Published on March 25, 2026
The upcoming Sant Jordi celebration will bring a new festival to the city of Barcelona: the First International Film Festival of Barcelona-Sant Jordi, which will take place from April 21 to April 28 at the Cinemes Verdi in the Gràcia neighborhood of Barcelona.
The new event, organized (Cinemes Verdi) and the Educacine Festival (DeCine21), aims to become an essential meeting point for the public in Barcelona. Just like the emblematic Sant Jordi celebration, the festival is designed to be popular and accessible to all audiences and all genres. The programming director is film critic José María Aresté.
In collaboration with the Centre d’Investigacions Film-Història, the BCN Film Festival-Sant Jordi will feature five sections: Official, showcasing films related to the central theme of the festival: Film-History-Literature; Cinema with Gràcia, offering a selection of comedies paying tribute to the Gràcia neighborhood; Open Zone, which will include films and audiences that do not fit into the earlier sections; Essential, which will screen four masterpieces of cinema history selected ’s mentor, historian and filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier; and Exhibition On Screen, featuring quality documentaries about great painters throughout history.
Among the 35 films to be exhibited, the festival will kick off with the inaugural film Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, directed , who will be present along with lead actor Richard Gere for the screening on April 21. Other highlights include previously unreleased titles such as The Last Days of the Artist (Afterimage), the final film Wajda, to be introduced Caparrós, emeritus professor at the University of Barcelona (UB) and founder of the Centre d’Investigacions Film-Història, followed by a discussion; Their Finest, directed , which will feature a discussion led Alonso, professor at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR) and member of the Film-History Centre, both scheduled for Tuesday, April 25; and the historical film Churchill, alongside its director Jonathan Teplitzky and discussed Sánchez Barba, deputy director of the Film-History Centre and professor of Contemporary History at UB, with its world premiere set for Wednesday, April 26. Additionally, A Bag of Marbles (Un sac de billes), directed , will have a discussion facilitated . Rafael de España, co-founder of the Film-History Centre, slated for Thursday, April 27. The closing session on Friday, April 28, will premiere Patriots Day, directed , which recounts the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and will see the presentation of the festival awards.