This year’s Experimental Competition brings together a diverse selection of works spanning documentary, fiction, animation, and expanded cinema. The Solar – Cinematic Art Gallery exhibition space remains a driving force behind this approach, encouraging artists and filmmakers to explore hybrid formats, unconventional supports, and dialogue with other artistic disciplines.

Among the most anticipated returning names are Christoph Girardet, a key figure in European experimental cinema, the British artist Morgan Quaintance, guest of the Solar gallery in the previous edition, and the Spanish duo Helena Girón and Samuel M. Delgado.

New voices also take the stage, including Elisabeth Subrin (USA), Elena Duque (Spain/Venezuela), Younes Ben Slimane (Tunisia), Carla Andrade (Spain), and João Pedro Amorim, who debuts with a film that merges philosophy, ecology, and cinema.

The Experimental Competition at Curtas 2025 will award the Centro de Arte Oliva Prize, worth €1,500, to the best film in competition.

2025 Official Selection of Experimental Competition

Year after year, the Vila do Conde Experimental Short Film Competition offers an expanded view of contemporary audiovisual media, where there are no formal or spatial barriers, and where each film presents itself as a unique experience — often poetic, political, and sensory. Among the selected titles, the following stand out:

A THOUSAND WAVES AWAY

Helena Wittmann, Germany, 2025, EXP, FIC, 10’

ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES – TO BUNYA

Malena Szlam, Canada, Australia, Chile, 2024, EXP, 20’

AVAILABLE LIGHT

Morgan Quaintance, UK, Japan, 2025, 32’

COMO UN ESTALLIDO

Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 2024, EXP, 11’

DARIA'S NIGHT FLOWERS

Maryam Tafakory, Iran, France, UK, 2025, EXP, DOC, 15’ 

I WAN'NA BE LIKE YOU

Margit Lukács, Persijn Broersen, The Netherlands, France, Belgium, UK, Germany, 2024, ANI, EXP, 14’

IMAGES DE TUNISIE

Younes Ben Slimane, UK, Tunisia, France, 2025, DOC, 15’

IN NATURE'S SPITE

João Pedro Amorim, Portugal, Italy, 2025, EXP, DOC, 26’

L' MINA

Randa Maroufi, Marroco, France, Italy, Qatar, 2025, DOC, EXP, 26’

MANAL ISSA, 2024

Elisabeth Subrin, USA, Lebanon, 2025, DOC, 10’

MIRAGE: EIGENSTATE

Riar Rizaldi, Indonesia, Portugal, UK, 2024, FIC, 30’

NAYAN

Carla Andrade, Spain, 2025, DOC, EXP, 23’

OBSIDIANA

Adam Piron, USA, 2024, EXP, 9’

ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER

Christoph Girardet, Germany, 2025, EXP, 8’

PIDIKWE

Caroline Monnet, Canada, 2025, FIC, EXP, 10’

PORTALES

Elena Duque, Spain, 2025, ANI, EXP, 16’

REVOLVING ROUNDS

Johann Lurf, Christina Jauernik, Austria, 2024, EXP, DOC, 11’

SKINFLICKER

Helena Gouveia Monteiro, Ireland, 2024, EXP, 5’

SONGS OVERHEARD IN THE SHADOWS

James Edmonds, Germany, 2025, EXP, 22’

THE INDIVIDUAL

Sara Sowell, EUA, 2024, EXP, 29’

TRAMUNTANA

Marti Madaula Esquirol, EUA, Espanha, 2025, EXP, DOC, 18’

UN DRAGÓN DE CIEN CABEZAS

Samuel Delgado, Helena Girón, Espanha, 2025, DOC, 15’