The 64th Gijón/Xixón International Film Festival (FICX), taking place from November 13 to 21, continues to expand its program with new titles by Jia Zhangke, Valeska Grisebach, Mohammad Rasoulof, Teodora Ana Mihai, and Christophe Honoré, among others.

The main development for Argentine cinema will be a focus on director and producer María Sílvia Esteve, founder and president of HANA Films. The program will bring together her feature films and short films, tracing a body of work shaped by memory, family archives, and ways of representing traumatic experiences.

The program will include Silvia (2018), her debut feature, which premiered at IDFA; Criatura (2021), a short film that won the Pardino d’Oro at Locarno; The Spiral (2022), presented in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes; and Mailin (2025), which premiered in the International Competition at IDFA.

Mailin, the result of eight years of work with Mailin Gobbo, explores the sexual abuse the protagonist suffered during childhood, her search for justice, and the reappearance of that experience when she becomes a mother. The film was also recently recognized in Argentina with the Eva Landeck Award for Best Feature and the ADF Award for Best Cinematography at the La Mujer y el Cine Festival.

The focus will also feature previously unseen materials and works including Cortex (2024), Vacíos, and Adioses – Fragmentos de Raúl, a family documentary that served as research for Silvia. On November 20, Esteve will take part in a conversation at LABoral with filmmaker Natalia Grande, moderated by Ramón Rey.

Following its presentation in Gijón, the program will subsequently tour different venues with the director in attendance. Mailin will be released in Spanish cinemas on November 27, while it does not yet have a confirmed release date in Argentina.