Cineautopsia / Festival De Cine Experimental De Bogotá (12)

Фестиваль начинается: 21 Август 2026      Фестиваль заканчивается: 29 Август 2026

The Bogotá Experimental Film Festival, Cineautopsia, celebrates its XII (12th) edition in 2026.
We call upon works and artists from Colombia and around the world who are nonconformist and dissident toward the predominant modes of production and creation; we privilege the author’s gaze in unique creative processes of plastic exploration, making use of diverse technologies/resources/media, and developing individual, collective, or interdisciplinary dynamics of creation.
Throughout these 11 years of the festival, we have been committed to recognizing and highlighting an experimental, poetic, free, radical, and proactive cinema. A cinema that responds to the aesthetic, political, and philosophical needs of its authors, proposing artistic horizons far from conventional formulas and the hegemonic standards of audiovisual production. Our commitment has been to transform the ways of making cinema, exploring diverse methodologies of creation, and consolidating new forms of thought around audiovisual aesthetics and technique. Moreover, we have sought to generate sensitive and emotional encounters with audiences, expanding the possibilities of interaction, mediation, and participation of experimental cinema within the cultural and social spectrum of the community.
We believe that “the experimental” is not simply limited to an aesthetic or technical category within the cinematographic or audiovisual field—or even within the arts in general; we understand it as an unequivocal symptom of a collectivity that refuses to conform to the rules. The experimental represents a powerful way to problematize, question, or subvert what is established in order to transform, to contribute to cultural change and social dialogue.
It is through experimental cinema that we find authentic forms of creating audiovisual art, and in this way, we give space to every artistic manifestation in which form and content take risks to dismantle what is established, exploring creative boundaries that challenge generalized aesthetics, using in variable ways all types of devices, elevating both expressive means and the relationship between the audience and the work, while also inviting new forms of exhibition and circulation strategies.
“We rebel against conventions, against the tyranny of what is established, and against the invisible chains that bind creation to the canon. We oppose the domestication of the creative spirit, the cultural anesthesia that turns art into a soulless product, a good of empty and sterile entertainment or consumption.”
Within the ecosystem of conventional audiovisual production—directed by large industries or political/economic agendas and marked by repetitive formulas and pre-established narratives—experimental cinema emerges as a dissident voice. It defies the norm, questions established structures, proposes counter-narratives, and becomes a trigger for innovation, critical reflection, cultural transformation, and the search for new paths and forms of human expression. Experimental cinema is avant-garde and stands as a space of exploration, dissection, and reconfiguration of what we understand as the cinematographic image. We value fragmentation, deconstruction, error, and nonsense. Experimental cinema questions the very modes of existence of traditional cinema.
We also inquire into expanded cinema, in its performative or installation dimensions, which explore the body and action in real time, involving formats such as live cinema, VJ, mapping, fulldome, live coding, new media, multimedia cabaret, interactivity, or transmedia. These practices not only transcend the screen but also turn the cinematographic act into a living and ephemeral experience.
Under these parameters, any audiovisual work—without limitation of format, duration, or technique—is welcome to apply. We accept works that align with this idea of experimental cinema and explore subgenres such as found footage, cameraless cinema, abstract cinema, mixed media film/video, video art, video sculpture, video dance, choreo cinema, video performance, choreography and improvisation, music video, animation, screen art, expanded cinema, virtual reality, new media audiovisuals, etc.
In this 12th edition of the festival, which will take place in Bogotá in August 2026, we aim to strengthen programming in alternative and exhibition spaces, as well as online circulation through the festival’s official web platform. We will feature film screenings in theaters and alternative venues, artist talks, academic activities, industry meetings, creative laboratories, among others. All experimental audiovisual artists from around the world are welcome to the 12th edition of the Bogotá Experimental Film Festival, Cineautopsia.

(2) Awards for Best Short Film (National and International)

(2) Awards for Best Medium-Length Film (National and International)

(2) Awards for Best Feature Film (National and International)

(6–9) Special Mentions for thematic categories

A specialized jury will grant, in all cases, a certificate and a curatorial statement. All awarded works will receive a special screening at the festival’s closing event, reviews on our social media, opinion articles, and exhibition on our web platform with free access for the public.

- Works produced between January 2024 and March 2026 will be accepted.

- Any work spoken in a language other than Spanish/Castilian, or containing text and/or intertitles, must be submitted with English and Spanish subtitles. Without this requirement, the work cannot be programmed for the Official Selection 2026. If requested by the artist, the festival can provide a subtitling service, which must be paid for once the work is notified as part of the Official Selection 2026.

- All submitted works will go through a curatorial process, and the festival team reserves the right to select or reject works at its discretion.

- The festival does not accept audiovisual works with a commercial or institutional purpose or concept.

- The submission fee applicable to a work is determined by the country/place/geographical location where it was produced, not by the nationality of the artist submitting it.

- If a work is selected for the Official Selection, it cannot be withdrawn from the festival’s programming or exhibition/circulation circuit under any circumstances.

- The person/artist/group submitting the work is solely responsible for any legal implications or copyright violations according to current national and international laws, including but not limited to licenses, soundtrack usage, archival material, or improper software use. The festival is exonerated from any legal or juridical claims related to the work’s content or copyright certificates.

- By accepting these conditions, the participant certifies that they hold the rights for exhibition/screening/circulation and authorizes Cineautopsia – Bogotá Experimental Film Festival to screen and disseminate the work during the festival dates. The festival will provide written or personal notice to the contact provided upon submission regarding any events in which the work will participate outside of the main festival program.

- By accepting these conditions, participants allow the festival and its organizers to use the information provided in the database for communicative and informational purposes. This information will be protected according to national and international laws.

- The festival is not responsible for requests that seek to alter the terms of this call.

- Minors (under 18 years old) may participate as long as they are represented by a legal guardian who authorizes the festival to exhibit and circulate the work.

- If the participating work is publicly available for viewing on any platform, we may program it; however, it will not be considered for the Official Selection Highlights program.

- Works previously submitted to earlier editions of this festival are not eligible.

- If the festival notifies that a work has been selected for the Official Selection, the artist must provide a high-quality screening copy within the indicated timeframe.