The Address of Auteur Cinema Returns to Split

From September 11 to 18, Split will once again become a meeting place for contemporary auteur cinema, new cinematic voices, and audiences who expect something more from the cinema. The 31st edition of the Split Film Festival brings eight days of programming dedicated to films that do not always play by the rules.

September in Split traditionally brings a different rhythm. After months in which the city has been living at the full intensity of the tourist season, the cultural scene once again takes center stage, along with the Split Film Festival — an event that, over more than three decades, has established a strong presence on both the Croatian and international film scene.

The 31st edition of the Split Film Festival will take place from September 11 to 18, 2026.

The festival is dedicated to contemporary auteur cinema and film practices that explore boundaries, raise new questions, and offer different perspectives.

For more than thirty years, the festival has been committed to discovering new filmmakers, presenting contemporary film production, and creating a space where cinema can be more than a predetermined format. This year, audiences can once again expect films that often exist outside major theatrical distribution networks, established genre categories, and conventional festival formulas. Instead, the focus remains on filmmakers, new cinematic languages, and stories that push the boundaries of what we expect from film.

At a time when the way we watch films is changing almost as quickly as cinema itself, the festival experience takes on new value. The big screen, a shared screening, conversations after the films, and direct encounters with filmmakers create a context that streaming platforms cannot reproduce. The festival therefore remains a space where film is not simply consumed as content, but experienced as a collective artistic and social experience.

Details of the programme will be announced in the coming weeks. Throughout the eight festival days, audiences can look forward to another edition of an event that brings a different perspective to Split each year on what cinema is today — and what it could become.

Info: splitfilmfestival.hr