Once again, In-Edit has paid tribute to the worlds of music and cinema. Over eleven days, Mooby Aribau became the stage for an array of musical styles, artists from around the globe, anecdotes, experiments, and artistic statements – and, above all, an atmosphere charged with emotion, passion, and devotion to the music documentary.
The 2026 festival kicked off in style on 20 October with the opening gala and a screening of one of the winning entries: Broken English. This documentary pays homage to one of the standout female rockers of the 1970s who had, regrettably, been reduced to the label “Mick Jagger’s ex”. Yes, we are talking about Marianne Faithfull, singer, songwriter, and rock icon.
Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth direct a film that pushes the genre a step further: it is framed within a fictional conceit, almost like a narrative feature, featuring a “Ministry of Non-Oblivion”, a space dedicated to preserving memory and myth. This ministry reclaims Faithfull – an artist with a career spanning more than six decades, a catalogue of landmark songs, and a life marked by addiction, yet also by resilience and deep affection from those around her.
The documentary was filmed with Marianne herself shortly before her death, allowing us to experience her first-hand testimony – a life shaped by music and an artist who stood at the heart of one of rock’s brightest eras, the 1960s and 70s, alongside legends such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and, of course, the Rolling Stones.
Leading filmmakers and Catalan productions
Yet this year’s line-up also stood out for the presence of top-tier filmmakers. Audiences took in Carla Simón’s contemporary gaze on flamenco in the short film Flamenco (starring Rocío Molina), which opens at a funeral and shows how the genre extends far beyond the stage. The emotion, passion, feeling, and raw force of flamenco shine on screen through Simón’s lens. An ode to music that resonated equally in the urban scenes where Rocío Molina, surrounded by the sounds of the city, feels the pulse of flamenco beating in people’s souls and everyday life.
Albert Serra also premiered Seize moments de ma vie, while Fernando Trueba and guitarist Niño Josele presented Bajañí, a dialogue bridging flamenco, jazz, and Brazilian music. Among the most acclaimed home-grown premieres were El doble, Carlo Padial’s portrait of Jordi Cubino (co-produced by 3Cat, Producciones del Barrio, and Pel·lícules La Trini), and Tempus Fugit, the documentary devoted to Jordi Savall.
Just as with music itself, In-Edit moves effortlessly across vastly different registers and styles. You only have to switch screening times or auditoriums to discover the festival sounding altogether different. One such shift arrived with the Catalan street swagger of Baya Baye, the stage name of Víctor Ballesteros (Montgat, 1998), who presented his documentary Faves Tendres, produced by Jordi Lops, to a theatre packed with “sosis”, young fans, and the urban aesthetic that defines the artist.
It is a documentary that earned its spot at In-Edit on its own merits, yet also by sheer serendipity: during the introduction, the festival’s artistic director, Toni L. Querol, explained that after last year’s festival wrapped up, he stumbled across the piece uploaded to Baya Baye’s YouTube channel. Its quality took him so much by surprise that he knew immediately it deserved to make the leap to the big screen.
Faves Tendres – a title nodding both to a childhood dish and to the popular Catalan saying “Friday, tender broad beans” – is also the name of his latest album. The title neatly encapsulates the duality running throughout the film, which blends documentary interviews with music videos for the twelve tracks on the record: poised between the broad beans (his gritty, streetwise persona) and the tenderness beneath. Behind the tough exterior, defiant attitude, and urban beats lies a young man who actually dreams of a simple life: spending time beside his grandfather – virtually a co-star of the documentary – tending the vegetable garden and looking after the chickens. All without forgetting that music remains front and centre: following the screening, Baya Baye performed a short live set featuring several tracks from the album of the same name.
Alongside the rapper, the festival also staged numerous live musical performances (spanning warm-up sets and post-screening gigs), delivering memorable moments such as Perrate joining forces with members of Za!, a concert by the resident musicians of 23 Robadors, the queer party thrown by la Chelo (Trambólika), and the traditional muiñeira dancing that accompanied the premiere of Kiro, winner of the Award for Best National Feature.
The 2026 Audience Award winners
Beyond the official jury prizes, audience votes carry major weight at In-Edit. In the feature film categories, viewers voted Muguruza FM 40 Tour, by Ander Merino Etxebeste and Fermin Muguruza, Best National Music Documentary, while the international prize went to Para vivir: El tiempo implacable de Pablo Milanés, directed by Fabien Pisani.
In the short-form and music video sections, El Perla, by Marta Busquets López, claimed the Audience Award for Best National Short Film – matching the jury’s verdict – while The Tuners, by Pawel Piotr Chorzepa, won in the international category. Finally, the inaugural APOLO Award for Best Music Video went to Pa amb tomàquet, the video by P.A.W.N. Gang directed by Jana Gracia Ampurdanés.
Occupancy tops 85%
In-Edit 2026 brought the curtain down on its 24th run with record-breaking figures: a total of 39,571 attendees and an average occupancy exceeding 85% across the eleven days of programming, held between 29 October and 8 November.
Over the course of the festival, 71 documentaries and 14 music videos were screened across 111 sessions, of which 25 sold out completely. Screen 5 at Mooby Aribau Cinemes once again served as the beating heart of the gathering, packed to capacity for films centred on major international acts such as Bowie: The Final Act, Pulp: What Do You Do For an Encore? (which had to add a third screening on the final day), 40 Years of Fuckin’ Up: A Film by NOFX, and the aforementioned Broken English, the Marianne Faithfull portrait that opened the festival and won the Jury Prize for Best International Music Documentary Feature. Collective euphoria was equally guaranteed with Flying Free: Història d’un himne, which turned the cinema auditorium into a full-blown dancefloor.
In-Edit documentaries on CaixaForum+
The doors of Mooby Aribau may have closed for the year, but In-Edit extends its run until 22 November via the CaixaForum+ streaming platform. Online viewers can catch a curated selection of 15 documentaries from this year’s programme, featuring titles devoted to figures such as Kurt Weill, Sun Ra, Cerrone, and pianist Yuja Wang, alongside films ranging from the flamenco of La Niña de la Puebla and Califato ¾ to Norwegian black metal and Irish folk.