Festivalito La Palma 2026: cinema, creation and community

Festivalito La Palma reveals programme for 21st edition

Festivalito La Palma has unveiled its 21st edition, which will take place from 11 to 19 September 2026 in the municipality of El Paso. The announcement was made during an event held at Casa Salazar in Santa Cruz de La Palma on Monday 6 July, according to the organisers. During the official press conference, key details of this new edition were revealed, with a focus on cinema made in the Canary Islands and tribute stars Emma Suárez and Carmen Aguado, two women with very different careers but united by a shared defence of cinema as a craft, a risk and a way of seeing the world.

The presentation was attended by Sergio Rodríguez, president of the Cabildo; Miriam Perestelo, the island’s councillor for culture; Raquel Rebollo, the island’s councillor for tourism; Asier Antona, mayor of Santa Cruz de La Palma; Irinova Hernández, culture councillor for El Paso town council; and José Víctor Fuentes, director of Festivalito La Palma.

A key piece for audiovisual production in the Canary Islands

The president of the Cabildo of La Palma, Sergio Rodríguez, stressed that “Festivalito La Palma is a key piece for the audiovisual sector in the Canary Islands, and especially for La Palma”. In this regard, he emphasised that “from the island authority we will continue working so that the audiovisual sector keeps growing on the island and to give continuity to a project that has demonstrated its capacity to generate culture, talent and international projection”. Rodríguez also recalled that “what is filmed on La Palma does not stay here, but travels, is shown elsewhere and helps reinforce the island’s image as a creative and cinematic territory”.

The culture councillor for El Paso town council, Irinova Hernández, highlighted the evolution of the festival and stated that “Festivalito has known how to grow, adapt to the times and keep its essence intact”. Hernández assured that “from El Paso we feel very proud to host it and to be the venue for an event that turns the municipality into a space for creation, encounter and cinema”. She also highlighted the impact of Festivalito 360, which this year has brought cinema to the municipality on an ongoing basis and has been very well received, “demonstrating that Festivalito is not limited to one week, but can be part of La Palma’s cultural life throughout the year”.

“Twenty years don’t just happen”

For his part, the mayor of Santa Cruz de La Palma, Asier Antona, stated that “twenty years don’t just happen”. During his speech, he noted that “the Festivalito has known how to mix creativity, talent, technique, a good team and a firm commitment to La Palma as a natural film set”. Antona argued that the festival “represents a firm bet on an industry that generates employment, opens new possibilities and allows new generations to find a future path in the audiovisual world”. In this sense, he also highlighted the role of Campus Festivalito, “where children, young people and those interested in cinema start learning from practice, discovering that telling stories can also be a way to grow and build opportunities”.

A festival that keeps growing

The director of Festivalito La Palma, José Víctor Fuentes, explained that this 21st edition represents a new step forward for the festival, which continues to grow and expand its lines of work. “Festivalito was born with the idea of making cinema in a different way, from freedom, coexistence and the territory, and after more than two decades we continue expanding sections, opening spaces and looking for new ways to support those who create,” he said.

Fuentes particularly highlighted the incorporation of the first awards dedicated to Canary Islands cinema within Cinerama Canarias, a section with which the festival aims to “recognise what the audiovisual industry of the Islands is doing and also help to organise it a little”. In this regard, he recalled that “the Canary Islands has consolidated itself as one of the great filming territories in Spain, and now we must also look at those who produce, direct, write, perform and make cinema possible from here”. The festival director added that the aim of this edition is “to give visibility to cinema made in the Canary Islands, differentiate it from cinema filmed in the Canary Islands and highlight the entire professional fabric that exists in the archipelago”.

“Festivalito keeps growing because it keeps listening to its time. La Palma Rueda continues to be our heart, but around it new sections are being born, new training spaces and new ways of understanding that cinema has the power to create community, from the one who tells it to the one who watches it. That is why we will always need stories that move us. Festivalito’s mission is to help tell those stories,” he concluded.

A festival defending a different way of making cinema for over two decades

Festivalito La Palma celebrates its 21st edition consolidated as a pioneering event in audiovisual creation competitions. Since its first edition in 2002, the festival has become a meeting point for filmmakers, actors, technicians, students and cinema lovers who come to the island from different parts of the world with a clear idea: to create stories from freedom, coexistence and the territory.

Festivalito is not limited to screening films. Its essence lies in helping stories to happen. For one week, La Palma becomes a large natural film set where professionals and non-professionals in the audiovisual sector share processes, locations, shoots and a way of understanding cinema closer to play, intuition and the need to tell stories. In this 21st edition, the festival will focus on the audiovisual industry of the Canary Islands, giving prominence to productions made in the Islands, both from direction and production. In recent years, the archipelago has consolidated itself as a fertile territory for the audiovisual sector, not only as a filming location, but also as a place from which stories with their own voice are born.

