards. She is committed to auteur cinema of unquestionable quality (art house), with a unique vision, as well as supporting young filmmakers.
With her first feature film as a director, Valentina, she won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film 2022. El sueño de la sultana, by Isabel Herguera, was the first European animated film in the Official Selection of the San Sebastián Festival and was also nominated for Best European Film at the EFA Awards.
Shortpitch Jury
Carlos Madrid
Director of the Cinema Jove International Film Festival of Valencia
Carlos Madrid has been the director of Cinema Jove since 2017. He holds a degree in Advertising and Public Relations from Universitat Jaume I. He has worked as an audiovisual translator and as coordinator of the trends magazine Lamilk, as well as a consultant for numerous cultural projects. Between 2007 and 2011, he led communications for the Observatori Contemporary Art and Music Festival and founded the La Cabina Medium-Length Film Festival in 2008, directing its first nine editions.
Susana Molina
General Director of the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños
Graduated in Hispanic Literature from the University of Havana in 1987. She has worked as a professor at the Training Center of the Cuban Ministry of Culture, Director of International Relations at the Cuban Book Institute (ICL), Vice President of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), and Director of its International Production Company.
She was a board member of the Ibero-American Federation of Cinematographic and Audiovisual Producers (FIPCA). Since December 8, 2016, she has been the General Director of the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños, which is part of FEISAL, the Federation of Latin American Image and Sound Schools.
She has been honored with the Distinction for Cuban National Culture.
Jorge Acosta
Director and producer
Jorge Acosta is the director of Pasarela, an audiovisual production center that combines soundstages, an equipment rental service for lighting, machinery, and production, as well as a recording and dubbing studio. As a producer at Inaudita, he has been nominated twice for the Goya Awards for the short films Una terapia de mierda and Todo está perdido.
With his first feature film as a director, Valentina, he won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film 2022. El sueño de la sultana, by Isabel Herguera, was the first European animated film in the Official Selection of the San Sebastián Festival and was also nominated for Best European Film at the EFA Awards.
Macu Esteve
Benidorm City Council / Film Office
More than 10 years ago, we reactivated the one-stop service to manage permits and meet the needs of audiovisual productions in the city.
Over the years, we have achieved full involvement from all municipal departments, providing an immediate response to any production, which has led to a steady increase in the number of productions year after year.
Through this trajectory, we have positioned ourselves as a film-friendly city, where filming is easy, allowing us to leverage the promotional impact of Benidorm as a tourist destination while boosting employment in the local audiovisual sector.
Our goal in collaborating as a jury member for the Short Pitch competition at this festival is to ensure that, together with the winning production company, they have a great experience and that Benidorm also becomes a key part of the short film.
Alba Iranzo
Director and screenwriter
She has worked on both Valencian and national films. She began in 2019 with Coses a fer abans de morir, and since then has participated in a wide range of projects such as Vasil, La ruta (seasons 1 and 2), Un novio para mi mujer, La casa, Los destellos, La buena letra, and L’àvia i el foraster. She has also worked on international productions such as Citadel, Kaos, and Andor: Star Wars.
A partner at La Senda Films Produccions S.L., founded in 2020, she has embarked on the development of her own projects, primarily focusing on directing and screenwriting. She is currently co-directing the short film Sold Out alongside Mina Costa, also a partner at La Senda Films. Sold Out won the Shortpitch competition at the Skyline Benidorm Film Festival 2024 and is co-produced with Aire de Cinema.
