Sí se enteran wins big at the 8th Memorables Film Festival, which sets a new participation record with 63 short films

• The short film starring Pino Montesdeoca won first prize, along with Best Screenplay and Best Editing.
• Afasia took second prize and won Best Actress for Victoria Mora and Best Supporting Actor for Aitor Campo. Third prize went to Quinto primera, with Antonio Dechent winning Best Actor.
• The eighth edition of the festival, organised by CIEN and the Reina Sofía Foundation, opened up for the first time to all neurodegenerative diseases and more than doubled the number of submissions.

The short film Sí se enteran emerged as the big winner last night at the 8th edition of the Memorables Film Festival, an audiovisual competition focusing on Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, organised by CIEN (Research Center on Neurological Diseases) and the Reina Sofía Foundation. Each year, the festival turns the Reina Sofía Foundation Alzheimer Centre into a meeting point for science, art and memory.

Hosted by Irma Soriano and Eva Almaya, the awards ceremony brought together more than 170 attendees, including institutional representatives, researchers and audiovisual professionals. The festival once again broke its participation record, receiving 63 short films, of which 21 were selected for the competition, compared with 29 submissions last year. This growth coincides with the first edition to expand its scope beyond Alzheimer's disease to include all neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The eighth edition of the Memorables Film Festival also received support from Siemens and Fontventa as its main sponsors, both of which continue to renew their commitment to this CIEN initiative.

An awards line-up exploring memory, language and family

The jury, which included Eva Ortega-Paíno, Secretary General for Research at Spain's Ministry of Science; actress Kaittani; and content creator Álvaro Martínez (Pasea Madrid), awarded the Golden Neuronita, first prize worth €2,000, to Sí se enteran. The short film tells the story of a woman, played by Pino Montesdeoca, whose family decides to conceal the death of her husband from her. She escapes from the hospital where she is staying, boards a bus and arrives at the funeral home where her husband is lying in state. Its title challenges the widespread assumption that people with cognitive impairment are unaware of what is happening around them.

The award was collected by the film's director, Beltrán Peralba, and the production team. In addition to first prize, the film won Best Screenplay and Best Editing and will be screened at the Almería International Film Festival (FICAL).

The Silver Neuronita, second prize worth €1,500, went to Afasia, which portrays a son's struggle to cope with the language difficulties caused by his mother's aphasia and his frustration at not being able to understand what she is trying to tell him. The short film also won Best Actress, awarded to Victoria Mora, and Best Supporting Actor, awarded to Aitor Campo.

The Bronze Neuronita, third prize worth €750, went to Quinto primera, whose lead actor, Antonio Dechent, received the award for Best Actor.

The remaining awards went to:

• Best Original Score: Dopamina Zero.
• Best Cinematography: As nosas flores, by Joel Pérez.

The festival organisers also awarded the Don Quixote of Memory Honourable Mention to ¿Y si?, recognising its portrayal of current developments in Alzheimer's research.

Cinema and science join forces against neurodegeneration

The Memorables Film Festival was created to promote public awareness through audiovisual storytelling and has established itself as one of Spain's leading cultural initiatives dedicated to neurodegenerative diseases. This year's winning films explored grief, the loss of language and advances in research, highlighting how these diseases affect not only those living with them but also their families and wider support networks.

“Receiving 63 short films, more than twice as many as last year, shows that an increasing number of filmmakers want to tell the story of what it means to live with a neurodegenerative disease. Behind every film are real people and families, and cinema helps us bring to light a reality that often remains hidden behind closed doors,” said M.ª Ángeles Pérez, Managing Director of CIEN, during the ceremony. She also expressed her particular gratitude for the personal commitment of Her Majesty Queen Sofía and the support of the Reina Sofía Foundation for CIEN's scientific research and public awareness initiatives.

For his part, Pascual Sánchez-Juan, Scientific Director of CIEN, stressed that “research needs society, and society needs to understand what we do. A short film like ¿Y si? brings the public closer to what is happening in laboratories today.”

The festival is part of the outreach work carried out by CIEN with the support of the Reina Sofía Foundation at the Reina Sofía Foundation Alzheimer Centre in Madrid, where research takes place alongside care for people with Alzheimer's disease in a model unique in the world. 2027 will mark 20 years since CIEN established its headquarters at the centre, which opened in 2007.