El Hierro’s Insularia festival gears up for its 10th-anniversary edition with Greenland as the guest island.
Insularia – Islas del Mundo en Red (Islands of the World Network) will celebrate its tenth anniversary from October 1 to 29 in the Canary Islands. Dedicated to island cinema from around the globe, the festival will bring screenings to all eight islands and gather filmmakers and audiences in El Hierro, the event's main hub.
Groenlandia protagoniza esta edición como cinematografía invitada y la muestra de cortometrajes británicos BAFTA Shorts regresa de nuevo como uno de los grandes hitos de la programación.
This edition—featuring free admission across all sections—will kick off on October 1 at the Ramón Méndez Wrestling Arena (Frontera) with a screening of *Isla Bonita*, attended by its director, Fernando Colomo.
The festival will spotlight Greenland as the guest island in collaboration with the Nuuk International Film Festival (NIFF). This selection of works will introduce Canarian audiences to contemporary cinema from the Arctic island, strengthening a bridge of cooperation between the two territories. Screenings will take place on October 9 and 10 in Valverde.
This bond joins an international network of partner festivals, including the Isla Verde Festival (Cuba) and the Chiloé International Film Festival (Chile). The connection to the Balearic Islands will be reinforced through a collaboration with Menorca Doc Fest, featuring the short film *Com anar en bicicleta o indagacions sobre la geologia d’una illa* by Aliss Schaeffer, as well as a commemorative Insularia showcase in Menorca taking place this month.
Additionally, the British Academy’s stamp of quality remains a program highlight. Once again, Insularia renews its partnership with the British Council to screen a selection of live-action and animated shorts—including both nominees and winners from the UK’s most recent awards season—on the big screen. This program will be presented at the festival's closing ceremony on October 11 in El Hierro, attended by Ana Iragorri as the representative of the British institution; it will also be screened on the 21st at TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes.
Panorama
On this tenth anniversary, the Panorama section takes on a special significance through two programs that explore the diversity of stories and voices from territories such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Azores, Iceland, Scotland, Australia, Réunion, and Chile. The Panorama 2026 awards ceremony will take place at the festival's closing event on October 11, with screenings scheduled for the 3rd in Frontera and the 10th in La Restinga.
Meanwhile, Panorama 10 will offer a retrospective of ten years of island cinema, revisiting some of the films that have accompanied the festival throughout its history. Screenings will be held on October 2 in Frontera and on the 9th of the same month in La Restinga. Both programs will form part of the touring schedule across the rest of the archipelago.
Other sections
Additionally, the Isla Mujeres section reaffirms the festival's partnership with the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (CIMA), serving as a meeting point for women in the sector from island territories and a space for reflecting on feminist perspectives in audiovisual media. This edition will feature a selection of short films from the CIMA 10 project—developed in collaboration with Amazon Prime Video to showcase emerging talent through a gender-conscious lens. The screening will take place on October 8 in Valverde during the CIMA Canary Islands and Balearic Islands Gathering, featuring the participation of Arima León and Clara Garriga, the organization's representatives for both archipelagos.
The "Ecoislas" section—dedicated to films that reflect on environmental sustainability in island contexts—will feature a selection of short films resulting from a collaboration with two Cuban festivals: the Isla Verde International Caribbean Film and Environment Festival and La Manigua. These screenings will take place in El Pinar on October 9 as part of an educational activity for students from CEIP Taibique. Meanwhile, the "KM 0 Hecho en El Hierro" section will showcase works filmed and/or produced on the island that have had a festival run; these will be screened in Sabinosa on October 4, and in Valverde and El Pinar on October 8.
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