CinéMartinique Festival 2026: tomorrow, the curtain rises on the 20th edition!

It’s tomorrow! On Friday, October 16, the CinéMartinique Festival opens its 20th edition at Tropiques Atrium Scène nationale, under the banner “Lespri kô”. Twenty years of cinema, twenty years of discoveries: nine days of screenings, meetings, music and dance, until Saturday, October 24. A big thank-you in advance to the whole Tropiques Atrium team, led by director Manuel Césaire and Steve Zébina, head of the film department: the 32-page brochure is dizzying, in the best possible way.

Friday 16: a golden opening

The festival starts strong with the preview of Ben Imana, by Rwandan director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo: winner of the Caméra d’or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, after premiering in Un Certain Regard. Its producer, French-Gabonese Samantha Biffot, will attend the opening night at 7 pm.

Two competitions, talent from here and elsewhere

Short films, in three programmes. Martinique is there with À contre courant by Frédéric Guillaume Paruta, La terrifiante peur du vide by Anthony Chambeau, Le jour des cendres by Amingo Thora and Doubout ou bien mo by Solenne Plumelle; Guadeloupe with An diw jwi by Kristine Blonbou; French Guiana with Gloria by Marvin Yamb, L’étoile de Régina by Léa Magnien and Quentin Chantrel and Pauvres diables by Olivier Sagne. Not to mention Ay douvan by Sarah Malléon, at the heart of the Tour des yoles, and the wider Caribbean and the Americas: Talons by Gibrey Allen (Jamaica), Primera enseñanza by Aria Sánchez and Marina Meira (Cuba), Sunny by German Gruber Jr. (Curaçao), Fort Buku by Loëlle Monsanto (Suriname), Boiuna by Adriana de Faria (Brazil), and two Haitian stories from Canada, Platanero by Juan Frank Hernandez and L’île aux trésors by Miryam Charles.

Documentaries, a selection that speaks about us:

• Gwo Pwel, chagrins d’amour créoles, by Laura Chatenay-Rivauday and Vianney Sotès, previewed on Saturday 17;
• Shatta, une génération, deux notes, by Léa Mormin-Chauvac and Malo Delarue, on the birth of shatta in Volga-Plage;
• Mayotte Capécia, vivre et l’écrire, by Fabienne Kanor and Myriam Cottias;
• Deux rives, by Thibault Verneret;
• Le talent d’Achille, by Daniel Nlandu Nganga, on Achille René Boisneuf;
• Tras, by Stève Siracuse and Lucie Margueritte, on the forgotten trails of the Pitons du Nord;
• 227 Lunas, by Brenda Taubin;
• Résurgence, by Feguenson Hermogène.

Cannes comes to Martinique

The previews are a dream: Marie Madeleine by Haitian director Gessica Généus (Cannes Première), Hope by Na Hong-jin (in competition at Cannes), Carmen, l’oiseau rebelle by Sébastien Laudenbach (Directors’ Fortnight) and, for the closing night, Congo Boy by Rafiki Fariala.

Cannes Critics’ Week, chaired this year by Payal Kapadia, also arrives with two screenings: À quoi rêvent les Maknines by Sarra Ryma, Man’Mi by Aude N’Guessan Forget, Skinny bottines by Romain F. Dubois, Vaterland by Berthold Wahjudi, Visite en terre irradiée by Anne-Sophie Girault, then I think you should be here by Anna-Marija Adomaitytė and Élie Grappe, La sentinelle by Ali Cherri and Love story by Laïs Decaster.

Three special evenings not to miss

• Soul Session, Wednesday 21: Joe Michels and his “nanm mizik”, followed by BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions by Kahlil Joseph.
• Brazil in Motion, Thursday 22: two Brazilian short films, by Carol Aó and Felipe Casanova, followed by Macacada, the performance by Maïra de Oliveira Aggio.
• Jamaican Vibes, Friday 23: the C.R.S crew brings the heat, followed by Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story by Alison Duke. Warm up at 5:30 pm with the dancehall class led by Johan.

Also on the bill: the heritage screening with Zatrap by Elsie Haas and Pleine lune à Volga Plage by Camille Mauduech, Lucie Comment ? by Véronique Kanor, Garance by Jeanne Herry, Jim Queen (come dressed in rainbow colours!), the restored version of Akira, and Adan nanm ek kò, winner of the Prix de court, screened at the TDS.

The next generation is already here

The festival makes real room for young people. On Saturday 17, “À la rencontre des talents de demain” shows films by Martinique’s middle and high school students, such as Zion léritaj, by Frédéric Guillaume Paruta with students from the Paul Symphor school in Le Robert, and Douvan jou by Florian Soleil and Amy Destin. From the 21st to the 23rd, Nadia Charlery runs a filmmaking workshop for 12-14 year olds. The “T’as 1 min ? Fais ton cinéma !” contest, with SFR Caraïbe, is waiting for your one-minute films on the theme “The last message”. On Saturday 24, Ciné Toupiti welcomes the little ones, and the pop-up choir Kolé vwa pou sinéma, led by David Jean-Bart, sings Bob Marley’s One Love.

Regional professionals in the spotlight

On the industry side, the Institut français and Tropiques Atrium are launching the Ateliers Fabrique Cinéma Amazonie-Caraïbes. Five feature film projects will be supported: À part les anges by Nadia Charlery (Chronoprod, Jeff Maggi), La Station by Laura Chatenay-Rivauday (Wide Productions, Baptiste Brunner), Le jour se lève la nuit by Nicolas Polixene (Boucan Production, Stève Siracuse and Lucie Margueritte), Adoumanman by Wally Fall (Jules et Nano, Christelle Berry) and La mémoire du fleuve by Latigone N’Goma (ZayanFilm, Sévrine Guims). Congratulations to all of them!

See you there?

Meet us at Tropiques Atrium, Madiana and the TDS. Tickets at +596 596 70 79 29 and on tropiques-atrium.fr, with competition passes, a Bam Bam pass and a special-evenings pass.

Do you have a film in the selection, or did you work on one? Tell us on Discord and add the project to your CFCDb profile. Happy 20th edition to the Tropiques Atrium team, and thank you to Hervé Médec, Keith Guitteaud, Karelle Bonheur, Nathalie Banaré-Voyer, Julie Abalain and Corinne Badian, who keep the festival running behind the scenes. See you at the movies!

Images: CinéMartinique Festival 2026 brochure, Tropiques Atrium Scène nationale.