D'A Film Festival 2026

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Spring brings with it one of the most prestigious film festivals in Europe. The D’A Film Festival Barcelona is a cultural event that features an international outlook of the best contemporary auteur cinema, combining the discovery of new talents with established cinematographies. A cinema that, after standing out in the great festivals, stops at an event that celebrates cinephilia and puts in the foreground the creativity, personality and artistic freedom of its directors.

This year's retrospective is dedicated to German filmmaker Christian Petzold, who will attend the festival to present an extensive retrospective of his work—including numerous titles that are currently unavailable or have never been released—as well as the Catalan premiere of his latest film, Miroirs No. 3.  Petzold’s view of contemporary Europe, somewhere between hopeful and on the verge of collapse, between the promise of the future and the gaze of past catastrophes, has taken the form of melodrama, fantastic fables and sociopolitical stories that are completely outside the norm. His cinema, a direct heir to the Berlin School, is characterized by precise and austere staging, with characters often trapped in spaces of transit. A prolific filmmaker, selected and awarded at festivals such as Berlin (Afire, Undine, Transit, Barbara, Yella), Venice (Jerichow, The State I Am In) and San Sebastián (Phoenix), he has established himself as one of the essential voices of contemporary European cinema.

The 2026 program has yet to be announced but read on for a look at what was showing last year.

2025 Program

Last year's festival opened with Gemma Blasco's contemporary tragedy La Furia, a powerful, brutal film that draws a portrait of anger and pain following a rape. The festival also saw the Spanish premiere of grand master of body horror David Cronenberg's disturbing thriller The Shrouds. Other sensations of the season included Dea Kulumbegashvili's second film, April, which won the special jury prize at Venice 2024 and the award for best film in the Zabaltegi section at San Sebastian; Universal Language, by Matthew Rankin, winner of the audience award at the Cannes Film Festival 2024 and best Canadian film at TIFF; Viet and Nam, by Vietnamese filmmaker Truong Min Quy, with one of the most powerful queer films of the year; and Bagger Drama, by Piet Baumgartner, a film that was a hit at the last San Sebastian festival, where it won the New Directors section award. These names of emerging filmmakers were joined by two festival favorites, the Argentine Matías Piñeiro with his latest work, Tú me abrasas; and La Prisonnière de Bordeaux, by the great Patricia Mazuy.

Tickets

Early-bird tickets are €35 for six sessions and the VIP pass is €85 which includes access to all sessions at the CCCB, Aribau Multicines and Zumzeig (seat reservation required) and two invitations to the opening session and one to the closing session.

Participating venues include CCCB, Filmoteca de Catalunya, Zumzeig and Aribau Cinema. Most showings take place in original language with subtitles in either Catalan or Spanish, see the official website for details.

Spring Film Festivals in Barcelona

Barcelona boasts a wide variety of renowned film festivals each spring, and this year promises to be another spectacular edition. Check out our article Spring Film Festivals in Barcelona where you'll discover festivals dedicated to fashion docs, films inspired by literature and history, astounding cinematic works that delve into the creativity, mystery and resilience of the human brain and films that explore the LGBTIQ+ experience.

For more events check our online events calendar.