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Seven short films from filmmakers spanning India, China, Germany, Somalia, Romania, Argentina and Lebanon will compete in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera at the 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival, running from 18–26 September 2026.
The San Sebastián International Film Festival has completed the 2026 line-up for Zabaltegi-Tabakalera, bringing seven short films into one of the festival’s most open and formally adventurous competitive sections.
Announced on 21 August 2026, this year’s Zabaltegi-Tabakalera programme contains 22 works in total: 13 feature films, seven shorts, one medium-length film and one audiovisual performance.
The programme mixes emerging filmmakers with established international directors and includes work previously seen at Cannes, Berlinale, Locarno, Rotterdam and Cinéma du Réel.
For short-film audiences, the line-up is particularly notable because several of the selected shorts arrive in San Sebastián immediately after major international festival recognition.
The seven short films selected for Zabaltegi-Tabakalera 2026
The short-film selection comprises:
Abhinetri / Actress — directed by Tanmay Chowdhary and Tanvi Chowdhary, from India. The film follows a young woman moving through auditions in Mumbai while negotiating the increasingly uncertain boundary between performance and everyday life.
As a Cure — directed by Dorothea Sing Zhang, a China-UK production. The film follows a girl searching a dune for the identity card she needs to enrol at the Beijing Opera Academy. It comes to San Sebastián following its Locarno premiere.
Gluey Feathers — directed by Salka Tiziana, from Germany. The short will have its world premiere at San Sebastián and centres on seasonal workers at a northern German vegetable farm facing the uncertainty that comes with the end of the harvest.
Para los contrincantes / For the Opponents — directed by Federico Luis, a Mexico-Chile-UK-France production. The film follows a young boy in Tepito who dreams of becoming a boxing champion. It arrives after winning the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at Cannes earlier this year.
Plan contraplan / Shot Reverse Shot — directed by Radu Jude and Adrian Cioflâncă, from Romania. Built around photographs taken by American journalist Edward Serotta in communist Romania and images secretly made of him by the Securitate, the short has previously screened at Berlinale and Cinéma du Réel.
Whispers of a Burning Scent — directed by Mo Harawe, an Austria-Somalia-Germany production. Following its Rotterdam premiere, the film joins the San Sebastián competition with a story centred on a wedding musician whose private life is exposed as he faces both a court hearing and an important performance.
Yawman Ma Walad / Someday a Child — directed by Marie-Rose Osta, a France-Romania-Lebanon production. The film follows a boy concealing unusual powers while living with his uncle in a Lebanese village and comes to San Sebastián after winning the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 2026 Berlinale.
Cannes and Berlinale short-film winners meet in San Sebastián
The inclusion of both For the Opponents and Someday a Child gives the short-film strand an unusual concentration of recent major-festival winners.
Federico Luis won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at Cannes with For the Opponents, while Marie-Rose Osta took the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at Berlinale with Someday a Child.
Other selected films arrive from established festival routes including Rotterdam, Locarno and Cinéma du Réel.
Rather than operating as an isolated short-film sidebar, however, the seven shorts compete alongside feature and medium-length works in the same Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section.
Shorts and features compete for the same €20,000 award
One of the distinctive features of Zabaltegi-Tabakalera is that the competition does not separate films primarily by runtime.
With the exception of Albertina Carri’s out-of-competition audiovisual performance, all works in the section compete for the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award.
The award carries €20,000, divided between the winning film’s director (€6,000) and its distributor in Spain (€14,000).
That places short films directly alongside features from filmmakers including Lee Chang-dong, Jane Schoenbrun, Tsai Ming-Liang and Radu Jude rather than restricting them to a standalone short-film prize.
San Sebastián no longer accepts open short-film submissions for this section
There is an important practical distinction for filmmakers interested in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera.
Since 2025, San Sebastián has not accepted general open submissions of short films for its main sections. Festival management instead reserves the right to invite short works it considers appropriate for Zabaltegi-Tabakalera.
There are still specific routes for short filmmakers elsewhere in the festival.
Film-school shorts of up to 30 minutes can enter Nest, while eligible Basque micro-shorts of up to three minutes have a separate route through Eusko Label.
For filmmakers studying festival strategy, that distinction matters: appearing in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera is now principally an invitation-based programming route rather than something achievable through a conventional general submission.
San Sebastián 2026 runs in September
The 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival takes place from:
18–26 September 2026 in San Sebastián, Spain.
The complete Zabaltegi-Tabakalera programme now comprises 22 works, including five world premieres.
Festival programming continues to be announced ahead of September, with schedules and ticket information to follow through the official San Sebastián Festival channels.
For short-film followers, Zabaltegi-Tabakalera will be particularly interesting this year as recent Cannes and Berlinale winners meet newly premiered work in a competition where shorts and features are judged within the same field.
Filmmakers exploring the wider short film festival circuit can also consult Indie Shorts Mag’s guide to established festivals for short films.
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