Belfast Film Festival 2026 - 26th Edition

What to Expect

Belfast Film Festival returns for its 26th edition from 29 October to 7 November 2026, running across the city’s independent cinema and arts venues rather than one single site. The festival has built its reputation on an International Competition for first and second-time feature directors, alongside a strand of Irish shorts and a documentary programme that leans into social justice, identity and regional history. Past editions have used venues including Queen’s Film Theatre and The Black Box in the Cathedral Quarter, and the 2026 programme is expected to follow the same pattern once the full schedule is confirmed.

The festival has run continuously in Belfast for over two decades and has become the city’s main annual meeting point for independent and international cinema, pairing premieres and competition screenings with talks, shorts programmes and events aimed at filmmakers as well as audiences. The organisers were, at the time of research, still finalising the full 2026 line-up and inviting submissions from filmmakers on the island of Ireland for the shorts programme and the NI Independents feature strand, so specific titles and venue-by-venue scheduling are confirmed closer to the festival dates.

Good to Know

• Dates: Thursday 29 October to Saturday 7 November 2026.
• Screenings take place across multiple Belfast venues, expected to include Queen’s Film Theatre and The Black Box.
• Prices vary by film and event - check belfastfilmfestival.org/whats-on once the full programme is published.
• Festival passes are typically available alongside individual tickets in past editions.
• The full 2026 programme, including confirmed venues per screening, is published on the festival website ahead of the event.

Getting There

Belfast Film Festival’s venues cluster around the city centre and the Queen’s Quarter, both well served by Metro buses, the Glider rapid transit line and Belfast’s two main rail stations, Great Victoria Street and Belfast Central. Most venues are within a 15 to 20 minute walk of each other, so a festival day can move between screenings on foot.