With María Valverde and Gustavo Dudamel, the Queen's date with the cinema in Palma

The large interior courtyard of 'La Misericordia' hosted a new edition of the Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest (AMFF) tonight, which concluded its in-person edition in the center of Palma with a gala presided over by Queen Letizia , who has not missed this event for ten years.

The former monastery was filled with well-known faces from the world of cinema, celebrating the emergence of the Atlàntida Film Fest 15 years ago as Spain's first online film festival, which was born with the aim of introducing audiences to the best international films they couldn't find in theaters. Years later, this annual event has become the world's largest hybrid festival, with two venues: an in-person, week-long event held in Mallorca, and a month-long event on the Filmin platform.

The playwright Celine Song and the actors Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey attended a film event that has already become one of the most important of the year in Spain, and which was also attended by other well-known faces on the national scene such as Carolina Yuste , Chino Darín , the director Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Rossy de Palma , who was part of the jury for this edition.

They all greeted Queen Letizia with excitement. At these events, she always has no time to talk about premieres, film shoots, movies, and documentaries with everyone she meets at this gala. Something similar happened to her as soon as she arrived at 'La Misericordia': while photographers asked her to look at the cameras, the Queen chatted away with composer Alberto Iglesias , winner of this year's AMFF Master of Cinema award.

After the initial flashes and greetings, Queen Letizia took her place in the front row to follow the awards ceremony, which was preceded by a special concert by Yerai Cortés. The evening concluded with the screening of the documentary "El canto de las manos" (The Song of the Hands), directed by María Valverde, who attended the closing ceremony of the AMFF with her partner, composer Gustavo Dudamel. The film explores deafness through music. It follows three musicians from Venezuela—Jennifer, Gabriel, and José—as they face the challenge of Dudamel, who, as an orchestra conductor, wants to stage Beethoven's opera Fidelio in sign language for the first time. The documentary shows the isolation the protagonists experience due to being deaf, understanding that music is not only their refuge, but their salvation and their hope.

At the end of the screening, well into the night, the Queen had a conversation with Valverde and Dudamel about the documentary. Meanwhile, around her, attendees waited to greet her and take a photo with her. They all thanked her for her support of cinema.