16th Edition of the BCN Sports Film Festival Presented
Barcelona has presented today the 16th edition of the BCN Sports Film Festival, which will take place from 23 February to 3 March, strengthening the city’s role as a meeting point for sport, culture and audiovisual storytelling, with a diverse, inclusive programme open to all audiences.
The virtual press conference featured David Escudé, President of the Barcelona Olympic Foundation and Barcelona City Council’s Councillor for Sports; Francesc Terrón, Director of the Barcelona Olympic Foundation; and Agustí Argelich, the festival’s Director. The event opened with the screening of the winning spot of the SpotSport 2026 competition, “L’Esport viu aquí”, by Dries Vanherwegen.
In his remarks, David Escudé highlighted the festival’s international growth and the goal of continuing to bring it closer to wider audiences while maintaining an accessible, high-quality programme. He emphasized the rigour and transparency of the selection process and the effort to build an increasingly complete programme, with venues across Barcelona and the metropolitan area. Escudé also made special mention of the incorporation of Club Natació Sabadell as a collaborating partner as part of its 110th anniversary, as well as the collaboration with the Brain Film Festival – Pasqual Maragall Foundation to address a “key” issue today: mental health and privacy, in a context where exposure on social media is common and its consequences can be difficult to control.
A growing festival with international reach
In numbers, BCN Sports Film reviewed more than 3,200 productions and officially registered 861 works from 91 countries. The selection jury — Joan Manuel Surroca, Julio Pernas, Mireia Vicente and Agustí Argelich — watched 680 productions and selected 85 films from 30 countries. Of these, 47 became finalists and were assessed by the official jury (Janine Puig, Laura Yuste, Marta Brichs, Martí Niubó and Masih Sharif).
The organization underlined that the “level and quality” of the submitted works make the process increasingly demanding, and thanked the juries for maintaining the festival’s prestige and standards.
39 sessions across 10 venues
This year’s programme is structured around 39 sessions: 22 general screenings, 7 school sessions, 5 sessions in penitentiary centres, 2 educational-training sessions, 1 industry session, and 2 ceremonies.
Screenings will take place in cultural, educational and sports venues such as the Museu Olímpic i de l’Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch, Cinemes Girona, Teatre Mercè Rodoreda, INEFC, Institut Français de Barcelona, EUSES – Campus Salt, Centre Cívic Bon Pastor, Centre Cívic Cotxeres de Sants, Ateneu Sant Just and Club Natació Sabadell, as well as penitentiary centres and schools.
Most sessions will be free of charge, with the exception of screenings at Cinemes Girona, which will have a symbolic €1 ticket to encourage responsible reservations and ensure attendance.
The festival, also online
In addition to in-person screenings, BCN Sports Film expands its reach with a digital offer: the festival will also be available through the Festhome platform. At the same time, the online school sessions are already available, reinforcing the festival’s commitment to education and audiovisual dissemination.
Educational dimension: last seats for in-person school sessions
The festival will once again strengthen its educational dimension with 7 school sessions tailored by age group, each accompanied by a teaching guide developed by FilmClub. The organization has noted that there are very few places left for the in-person school sessions at the Museu Olímpic and that those at the Teatre Mercè Rodoreda are already fully booked; the virtual sessions — available in Catalan and, this year, also in Spanish — will be active until 30 March.
Within the Acció Cinema programme, the school session “Acció Cinema: Tomando conciencia” will include the participation of the NGO AE Ramassà: after screening the documentary SOKA, Tijan Konteh, head of the awareness-raising area, will lead a discussion with students to explore the issues raised and encourage reflection.
Parallel activities and guest encounters
The programme will include parallel activities linked to socially relevant topics. Among them, “Ones de canvi: Sustainability at Sea”, featuring Gerard Esteva (UFEC), directors Carlos Sánchez Llibre and Philippe Mistral, and coordinated by Mariana Dornelles (Fundació Carulla).
Also notable are “Ellas dirigen: Directing, producing and changing the game: the female gaze in sports audiovisual”, coordinated by Josep Maria Farràs (3Cat) with directors Mireia Vicente, Trini Gutiérrez and Cristina Malo; and “Laure: Mental Health and Privacy”, organized together with Club Natació Sabadell and the Brain Film Festival, with Dennis González, Raül Romeva and moderated by María Teresa Pérez (Fundació Vidal i Barraquer / Brain Film Festival – Pasqual Maragall Foundation).
In the spirit of opening conversations around elite sport challenges, the festival will host “Mother and Footballer”, with Ona Carbonell, President of the Spanish Olympic Committee’s Commission on Motherhood and Sport; and the roundtable “The Value of the Team”, with Maica García and Martina Terré, together with Marcel·lí Massafret.
BCN Sports Film also strengthens its role as a forum for audiovisual professionals with the industry session “How to legally approach the audiovisual creation of a documentary”, organized by the PAC and featuring Cristina Calvet, Lisa Berger and Eva Fontanals.
The festival will also welcome invited athletes and creative teams — including Ona Carbonell, Maica García Martina Terré and Dennis González — as well as professionals such as Mark Rickert, Irving Serrano, Joan Gamero, Kevin McDevitt, Philippe Mistral and Carlos Sánchez Llibre, among others.
Highlighted titles this year include Inner Fight (Núria Castán), Le Colisée, Corre, Adela, Butterfly – Papillon, Voices from the Abyss, Merckx, No Skate! and El petit peó, among others.
More conversation after screenings and a more user-friendly website
n his remarks, Agustí Argelich stressed that this edition fully recovers the cinema + conversation experience: “with no restrictions”, the festival once again welcomes protagonists, directors and producers to many in-person sessions, strengthening the direct connection with audiences.
Argelich also highlighted the commitment to the industry parallel activity promoted with PAC and the communication work, with a more intuitive website and more practical access to the programme and ticket reservations.
Finally, the organization reminded audiences of the invitation to the closing ceremony on Monday 2 March at the Museu Olímpic, and to the session “And the winners are…” on 3 March at Cinemes Girona, where some of the winning productions will be screened.
All information for the media is available in the Press Area of the festival website, and further information can be requested at info@bcnsportsfilm.org.
