The 4th Chica Pelega Film Festival made history by becoming, in number of films, the largest film festival ever held in Santa Catarina. Awarded by the Catarinense Cinema Award (Paulo Gustavo Law 2023, with funds from the Government of Santa Catarina through the Catarinense Culture Foundation), the 2026 edition received 2,393 submitted films and selected 117 works from 22 countries and 13 Brazilian states.
There were 10 days of in-person screenings in Videira, occupying the Euclides da Cunha Cinema Room, the Eurico Rauen State School, the Vitório Sevi Events Center, the Antônio Francisco Gaio Square and the UNOESC Videira auditorium. In all, 1,479 viewers attended the 39 in-person sessions, spread across six categories: Contemporary Migrations, Student Showcase, Childhoods on Screen, Catarinense Showcase, Contestado Showcase and Young Critics.
The programme was built in partnership with the Videira City Hall — in the second year of collaboration — and welcomed by schools, associations and social assistance projects in the region. Among the partners and audiences were SEJA Videira, state and municipal schools in Videira, Rio das Antas, Monte Carlo and Tangará, UNOESC, the CRAS centers, the Pastoral da Criança and senior groups, as well as the spontaneous audience that took part in the sessions and the migration festival.
More than numbers, the 4th Festival reaffirmed cinema as a space of encounter, education and dialogue — receiving works from every corner of the world and bringing them closer to the audience of the Meio-Oeste region of Santa Catarina. The edition closed with a live-streamed awards ceremony that revealed the winning films by category. Meet the winners and the jury’s rationale.
