An unconventional leisure space in a historic building in the city of Madrid. We revive the cinematic tradition of what was originally the Cine Alba, with a monthly program structured around thematic cycles. In addition to a clear commitment to 21st-century cinema, Sala Equis was born with the aim of becoming a meeting place in the city of Madrid. With the spirit that makes city squares fluid centers of connection, Sala Equis breathes like a covered plaza, where a street-style gastronomic offering seasons social encounters.
We have come to the city of Madrid to host gatherings—situations of exchange within a popular network of a city we truly love. Various guests from the worlds of culture and leisure will regularly pass through Sala Equis as part of this return to the future that excites us so much.
Lide Billelabeitia‘s Çiyayên Dur and Fatima Bianchi‘s Les Dissidentes are two pieces that, from distinct geographies and visual languages, trace a map of intimate and collective resistance. Both propose a critical reading of spaces—natural, symbolic, and social—as settings where tensions between memory, oppression, and autonomy are inscribed.
In Çiyayên Dur, the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan become silent witnesses to a female narrative that traverses a landscape of disturbing beauty. Filmed in Super 8 and narrated in Basque, the piece distances itself from the traditional concept of “landscape” to explore an anti-landscape steeped in history, conflict, and displacement. The natural environment, far from neutral, reveals layers of contained violence, while the artist’s poetic gaze invites us to listen to what lies hidden behind the visible.
For its part, Les Dissidentes imagines an island where three dissident mothers are punished for defying the norms imposed on motherhood. In a space of symbolic confinement, their inner voices emerge as a form of resistance to social mandates that render exhaustion, desire, and discontent invisible. Bianchi constructs a narrative that, through fiction, exposes realities deeply rooted in everyday life.
Both works open fissures in dominant narratives: nature as a stage of silent war and motherhood as a trench of emotional struggle. In these landscapes of dissent, the female voice not only occupies space: it transforms it..
2025 arrives filled with moving images with a new edition of the PROYECTOR Festival: New Hertzog Da Silva Awards and the 3rd Edition of VERTICAL <25
The PROYECTOR platform showcases and distributes the most experimental and cutting-edge proposals from the international scene. The Festival is known for its non-cinemanormative works—pieces that fall outside traditional formats and engage directly with space and the active viewer.
From September 10 to 21, 2025, more than twenty venues across Madrid will intersect to present new languages and formats through around 100 works of expanded cinema, performance, video art, site-specific pieces, interactive installations, and unique premieres presented for the first time at the Festival.
PROYECTOR collaborates with both independent and established spaces, spanning from the city center to surrounding neighborhoods of the capital. These venues are filled with video art proposals curated by the PROYECTOR platform as well as by the galleries and museums that form part of the OFF Circuit.
In its 18th edition, the Hertzog Da Silva Awards return! A total of 6 prizes will be awarded to works selected through the public call by this edition’s jury. Each year, the jury is made up of international professionals specializing in experimental video art. For this edition, the jury includes both artists and curators.
Thanks to Hertzog Da Silva, the VERTICAL <25 call for young creators who embrace verticality will allow the winner to enjoy a production residency in 2026 and the exhibition of their work at the next edition of the PROYECTOR Festival.
PROYECTOR continues to support Madrid’s contemporary scene, collaborating with more than 25 spaces this year and opening doors to artist studios.
The Festival is committed to equality and to the internationalization of a free and accessible culture. That’s why each year, more than half of the selected works are by women artists from up to 30 different countries, and all festival activities are free of charge.
Additionally, all events—including openings, talks, performances, and workshops—will be streamed online (via YouTube and Vimeo) to ensure international accessibility.
The platform collaborates with universities, offering younger generations the opportunity to gain training and integrate into the cultural sector. We are grateful for the support and sponsorship of associations, galleries, foundations, private companies, embassies, venues, and above all, the artists who make it all possible.
Teresa Sapey Collection (Marina Abramović, Haluk Akakce, Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla, Eugenio Ampudia, Anthony Goicolea, Tilo Baumgartel, Erick Beltrán, Candice Breitz, Hussein Chalayan, Miguel Chevalier, A. K. Dolven, Leandro Erlich, Jon Mikel Euba, Glenda León, Ruth Gómez Aragón, Dionisio González, Douglas Gordon, Barnaby Hosking, Christian Jankowski, Maria Loboda, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Julian Opie, João Onofre, Tony Oursler, James Paterson, Sergio Prego, Michael Reese, Thiago Rocha Pitta, Charles Sandison, Martín Sastre, Mary Sue, Grazia Toderi, Patrick Tutofoco, Luis Úrculo, Robert Wilson, Wendy Wischer, Jordan Wolfson.)
