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ARCA International Festival of Films on Arts is the only festival in Latin America dedicated entirely to films about art—fiction, documentary, and animation—bringing together contemporary cinema with the visual arts, photography, music, architecture, literature, and creative processes. It presents recent productions of high artistic merit, Uruguay premieres, and numerous Latin American and international premieres. ARCA promotes an active relationship between film, critical thinking, and contemporary art, broadening public access to global cultural works and discourses. Held at the Atchugarry Museum of Contemporary Art (MACA), the festival extends cinema beyond the screening room, placing the works in relation to architecture, the landscape, and the natural environment. ARCA thus creates a cultural experience where cinema engages with space and territory.
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The International Documentary Film Festival of Uruguay (Atlantidoc), organized by the foundation that bears its name, is held annually with the aim of presenting an overview of new documentary productions, bringing to Uruguay the best and most diverse materials of the genre, as well as training good documentary filmmakers in the region.
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CineMarea is a film creation residency in Uruguay for filmmakers from around the world, combining short film production, training, and community-based work. Starting in 2023, the program will visit four different towns over a four-week period between November and December each year. Through collaborative film shoots, workshops, and open screenings, it transforms towns in the country’s interior into spaces for collective creation. The project promotes horizontal and accessible methodologies, fosters quality cultural tourism, and seeks to democratize cinema through a decentralized and immersive approach.
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Cortos en la torta is a community film festival held annually in Montevideo, organized by Mostro Cine Coop since 2021. Its goal is to celebrate and share national cinema, with a focus on projects produced through alternative and horizontal production structures. Every December, it takes place free of charge and outdoors, creating a space for filmmakers and audiences to come together in a community-oriented and festive atmosphere. Over time, it has grown and evolved without losing its collective spirit, moving through different venues across the city and establishing itself as a hub for the diverse arts.
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The Festival de Cine Nuevo is an annual event dedicated to supporting, promoting, screening, and disseminating emerging Uruguayan and global cinema. Since 2013, it has supported new filmmakers in their debut works, and every October it brings together more than 4,000 audience members, filmmakers, students, and industry professionals in the country’s finest theaters to celebrate cinema and the audiovisual arts in all their forms. It is the only national festival focused on short films and debut features, with an emphasis on decentralization, inclusion, and the diversity of voices. Each edition features screenings, workshops, thematic forums, and international partnerships. It awards over US$20,000 in prizes and concrete support for project development, thanks to the backing of public and private institutions in the cultural sector. The Festival de Cine Nuevo is an annual event dedicated to the promotion, exhibition, and circulation of emerging Uruguayan and global cinema. Since 2013, it...
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The Tacuarembó Short Film Festival, founded by DANEC Realizaciones in 2008, is a platform dedicated to the screening, promotion, and celebration of short films in rural Uruguay. It promotes the participation of both emerging and established filmmakers, fostering a diversity of perspectives and audiovisual narratives. Through screenings, educational workshops, and exchange activities, it seeks to strengthen film culture in the region and bring audiovisual media closer to the community. The festival positions itself as a platform for visibility, training, and distribution for national and international short films.
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Since 2000, the Uruguayan Film School has been organizing the International Film School Festival (FIEC), the only space in the country exclusively dedicated to the exhibition of the best works of professional audiovisual training centers at the local, regional and international levels. In these 18 years, the FIEC has gathered works from more than 90 film schools from all over the world, incorporating new institutions and countries in each edition.
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The International Film Festival of Uruguay is dedicated to short and feature films, fiction, documentary, experimental, Latin American and international, with the aim of promoting film quality and creative and human values. It aims to provide a space for meetings and discussions of regional projects of mutual interest.
It is organized by Cinemateca Uruguaya, a member of FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film). The festival is independent and awards prizes from the Jury, the critics and the public.
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José Ignacio International Film Festival is the meeting between the excitement of discovering films that are emotionally moving as well as captivating the world and the calmness of a small fisherman town during the summer season.
Since 2011, during a long week, always in the month of January, JIIFF presents a careful selection of cinema that is both the most anticipated and the most unexpected as it brings together both masters of the cinema and new trends.