Emma Suárez and Carmen Aguado: Tribute Stars 2026

Festivalito La Palma will award its highest recognition, the Estrella Polar, to actress Emma Suárez and Canarian producer Carmen Aguado. This award distinguishes artists, filmmakers and professionals who have defended a way of making cinema committed to creative freedom, emotion and a distinctive vision.

Emma Suárez is one of the great references of Spanish cinema. With a career spanning more than four decades, she has worked with filmmakers such as Julio Medem, Pedro Almodóvar, Isabel Coixet, Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo, building a filmography marked by risk, sensitivity and interpretative honesty. Her connection with auteur cinema and projects far from the most commercial paths connects with the spirit of Festivalito: making cinema from truth, even if the path is not always the easiest.

For her part, Carmen Aguado will receive the Estrella Polar for her role as a reference producer in the Canary Islands and for her contribution to the growth of the audiovisual sector in the Islands. Founder of E-Media Canary Project S.L., she has participated in numerous projects as an executive producer, working with national and international production companies. She has more than twenty titles in her filmography, including films, short films and series. Recently appointed a member of the Film Academy, she is also vice-president of the Audiovisual Cluster of the Canary Islands and combines her work as an executive producer with her work as a lawyer specialising in audiovisual tax structuring and tax incentives at the Ecija law firm.

Cinerama Canarias: a look at cinema made in the Islands

The 21st edition of Festivalito La Palma will feature Cinerama Canarias, the official competitive showcase and award section of the festival dedicated to promoting, rewarding and giving visibility to cinema linked to the archipelago. This section will not only take into account the territory where a work is filmed, but also the vision, authorship and involvement of the Canarian professional fabric. To this end, Festivalito will be guided by the criteria of the Eight Stars of Canarian Cinema, a system that evaluates aspects such as the presence of stories linked to the reality of the Islands, Canarian characters and actors, direction, production, screenplay, photography, music and technical team from the archipelago.

Cinerama Canarias was born with the aim of differentiating cinema made in the Canary Islands from cinema filmed in the Canary Islands, without pitting the two realities against each other, but understanding that each occupies a different place within the audiovisual map. The section will seek works with a condition of Canarian identity and with the Festivalito spirit: feature films and short films that take risks in their language, explore an artisanal and different form of production, and always maintain an honest connection with the public.

La Palma Rueda: the heart of Festivalito

The La Palma Rueda filmmaking competition will once again be the heart of Festivalito La Palma. This pioneering competition challenges filmmakers from around the world to devise, shoot, edit and premiere an audiovisual work on the island during the festival week, based on a theme revealed during the opening ceremony. Since its inception, La Palma Rueda has become one of the largest meeting spaces for professionals and non-professionals in the audiovisual sector in the Canary Islands. Under the philosophy of guerrilla filmmaking, this living laboratory of collective creation transforms the territory into a natural film set where coexistence is the most precious treasure. Registrations to participate in La Palma Rueda 2026 will be open until 27 August at 2:00 p.m.

21st Festivalito La Palma: programme and organisation

From 11 to 19 September, the municipality of El Paso will host the central activities of the main week of the 21st edition of Festivalito La Palma, with screenings within Festivalito Cinerama, workshops and talks in Festivalito LAB, Festivalito Sonora concerts and the La Palma Rueda filmmaking competition. In addition, Festivalito keeps its training line active with Campus Festivalito, which ran from 29 June to 4 July in Santa Cruz de La Palma. This initiative brings cinema closer to children, young people and those interested in the audiovisual world through workshops adapted to different ages, where they learn by making cinema: writing, recording, editing and working as a team.

Festivalito La Palma is organised by the Canarian production company Chukumi Studio. Its main driving force is the Cabildo of La Palma through the Department of Culture and the Department of Tourism of the Cabildo of La Palma, the Government of the Canary Islands through Promotur Islas Canarias and the Department of Universities, Science and Innovation, and Culture Canary Islands Film. The support of the town councils of El Paso and Santa Cruz de La Palma, Sodepal, the World Biosphere Reserve and Proexca is also essential. This institutional backing is joined by private sponsors such as cija Abogados, EMedia Canary Projects, Music Library SFX, Fundación Cajamar, Fundación Casa Cabrera, Digital 104, Viajes Insular, as well as collaborations with local and regional companies and entities. Thanks to all of them, and to the efforts of the La Palma community, which since the first edition has been the pulse that gives life to the festival, Festivalito La Palma continues to grow as a cultural benchmark and a symbol of creativity and the potential of cinema made in the Canary Islands.

Source

Scroll to Top