The curtain is all ready to go up on the fifteenth Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival and festival founder and director Sandra Lipski admits she is “bursting at the seams” and is so excited about this year’s festival with Hollywood legend Diane Kruger receiving the Evolution ICON Award.
Kruger is best known for films such as Troy, The Da Vinci Code and Inglourious Basterds. Kruger has built an outstanding career spanning European cinema and Hollywood, and won the Best Actress award at Cannes for Fatih Akin’s In the Fade.
“I’ve been trying to get Diane to the festival for years because I believe that she represents so much what the festival stands for, so it’s going to be a great honour to have her here in Palma,” Sandra told the Bulletin this week.
Having already been regularly rated by the global industry as one of the best 50 film festivals in the world worth paying to enter by leading industry magazine Moviemaker, The Guardian has hailed it as one of Europe’s top ten and fastest-growing film festivals. It continues to gather worldwide acclaim and fame. The philosophy of the festival has always been “bridging cultures - bridging people”, and Sandra said that this applies to people in the industry and society as a whole.
Evolution will also be giving three of their special awards this year: The Evolution Icon Award to Actress Iris Berben, the Evolution Vision Award to Director/Producer Edward Berger and the Cinematography Icon Award to Matthew Libatique, ASC.
He is best known for his collaborations with directors Darren Aronofsky, Joel Schumacher, Spike Lee and Bradley Cooper. He has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography - for Black Swan, A Star Is Born and Maestro. “It’s been ten months of hard work for the whole team and here we are ready to go again for the 15th year.
"Between 28 October and 4 November in Mallorca, this year’s festival will offer one of its most extensive programmes to date, featuring more than 140 films and documentaries selected from over 1,500 submissions from 50 countries, as well as an extensive programme of professional events and meetings with filmmakers.
“I think that we are completing our mission, our motto, more than ever by bringing the new and well-established generations of local and international filmmaking together here in Mallorca,” she said. “We open with Club Kid, a 2026 American comedy-drama film written, directed, and starring Jordan Firstman in his feature directorial debut. This is a perfect example of what the festival is all about.
He was an influencer while trying to make it as an actor but after a series of knockbacks decided to write, direct and star in his own film and it worked. It had its premiere at Cannes and now he’s bringing the film to Palma. And then we close with London-based Catalan director Maria Martinez Bayona making her feature film debut with the dystopian ‘The End of It’.
Danny Boyle
“We are really showcasing new faces this year, which is extremely exciting and fresh. However, we also have Ink by the Oscar-winning Danny Boyle and, which came as a great surprise to me, THEY, in which the Oscar-winning Renée Zellweger makes her debut as director of an animated short film, and Sweetwater, directed by Michael Keaton.
“When I saw their names entering into the competition I couldn’t believe it and to have such big names branching out into being directors and also setting their sights on our festival in Mallorca shows just how far we have come over the past 15 years,” Sandra said.
Balearic film industry
“To highlight our commitment to the local Balearic film industry, the closing ceremony will feature a Mallorcan star: the costume designer, production designer and visual artist Pau Aulí, who will receive the Evolution New Talent Award. Aulí has worked with filmmakers such as Agustí Villaronga and Albert Serra and has received three Gaudí Award nominations for El ventre del mar, La abadesa and Polvo serán.
He is also responsible for the costumes in The End of It, the festival’s closing film. Furthermore, this year’s festival presents more than 44 selected projects in the Made in Baleares section. A cherished part of EMIFF since its first edition in 2012, this programme celebrates local productions and brings them to an international audience, connecting Balearic talent with the world.
Calvia Council
“The festival gives the new local generation the opportunity to network and connect with top professionals in all fields from the global industry. It provides them with a platform to move forward in their careers.
“Palma Pictures will again be offering a production grant of 25,000 euros to winning new filmmakers, while also hosting a tour of their studio in Mallorca. So we are, perhaps more than ever, putting a big focus on the Balearic industry because this year we have the cooperation and collaboration of Calvia Council, the only municipality in the Balearics which has a film office that is a member of the Spanish Film Commission.
“The initiative coincides and supports Calvia’s wider strategy to strengthen its position as a destination for film production, creative talent and audiovisual industry activity and the municipality’s commitment to cinema and the audiovisual sector.
Location tour
“Every year we have had a location tour of Mallorca but this year the spotlight will be on Calvia, with leading professionals from Los Angeles, New York, London and across the world being treated to first-hand experiences of the locations and infrastructure Calvia has to offer the film industry.
“Having them on board has been a major boost and serves to bolster our commitment to using the festival as a platform for not only the global industry but also all of our home-grown talent,” Sandra stressed. Tickets and full programme: www.evolutionfilmfestival.com