Directed and produced by the brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, La promesse, which played at the Cannes Film Festival this year, turns on a son who discovers his father's inhumanity towards other people.

Set in a city two hours drive from Madrid, the highly efficient Valladolid fest acts as a showcase for art and crossover films primed for distribution in Spain. Its competition combines top quality films at prior festivals and a sprinkling of premieres, usually from Spain. Stand out sidebar this year was dedicated to Australian cinema.

Of Spanish premieres, the standout this year proved to be Familia, the debut feature film from Fernando León, a reflection on the falseness and necessity of family relations. Produced by Elías Querejeta it merited a Fipresci Special Mention, the Audience Award, and shared the festival's Best New Director Prize with Shirley Basset's Love Serenade from Australia. Of other top plaudits, Jacques Audiard's Cannes competition entry Un héros très discrèt picked up the Silver Spike, the Best Actor award went to Max von Sydow for his performance in Hamsun; Amalia Moutousi was chosen as Best Actress for Eleni Alexandraki's A Drop in the Ocean. John Hopewell