Catherine Hardwicke to Receive Career Tribute Award on Opening Night Followed by West Coast Premiere: STREET SMART
Festival includes Red-Carpet Opening and Closing-Night Events, The Lion’s Den® Pitch Session, Midnight Horror, Sunday Masterclasses, Parties with Wide-Program across Avalon and Digital Platform
CATALINA ISLAND, Calif. — The 16th annual Catalina Film Festival returns to Avalon September 25–27, 2026, bringing filmmakers, audiences, and industry guests together for a focused three-day destination weekend of screenings, conversations, red carpets, parties, and awards. The festival’s digital program will continue online through October 4.
Written and directed by Catherine Hardwicke, STREET SMART features an ensemble cast including Isiah Hilt, Isabelle Fuhrman, Yara Shahidi, Michael Cimino, Kaitlyn Kemp, Bevin Bru, Skeet Ulrich, Paris Jackson, Virginia Madsen, Sally Struthers, Marcia Gay Harden and Heather Mazur. Cast and crew to attend.
New for 2026, CFF also introduces the Catalina Retreat Lounge at the new El Encanto Hotel, an exclusive Friday afternoon gathering from 3–5 p.m.; the Metropole Cinema Room, a new festival screening destination; and a dedicated Masterclass Sunday, bringing filmmakers and entertainment professionals together for conversations spanning financing, distribution, criticism and the business of getting films made—and seen.
For the complete schedule, Festival Passes, Day Passes, individual tickets, ferry information, and lodging
options, visit CatalinaFilm.org.
2026 CATALINA FILM FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
THE LION’S DEN® PITCH SESSION
Friday, September 25 | 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. | Atwater Hotel
Five minutes. One pitch. A room full of Lions.
Catalina Film Festival’s acclaimed annual event, The Lion’s Den® Pitch Session gives emerging filmmakers the opportunity to pitch feature films, shorts and streaming projects live before an audience and a panel of accredited private investors, venture capitalists, financiers and seasoned entertainment-industry professionals—the “Lions.”
Each selected filmmaker gets five minutes to make the case for their project, followed by candid questions, real-time feedback and, when a Lion is interested, the opportunity to discuss a potential deal.
The Lion’s Den offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at what happens when creative vision meets the realities of financing and development. Passholders are welcome to watch the pitches unfold, hear the questions decision-makers actually ask, and discover what makes an idea command attention in today’s
entertainment marketplace.
Returning to the Atwater Hotel, The Lion’s Den® Pitch Session gives selected filmmakers an opportunity to present their projects to investors and industry guests in a focused live setting.
OPENING NIGHT: CATHERINE HARDWICKE CAREER TRIBUTE + WEST COAST PREMIERE: STREET SMART
Friday, September 25 | 6:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. | Avalon Theatre at Catalina Casino
Catalina Film Festival will honor filmmaker Catherine Hardwicke with its Career Tribute Award, celebrating a career defined by bold storytelling, cultural impact and an instinct for capturing young people at transformative moments in their lives. Hardwicke’s tribute also marks a return to Catalina Film Festival. She previously attended the festival in 2017 with THE BLACK GHIANDOLA, a short film she co-directed alongside Theodore Melfi and Sam Raimi for the nonprofit Make A Film Foundation, which grants children with serious or life-threatening medical conditions the opportunity to fulfill their filmmaking dreams.
Hardwicke made her directorial debut with the raw and groundbreaking Sundance-winning THIRTEEN before directing the cult favorite LORDS OF DOGTOWN. She went on to direct TWILIGHT, launching the blockbuster film franchise that ultimately grossed more than $3 billion worldwide. Her more recent work includes PRISONER’S DAUGHTER, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE for Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.
Nearly a decade later, Hardwicke returns to Catalina to be honored for her remarkable career—and to debut the West Coast Premiere of her latest film, STREET SMART.
Joining Hardwicke for the presentation will be Street Smart co-writer Nic Sheff, author of the memoir Tweak. His story, together with his father David Sheff’s memoir Beautiful Boy, inspired the acclaimed 2018 feature Beautiful Boy.
Erin “Tiny” Blackwell, the subject of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Streetwise and of TINY, an Officially Selected screenplay in the 2026 Catalina Film Festival, will also help introduce the evening’s presentation of Street Smart.
STREET SMART
Written & Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
Starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Yara Shahidi, Skeet Ulrich, Paris Jackson, Virginia Madsen, Sally Struthers, Marcia Gay Harden and Heather Mazur
A lively group of street kids in Venice Beach help one another chase their dreams with humor, street smarts and a little Robin Hood-style larceny. When they learn their camp is in danger of being shut down—and a new girl pushes the group toward bending, or breaking, their moral code—the makeshift family begins to fracture. Together, they must fight to protect the place they call home and the bonds they’ve built along the way.
Opening Night will also include Little Chaplin, a multigenerational collaboration from the Campos-Tarantino family, screening before Street Smart.
WES CRAVEN HORROR/THRILLER MIDNIGHT SCREENING
Friday, September 25 | Midnight | Avalon City Hall
Catalina Film Festival honors the legacy of legendary filmmaker Wes Craven, the visionary who forever changed the language of horror, with a special midnight block of horror and psychological thrillers designed to blur the line between nightmare and reality.