All of JIIFF’s screenings are held outdoors in the natural surroundings of José Ignacio and Pueblo Garzón. When the film begins, after the sunset, we enjoy each movie under a blanket of stars.
JIIFF is a summer adventure created especially for a movie buff audience.
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“Llamale H - International Film Festival on Sexual and Gender Diversity” has been celebrating diversity through art and education for over 20 years. Uruguay’s longest-running cultural and educational event dedicated to sexual and gender diversity returns every September for the entire month with a dynamic, decentralized program designed for all audiences, featuring film screenings, cultural events, educational workshops, and much more. Each edition takes place in more than 20 venues across various departments, most with free admission and activities for all ages; content is available throughout Uruguay on streaming platforms and via a weekly series on Tv Ciudad’s broadcast channel.
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Mientras tanto cine is a series of short home movies, which promotes exchange between filmmakers and the audience. In each edition short films in digital and film (super 8, 16mm) are shown, accompanied by live actions with music and moving images (films set to music on location or film performance).
The productions are mostly Uruguayan, although in the third edition there were works from Mexico and Spain. Within the programming, the Cine Casero collective and the Laboratorio de Preservación Audiovisual del Archivo General de la Universidad de la República participate and support.
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The NOX FILM FEST International Horror and Fantasy Film Festival in Salto is a fun cinematic experience that takes place during the South American summer in the city of Salto, Uruguay. It is a free, open-air festival aimed at young people and families. It features a theme park-style format that includes not only film screenings but also recreational and specialized activities, as well as special guests. Every year, it draws hundreds of people who gather at Parque Solari, its main venue, and at other locations throughout the city and the department. The festival accepts films in the horror and fantasy genres and their subgenres. NOX, as it is known, features an International Competition for feature films, medium-length films, short films, and films made by women, and awards prizes in various categories. The festival has been held since January 2016.
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The Piriápolis International Film Festival is an audiovisual showcase that has established itself as a space for the meeting of independent productions by national and international filmmakers. It is characterized by exhibiting, completely free of charge, a selection of outstanding audiovisual productions, short, medium and long films, of all genres. It also has a Latin American Short Film Competition, whose objective is to stimulate and disseminate the production of short films in the region and the continent, embellished by an outstanding international jury.
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PUENTES AL SUR is an international film festival based in Uruguay, created to tell stories about movement, human mobility, and Latin American and Caribbean migration around the world. Like bridges, it seeks to connect, traverse, journey, and create new possibilities through contemporary audiovisual works that transcend both internal and external geographical borders. Its mission through film is to build networks, raise awareness, foster learning, and debunk stereotypes about human mobility, while valuing the experiences and journeys of those who move, travel, and transform territories. The festival offers a decentralized space for gathering and exchanging knowledge, serving as a creative hub to promote more inclusive, diverse, and resilient narratives regarding mobility and human rights.
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This pioneering initiative, launched by the Rocha Departmental Government in Uruguay and directed/produced by its location office, Rocha Filma, aims to establish a sustainable platform for cultural and tourism convergence in one of the most attractive beach resorts on the eastern coast: Punta del Diablo (Rocha Department, Uruguay). The “Tridente” concept is based on the fact that the artistic content on display features the trilogy of countries—Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil—as its main participants, showcasing their most relevant contemporary audiovisual productions and prominent figures from the respective fields. At the same time, and in line with the etymological meaning of this concept, it alludes to the name of the town (Punta del Diablo) with a sense of belonging. For four days, local residents and tourists enjoy a diverse program, with the opening event taking place on the fascinating beaches of Punta del Diablo.
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This festival brings together the best of the international, regional and national film scene on the peninsula, as well as showing its local production, through Maldonado Filma, a section of audiovisual productions made in the department. It is considered one of the most important in the country and the region, and is organized by the Maldonado City Hall.
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Tenemos Que Ver, the International Film and Human Rights Festival of Uruguay, is organized by a collective composed of people sensitized to the theme of human rights and the art of film.
Through the screening of films on human rights, it seeks to contribute to the dissemination, awareness, promotion and reflection on the subject in Uruguay and the region, as well as to promote awareness and cultural, artistic, educational and scientific exchange.
