Vail Film Festival sets December dates and a French showcase for 2026
The festival returns Dec. 3 through 6 with a dedicated French program built with the ECU Paris Film Festival, plus panels, a masterclass, and a new screenplay competition.
The Vail Film Festival will return to Vail Dec. 3 through 6, 2026, with a 2026 edition built around a dedicated French Showcase developed in partnership with the European Independent Film Festival, known as ECU, in Paris.
The festival announced the partnership in January, describing a program that includes a French film screening series, Franco-American panel discussions, and a masterclass led by a French filmmaker, alongside the festival's regular slate of independent features, shorts, and documentaries. The festival will also launch a French and Francophone screenplay competition, open to writers from France and the French-speaking world.
The Vail Film Festival has always been committed to cultural exchange and to celebrating the richness of French cinema.
Scott Cross, Vail Film Festival director, in the January partnership announcement
A two-way exchange
The partnership runs in both directions. The Vail festival will present a showcase of ECU-selected films during its December edition in Vail, and ECU Paris will program Vail festival selections at its event in Paris, which was held April 24 through 26, 2026. Festival directors Scott Cross and Sean Cross will join the ECU Paris submission jury, while ECU founder Scott Hillier will serve on the Vail festival jury.
The announcement describes the 2026 Vail edition as the festival's 22nd year and ECU's 21st, a pairing the organizers frame as a bridge between French and American independent filmmaking communities. The organizers describe the partnership's aim as spotlighting independent cinema, strengthening transatlantic artistic exchange, and deepening the creative bridge between French and American filmmakers. For audiences, the practical result is a December program with a distinct French accent: screenings, industry panels, filmmaker workshops, and the new screenplay competition.
What to know before December
The festival takes place at venues around Vail, with four days of films, panels, receptions, and nightly events. Past editions have drawn names including Kate Bosworth, Kevin Smith, Allison Janney, Zach Braff, and Olivia Wilde, according to event listings, and awards are announced throughout the weekend.
The festival programs features, shorts, documentaries, student films, TV pilots, family films, animated films, and action sports, with as many as 64 films screening over the four days, according to event listings. Its screenplay competition is judged by Hollywood executives, and attendees vote for an audience award.
Passes, tickets, and the full program are published by the festival itself at vailfilmfestival.com, run by the Colorado Film Institute at 141 East Meadow Drive in Vail. With the French Showcase as its centerpiece, the 2026 edition is the festival's most explicitly international program to date.
