Championing storytellers
We support independent filmmakers, screenwriters, students, new-media creators, and artists whose work expands how stories are seen, heard, and remembered.
About CFFI
About the Festival
Catalina Film Festival & Institute champions imagination, education, and destination through film, connecting storytellers, audiences, industry guests, students, and the Catalina community through cinema.
Who we are
A festival rooted in film, education, and place.
Catalina Film Institute is a California non-profit public benefit corporation dedicated to championing imagination, education, and destination through film.
Led by film industry professionals, the Institute supports storytellers with year-round experiences, industry conversations, community-driven events, educational programs, and creative opportunities.
Our work supports filmmakers and new-media creators across the creative process, from development and production to distribution, while promoting film as an art form and a shared cultural experience.
Catalina Island is central to the identity of the organization. The harbor, the coastline, the Casino, the Avalon Theatre, and the island’s film history are not background decoration. They are part of the festival’s cinematic frame.
Mission
Imagination, education, and destination through film.
The Institute exists to connect artists and audiences, expand educational access, support community life, and celebrate cinema as an art form, an industry, and a gathering place.
Creating learning spaces
Through workshops, panels, seminars, filmmaker conversations, and hands-on events, the Institute helps students, professionals, and film enthusiasts connect and grow.
Bringing cinema to Catalina
Set on California’s only coastal resort island, the festival creates a cinematic experience shaped by water, architecture, history, community, and place.
Catalina Film Festival
A destination festival for independent cinema.
Catalina Film Festival is presented each year by Catalina Film Institute as a celebration of cinema on Catalina Island, just 22 miles off the coast of Los Angeles.
The festival features more than 200 films, nightly events, industry networking, and a wide range of programming, including feature films, documentaries, screenplays, animation, short films, horror, and student work.
Recognized by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “Top 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” and ranked among FilmFreeway’s best-reviewed festivals for nearly a decade, CFF is built around filmmaker experience, audience discovery, and meaningful creative connection.
Explore the FestivalMainland connection
Long Beach Launch
Long Beach serves as the festival’s connecting city on the mainland, extending the Institute’s presence beyond Catalina Island while maintaining a strong architectural and cultural link to Avalon.
A mainland home
The historic 1924 Scottish Rite Cultural Centre serves as a mainland headquarters and art deco landmark for the Institute’s Long Beach presence.
An iconic theatre setting
The Scottish Rite Cultural Centre includes an 800-seat theatre and shares architectural elegance with Catalina’s Avalon Theatre.
From mainland to island
The Long Beach connection strengthens access, visibility, and continuity between Southern California, Catalina Island, filmmakers, and audiences.
International outreach
Catalina Film Institute Presents: Korea
Catalina Film Institute is expanding its international outreach through Catalina Film Institute Presents: Korea, an initiative created to strengthen cultural exchange and spotlight outstanding Korean cinema.
Led by Yoo Yeol Park, Founding Director of Catalina Film Institute Presents: Korea, the initiative will build relationships with filmmakers, universities, and cultural partners in Korea.
The goal is to introduce new Korean voices and films to Catalina Film Institute and Catalina Film Festival, while exploring future educational programs, seminars, and curated screenings in Korea.
As this collaboration develops, the Institute will share updates and opportunities to participate.
Since 2011
The Institute’s work continues beyond the festival weekend.
Catalina Film Institute supports film culture year-round through educational programs, screenings, conversations, workshops, community events, and creative initiatives.
Catalina Film & New Media Summit
The Summit supports filmmakers through learning, inspiration, and meaningful connections, including panels, seminars, pitches, and networking events with filmmakers and industry leaders.
Catalina Film Society
The Film Society curates screenings ranging from festival winners to classic films, with filmmaker Q&As and meet-and-greets that unpack the creative process behind the work.
Catalina Film Workshops
Based in Avalon, between Avalon Canyon and Avalon Bay, these hands-on experiences offer filmmakers an inspiring setting to learn, create, and develop their craft.
Catalina Film Radio Program
Through one-on-one interviews with independent filmmakers, the Radio Program explores each artist’s journey, influences, and creative decisions.
Screenings on Catalina
Films are screened across Catalina Island, including at the iconic Avalon Theatre, an art deco landmark and historic sound theatre.
Competitive recognition
Catalina Film Festival remains a competitive festival with awards across multiple categories and prestigious industry honors.
Catalina identity
The island is part of the story.
Catalina Film Festival is shaped by its namesake island. The experience of arriving by water, moving through Avalon, gathering near the harbor, and watching films in a place with deep cinematic memory gives the festival its distinctive character.
The Institute supports Catalina’s local community and off-season economy, celebrating the island’s charitable organizations, residents, local businesses, and long-standing connection to film history.
Catalina is not simply where the festival happens. It is part of what the festival means.
Platform
Education, art, entertainment, and community impact.
The Institute’s platform supports independent screenings, community events, educational programs, local charities, the Southern California economy, and Catalina Island’s off-season cultural life.
A wide spectrum of film
The festival platform celebrates feature films, documentaries, screenplays, animation, short films, horror, student work, and special programming.
Supporting local life
The Institute works with local organizations, partners, businesses, and community members to create cultural value beyond the screening room.
Stories that protect nature
The Institute spotlights a dedicated conservation series, honoring filmmakers whose work supports protecting, restoring, and experiencing the power of nature.
Get involved
Support the next chapter of CFFI.
Catalina Film Festival & Institute depends on filmmakers, audiences, donors, volunteers, partners, sponsors, educators, local businesses, and community supporters.
Whether you submit a film, attend a screening, become a partner, make a donation, volunteer, explore MerchLab, or help share the festival with others, you become part of the wider Catalina story.