About
With its third edition and Latin America as its focus region, the Alternativa Film Festival enters a new chapter as a full-fledged festival. In 2026, there will be more award categories and a larger prize fund, offering greater recognition and support for filmmakers. The festival will feature an expanded program of screenings, discussions, and public events, showcasing impactful films to broad and diverse audiences, as well as Industry Days, a professional program that connects filmmakers, producers, and social impact leaders.
TIMELINE
Open call
Deadline for the films world premiered before August 1, 2025
Deadline for the films world premiered after August 1, 2025
Announcement of the official dates and host city of the Festival
Announcement of the Competition program
Colombia
2026
Filmmakers from Latin America and Asia
Dear filmmakers, submissions for the Alternativa Film Festival 2026 are now open, and we can’t wait to receive your films! For the first two editions—held in Almaty, Kazakhstan and Yogyakarta, Indonesia—we received powerful features and shorts from across Asia. Now, we're ready to grow. With Colombia as the next destination for our nomadic festival, we’re excited to begin accepting impactful films from Latin America, in addition to works from Asia. We are waiting for films that express what matters most to you—what moves you, what makes you angry, and what gives you hope. Let your moving images carry your emotions. Share your stories. We look forward to seeing the world through the lens of your cameras. See you in Colombia in 2026!
What is Alternativa
AWARDS
The Alternativa Film Awards are presented in six categories with a total prize fund of $120,000. Feature-length film awards come with a $20,000 prize, while two Shorts Awards winners receive $10,000 each. Fiction, documentary, hybrid and animated films of all genres compete together for the Awards.
Spotlight
Celebrating cinema that reveals the unseen. This award honors a film that brings overlooked stories into the light, inviting awareness and deeper public engagement with what is often ignored.
Future Voice
Recognizing bold new talent. This award honors a first or second feature that demonstrates outstanding creative vision and the potential to bring positive change to both cinema and society.
Alter
Championing the catalysts for change. This award honors a film that addresses critical issues and can inspire action, motivating audiences to take tangible steps toward transformation.
Nativa
Illuminating identity. This award honors a film that explores national or cultural identity, portraying a place or community with depth and care, and giving global recognition to local voices.
Focus
Revealing a region’s challenges and hopes. This award honors a film that offers insight into the complexities of the current Alternativa Focus Region. With clarity and urgency, it depicts the realities shaping the future of this part of the world.
Shorts Awards
Discovering the storytellers of tomorrow. This award honors two short films from the current Alternativa Focus Region and supports filmmakers who boldly forge their own paths with a strong vision for impact.
The Alternativa Film Festival honors films that bring positive change to the world and society. The festival presents an alternative system for recognizing filmmakers from the film industries of the Global South.
Our mission is:- To strengthen the ties between cinema and social change.
- To find brave new voices and amplify them on a global scale.
- To support filmmakers who need it most by providing resources and networking within the international community.
- To bring impactful films to broad and diverse audiences and build bridges across regions.
The Alternativa Film Festival aims to recognize films that combine artistic excellence with the potential for significant social impact. We support these works and their creators through screenings, discussions, promotional efforts, and the Alternativa Film Awards, with the awards ceremony serving as the culmination of the festival. Our awards offer both monetary and symbolic prizes to filmmakers who are yet to be widely recognized, helping to make them more visible on a global scale.
By impact, we mean the positive changes that have occurred or may occur due to the film’s distribution or planned distribution strategy. These changes can affect individuals, local communities, public opinion, and societies both within the region of film production and beyond.
Fiction films, documentaries, animation, and hybrid films made by directors from Latin America and Asia and completed after January 1, 2025, are eligible. Regarding our current Focus Region, we accept short films of any genre exclusively from Latin America.
Please refer to the Rules & Regulations for a full list of eligible countries and areas and detailed film requirements.
The Alternativa Film Festival 2026 program will be centered on, but not limited to, free public screenings of films selected for the Competition. These screenings may be accompanied by discussions or other public events designed to deepen the films’ impact and engage audiences in dialogue.
The Festival will also feature Industry Days—a professional program that connects filmmakers, producers, and social impact leaders, fostering thought-provoking discussions and new collaborations.The Alternativa Film Festival winners are determined through a two-stage process: films in the Competition program are selected by the Selection Committee, and winners are chosen by the International Jury.
The Selection Committee consists of film critics and journalists, curators, and artistic and programming directors of film festivals, as well as impact producers and activists from Latin America, Asia, and other regions. Together, they review the eligible submissions and curate the Competition program. You can find the list of Selection Committee members on this page.
The International Jury consists of film directors and producers from Latin America, Asia, and other regions, as well as community leaders and NGO representatives. The list of AFF 2026 Jury members will be announced on our website.Please refer to our Rules & Regulations and FAQ. We hope everything is covered there—and if not, feel free to contact us at info@alternativa.film.
Alternativa Film labs
Alternativa offers free educational programs for filmmakers at different stages of their journey, who explore social issues in their countries, and who seek to develop their homeland’s film industry and give a voice to their local communities.
