The Sol Film Festival 2026 opening in Torrevieja: the red carpet and the “Female Gaze”

In short

The 12th Sol Film Festival, an international short film festival, took place in Torrevieja from 9 to 12 July 2026. This edition’s theme was the “Female Gaze” (Mirada femenina): the role of women in front of and behind the camera. The opening was on Thursday 9 July at 8 p.m. at the Virgen del Carmen cultural centre; entry was free with an invitation from the festival website.

The Tairix team attended the opening, the screenings and the closing. This is the first article in the series: this one covers the opening, the second the screenings and the festival as a whole, the third the closing and results, and the fourth is a column by Olga Rumyantseva, the festival’s official photographer.

What the opening included

The evening’s programme, published by Torrevieja City Council, included a red carpet, a Lifetime Achievement Award for the actress Ángela Molina and the first session of the official short film selection. The host was Daniela Momo.

Filmmakers from the competition came to the opening: the director María Lorente-Becerra (La última canción), the actor Javier Bódalo (Condolenc-ias), Enrique Vasalo (Guía para circular por las aceras), Gonzalo Ruiz (Las desqueridas) and David de Loro (Ya no duele). The films were shown in Spanish with English subtitles.

Our impressions

We came away with the warmest impressions of the organisation, and that started with the opening. A red carpet, festival guests and the audience in one hall, films on the big screen: for Torrevieja this is a real society event, and it was clear that the festival team does it out of a love of cinema.

Who runs the festival

According to the festival rules, it is organised by the association Mundo Globus de Torrevieja. Its address is Calle Radio Murcia 16, the home of Globus, Torrevieja’s Russian centre with a bookshop, a café, an events space and a property agency. The festival’s founder is Tatiana Denisova Kaunova, the owner of Globus; its director is Anna Semenova Denisova and its creative director Elizabeth Semenova Denisova. The festival is held with the participation of Torrevieja City Council and the Joaquín Chapaprieta Municipal Institute of Culture.

The festival has a long history: the archive on its official website goes back to 2018, and it used to be called the Sol Russian Film Festival. Today it is an international short film competition open to films from Spain and other countries.