The University of Murcia attends the collateral prize of UNIMED Awards at the Venice Film Festival 2025

Once again, two students of the Audiovisual Communication degree from the University of Murcia, Javier Lizarán and Daniel Soler, had the opportunity to participate as members of the international jury composed of 24 students of 5 different nations from 13 partner universities in the Mediterranean university network to assign the UNIMED-2025 prize to a film compromised with cultural diversity, freedom of expression and cultural exchange at the 82º Venice International Film Festival.

UNIMED (Mediterranean Universities Union) is an association composed of 179 universities from 25 countries in the Mediterranean area, which aims to develop the university, research and educational activity, encouraging the scientific, social and economic cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region, and which the University of Murcia is part of through Campus Mare Nostrum since 2019.

This year, the 9^th edition of the festival’s collateral prize was held, strengthening as the result of the collaboration between the Venice Biennale and the network of Mediterranean Universities.

Last 5^th September, ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ was the film chosen and award-winning by students of the UNIMED partner universities, for dealing with the fundamental principles of the defence of human dignity, the dialogue between cultures and the fight against injustice and discrimination.

Javier told us that, beyond the task of jury, the experience included the attendance of multiple Festival activities, among them, the Official Section press conferences, such as After the Hunt, Jay Kelly, Frankenstein, and particularly, the Golden Lion winner, Father Mother Sister Brother, and so on. These sessions gave the chance to hear directly from renowned international film personalities, within Julia Roberts, Dwayne Johnson, Luca Guadagnino, Emma Stone, George Clooney and Adam Sandler. To this, we must add the attendance of masterclasses of prominent filmmakers of the stature of Werner Herzog, Sofia Coppola and Alfonso Cuarón, who gave a valuable statement about the art of telling stories in the contemporary cinema. And, keeping in mind the importance of exchanging opinions with young people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. Collective dialogue was vital to take the final decision about the awarded film, reinforcing the international and collaborative spirit of the UNIMED Prize.

Participation in the activity mentioned is managed and financed by the International Excellence Campus Mare Nostrum with a €700 (approximately £600) grant in the annual call for grants [1]‘Acciones Especiales’, published for students from the University of Murcia.

We would like to share with you the video of the UNIMED Award 2025, featuring valuable contributions from your students:
🎥 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwQLWceRhUg

In addition, the jurors’ short videos have been published on our Padlet, available here:
📌 https://padlet.com/unimed/the-unimed-award-at-the-venice-film-festival-jso2pw8j3scpttzx

Full information about the Festival and the Prize at the following report Unimed.

Traslation carried out by Lorena Gómez-Vazquez Álvarez, student of 4th year English Studies “Grado de Traducción e Interpretación” at the University of Murcia.

[1] Grants intended for the finance of scientific activities and research. Literally, ‘Special Actions’