In March 2026, the 4th Chica Pelega Film Festival, in Videira, launched a category devoted entirely to films from Santa Catarina. Among 14 contenders, the jury awarded the feature Irritante Prodígio, by Luiza Lindner, from Blumenau. Months later the film won the competitive section of the 21st CineOP, the Ouro Preto Film Festival (Minas Gerais), taking the Vila Rica Trophy. No wonder the Santa Catarina showcase returns in the 5th edition, accepting entries until December 9, 2026, together with the Contestado showcase.

Entry is free and now made through the form on the Festival website, with no FilmFreeway account needed. Films from any period, of any length and from any municipality in the state are welcome. The 5th Festival takes place in 2027 in Chapecó, Brazil, with an online showcase on Pupilo Play.

A category that has already revealed films

At the debut of the Santa Catarina showcase, the jury, Edileuza Penha de Souza and Gabriel Borges, awarded two films. The short A Lua dos Beijos Silentes, by Mika Queiroz, from Florianópolis, was recognized “for the tenderness with which it embraces the wish to imagine that other worlds can still bloom”. Irritante Prodígio, the director’s first feature, was awarded for “turning memory into language and vulnerability into creative strength”. The short Maracatu Liberta, by Rita de Cácia Oenning da Silva, received an honorable mention for affirming “the presence and strength of Black territoriality”.

The 4th Festival itself opened with a remarkable film from the state: Kagpó jó (The Origin), the first animation made by Laklãnõ/Xokleng and Kaingang Indigenous people, narrated in their mother tongue. It was directed by Jucelino Senei Filho and produced by Fernando Xokleng, both journalism students at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). After opening the Chica Pelega Festival, the film went on to screen at the Florianópolis Children’s Film Festival (Mostra de Cinema Infantil de Florianópolis).

A priority for Pupilo, not only for the Festival

For Pupilo, the company that produces Chica Pelega, cinema made in Santa Catarina is a priority that goes beyond one category. The Festival was born in 2021 in Joaçaba, bringing together local films about the Contestado War, and has since traveled through towns in the Midwest and West of the state and through quilombola communities across Santa Catarina. On Pupilo Play, a platform of Brazilian films for the classroom, films from Santa Catarina reach schools and educators. And Cineclube Pupilo is preparing a travelling circuit for 2027 through towns without a movie theater, mainly in Santa Catarina.

This work rests on a long history. The Cinemateca Catarinense, founded in 1986 in Florianópolis, turned 40 in 2026. A pioneer in preserving and funding audiovisual work in the state, it helped create Santa Catarina’s Museum of Image and Sound and, in 2001, created with the Santa Catarina Cultural Foundation the state film grant, called the Cinemateca Catarinense Prize until 2012. Today it is the Prêmio Catarinense de Cinema, the same prize that made the 4th Chica Pelega Festival possible through the Paulo Gustavo Law. In Joaçaba, the Cinemateca keeps the Casa do Acervo, at the Rogério Sganzerla Cultural Center, holding almost 40 years of the state’s audiovisual memory.

Who can enter

  • Santa Catarina showcase: filmmakers from Santa Catarina (who live or were born in the state) or films shot in Santa Catarina, in any municipality. Either condition is enough.
  • Contestado showcase: films about the Contestado (the war, its history, memory and territory) or made in one of the 65 municipalities of the Contestado region, in Santa Catarina and Paraná. In the 4th edition the winner was Beira: além das margens do Rio Uruguai, by Daniela Farina and João Fernando Lucas, from Chapecó.

The same film can enter both showcases, and each awards its Best Film with the Chica Pelega Trophy. Films already entered on FilmFreeway do not need to be entered again.

How to enter

The form is at chicapelega.com.br/en/submit and takes a few minutes. It asks for the details of the person submitting and their role in the film (director, producer, distributor or other), plus title, year, running time and synopsis. If you like, you can also send the director’s bio and photo and a film still. The municipality where the film was made is picked from a list, and the region is filled in automatically.

Entry has two steps. For now, only a link to watch the full film: Vimeo (password is fine), unlisted YouTube or Google Drive shared with anyone with the link. The site tests the link on submission. The screening file will only be requested from selected films.

After submitting, you receive a personal link by e-mail to change the film link or password if needed. Until the end of the selection, links are checked every week, and if one stops opening we let you know by e-mail, so please double-check the address you give us.

Two more opportunities: Pupilo Play and Cineclube Pupilo 2027

On the same form, you can tick two options that extend the life of the film:

  • License the film on Pupilo Play, a platform of Brazilian films used by schools and educators in the classroom. Learn about the Filmmaker Area.
  • Enter the film in the selection of Cineclube Pupilo 2027, a travelling cinema that will bring open and school screenings to towns without a movie theater, mainly in Santa Catarina. It is planned to start in November 2027, so the answer from this selection will come later.

The list of films selected for the Festival is expected on January 10, 2027 (provisional date). The full rules are in the rules page.

Entries until December 9: chicapelega.com.br/en/submit
Questions: producao@chicapelega.com.br