The open call to submit projects to be part of Festival Z has received a total of 119 proposals for the 2025 edition. This is a figure higher than that of all previous editions, a fact that has made this year’s edition the most disputed when it comes to choosing the proposals that will be part of the festival’s program. The call was open from October 30 to December 21, 2024.

Of the 119 proposals submitted, which include all kinds of scenic languages (theater, dance, circus, performance, etc.), 69 applied to Modality 1 (exhibition, designed for finished shows); 30, to Modality 2 (which offers creative residency and public exhibition of the process, for projects in an advanced stage of creation), and 20, to Modality 3 (which serves as a first showcase for embryonic ideas or projects in pre-production phase). This year, as a novelty, and largely as a result of the collaborations established by the festival in recent editions with other projects in the territory, it is worth mentioning the participation of companies from the rest of Spain (16), as well as international companies (5).

During the months of January and February of this year, an independent commission formed by young cultural managers, as well as artists under 30 years of age, has carried out the selection of the proposals that will be part of the 2025 edition in its different modalities. This year, the jury included Rut Girona (performing arts producer), Agnès Jabbour (actress, creator and director of Orientación Colectiva Loli), Alba Latorre (sociologist and actress graduated in gestural theater, promoter of the Festival L’Inevitable), Aleix Lidon Baulida (multidisciplinary circus artist and co-founder of the company Non Sin Tri), Sara Manubens (choreographer and transvestite, also linked to educational and mediation projects), Berta Sayeras (cultural worker, creator, teacher and producer, linked to Escenaris Especials).

The commission stresses that the choice of projects has been «very difficult», in the words of Sayeras, due to the high quality of the proposals. It is in relation to this duality that Girona speaks of the selection process as «a risky moment, but also a very nice one». Lidon underlines the good harmony in which the jury has worked: «when the group is in harmony, it is always easier to reach a consensus», she says. Likewise, she assures that «the values of the festival have been present at all times and we have been very careful to defend them». Latorre emphasizes that the six have constituted a «diverse» jury, where «it has been possible to approach the selection from the experience of each person», while Sayeras believes that this diversity «will be reflected» in the programming of this edition, which will be announced next May.

This July, Festival Z will celebrate its fifth edition. In five years, the festival has been born, has grown and has taken the first steps to become a reference space for young creation in Catalonia. Still with plenty of room to grow, but already with a certain stability, the festival presents this year Z Zone, a crowdfunding initiative through which to exchange benefits with the most assiduous fans.

The Z Zone is an opportunity to link directly with the Festival Z. Those who are part of it will have free tickets, discounts, unique activities and a closer relationship with the Z community (artists, team, venues, etc.). This space is born from proximity and trust, with the desire to make it grow with audiences and professionals who want to be part of it.

Each member of Z Zone will be an essential and active part of Festival Z, trusting in the project, offering their support and making it possible for it to be carried out. It is a meeting space open to everyone (individuals, entities, companies and other organizations), which will work to meet the social and cultural objectives of the festival, among which are to promote the professionalization of artists, to support young creation and to place Girona on the map as a city that promotes and encourages the presence of young people in the performing arts.

Being part of the Z Zone involves making an annual donation of between 100 and 500 euros, in exchange for which the user will receive a series of advantages, such as free tickets for the opening of the festival, unique discounts for the entire programme, exclusive activities for Z Zone members, promotions and updated information on the artists and the festival. In addition, Z Zone contributors will be able to deduct up to 80% of their contribution in their income tax return, so that for 100 euros invested, for example, the user would recover 80.

On March 24, at the Romea Theater in Barcelona, the 27th Performing Arts Critics Awards, organized by Recomana, were held to recognize the most outstanding proposals in theater, dance and circus of the year 2024. Actress Míriam Moukhles received the Revelation Award for her excellent work in three productions last year: Anna Karènina, Tots ocells, and Nodi: de gossos i malditos, the latter presented as a project in pre-production and as an open rehearsal in the 2022 and 2023 editions of Festival Z, respectively. The project, created by Moukhles herself together with Joan Sentís, Maria Donoso and Albert Boronat, also received the support of El Canal, Cotxeres Borrell, the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Terrassa Artes Escénicas, the Kaddish Theater of El Prat and Casa Orlandai.

In the emotional speech to receive the award, Míriam Moukhles thanked the Festival Z. You can retrieve the fragment of the gala here: https://youtu.be/7d-zpAeQhlc?t=1836

Also in the Revelation category, which Moukhles won, was nominated Elaine Grayling, performer and creator of the show Man Mano, il tempo scorre, also presented in residence at the 2023 Festival Z. In addition to the Revelation Award, the show Nodi: de gossos i malditos was also nominated for the Small Format Critics Award, which was won by the show Pura passió, by Lucia del Greco. The gala was hosted by Glòria Riberal, collaborator in the presentation of the program of the 2024 edition of Festival Z.