CFF is the only film festival with an officially sanctioned award bearing Craven’s name. Craven personally selected the award’s winning filmmaker during his lifetime, and his family has continued the tradition in his honor, carrying forward his commitment to championing bold new voices in genre filmmaking.
This year’s midnight lineup ventures into the unsettling, the supernatural and the psychologically twisted with How I Met My New Best Friend; NEEDLE; Grima; Ogun Oru; Turn Away; A Hand to Hold; Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done; and Wrapped in Celluloid.
Saturday morning will also feature complimentary family programming, including Bob’s Best Friends, with
voice performances by Judy Greer, Stephen Root, Leah Remini, and Keith David.
SATURDAY NIGHT: AWARDS CEREMONY + CLOSING NIGHT PRESENTATION
Saturday, September 26 | 7:00–10:00 p.m. | Avalon Theatre at Catalina Casino
Saturday night culminates with the Catalina Film Festival Awards Ceremony and Closing Night Presentation, recognizing outstanding work across the 2026 program. The evening will include the inaugural Jackson’s Cardinal Award, established by the Curran family in honor of Jackson to recognize storytelling that reflects courage, perseverance, inclusion, and hope, while expanding visibility and possibility for people living with disabilities and other life challenges. Its first presentation will honor Veronica, the short film co-written by John Stapleton and Selene Luna, who also stars in the lead role. Veronica screens earlier that afternoon as part of the 1:30–3:30 p.m. program at Avalon City Hall.
With support from J.T. Madicus and Madicus Productions, the Catalina Film Festival Screenplay Competition will award a $5,000 cash prize and crystal trophy to its winning screenplay.
THE WOLF OF WALBOROUGH STREET
Directed by high-school filmmaker Hudson Hillin and produced by his father, The Wolf of Walborough Street is a family-made short featuring acclaimed actor and CFF alumnus Patrick Fischler alongside his daughter, Fia Fischler. The film opens the Awards Ceremony and Closing Night Presentation.
BONDING
Directed by Victoria Trofimenko, Written by Michael Colucci and Victoria Trofimenko
Saturday, September 26 | 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. | Avalon Theatre at Catalina Casino
Starring Jefferson White, Alexandra Doke, David Nordstrand, Gloria Reuben and Tate Donovan
Three estranged siblings reunite at a remote Colorado ranch, each hiding a plan that relies on the others. When their agendas collide with a powerful outsider harboring secrets of his own, old wounds resurface and the night spirals out of control. Confirmed attending talent includes Jefferson White, Tate Donovan, Alexandra Doke, and David Nordstrand.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27: FILM & NEW MEDIA MASTERCLASSES
Sunday programming at the Atwater Hotel will continue the festival conversation with filmmaker and industry masterclasses designed to give attendees practical access to creative and professional insight.
The final lineup and ticket information will be announced at CatalinaFilm.org.
Sunday programming includes:
● Film Finance Masterclass 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
● Successfully Get Your Film to Market Masterclass 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
● Critics Panel: The Art of Seeing Film 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
From finding the money to make a movie to navigating its path into the marketplace—and understanding how critics engage with the finished work—Masterclass Sunday gives attendees direct access to the conversations shaping independent film today.
The 2026 program also spotlights filmmaking across generations, from the Campos-Tarantino family behind Little Chaplin to Cooper Barnes, Liz Stewart Barnes, and daughter Ripley in Bed/Time, as well as eighth-grade filmmaker Austin Geiger, whose Alpacas! joins a separate festival docs selection as his mother, filmmaker Susan Fitzer, is represented in its animation category with Flink’s Pigeon Problems.
THREE DAYS. ONE ISLAND. COUNTLESS STORIES.
For 16 years, Catalina Film Festival has brought filmmakers and audiences together on one of California’s most distinctive cinematic destinations. Its focused three-day island program invites guests to build a full weekend around film, conversation, and Avalon’s storied screen history.
Come for the movies. Stay for the island.
Catalina Film Festival welcomes both day-trip and overnight guests with our travel partners Catalina Express, Maverick Helicopter, and Newport Beach’s Catalina Flyer. Individual-event tickets and day passes make it easy to experience a screening, red-carpet moment, or masterclass, while weekend passes invite visitors to experience the full island program. Tickets, ferry information, lodging options, and the complete schedule are available at CatalinaFilm.org.
Can’t make it to the Island? Experience the 2026 Catalina Film Festival online and watch official CFF films from anywhere at eoFLIX / CineLot.com.
All festival passes are NOW on sale at CatalinaFilm.org.
ABOUT CATALINA FILM FESTIVAL
Set against the storied history and sweeping coastal views of Catalina Island, Catalina Film Festival celebrates independent storytelling while connecting filmmakers, audiences and entertainment-industry leaders in an intimate destination setting. Catalina Film Festival has been recognized by MovieMaker among its “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” and destination-festival lists, and has ranked among FilmFreeway’s top-reviewed festivals for more than a decade. Past celebrity guests and honorees include Sharon Stone, Nicolas Cage, Jon Favreau, Kevin Hart, Mira Sorvino, William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum, and Kate Bosworth, among others. CFF is a competitive film festival presenting awards across multiple categories.
