Submissions open for the 4th Chica Pelega Film Festival with a category exclusive to Contestado-themed films
The 4th Chica Pelega Film Festival officially opens submissions for short and feature films wishing to join its 2026 program. Submissions are free and can be made until January 15, 2026, through the FilmFreeway platform or via a Google form.
With the central theme Contemporary Migrations, the festival seeks works that address experiences of displacement, crossings, identities and cultural encounters. Fiction, documentary, animation, experimental or hybrid films may take part, with no restriction on production date, provided they are in a final digital copy and with Portuguese subtitles when necessary.
This edition will have six categories: Chica Pelega – Contemporary Migrations (Shorts and Features), Student, Childhood on Screen, Santa Catarina and Contestado.
Special mention goes to the Contestado category, which exists to strengthen narratives that engage directly with the Contestado War (1912–1916) and its historical, social and cultural developments. The Contestado category answers the festival’s commitment to valuing works that revisit, reinterpret and broaden the perspectives of that conflict, which deeply marked the territory between Santa Catarina and Paraná, and whose echoes remain present in the region’s identities, memories and social organizations.
Reinforcing the legacy of Chica Pelega, leader and combatant of the Contestado who gives the festival its name, having a category that shows films telling the stories of that war is a way to ensure that the history and legacy of this leader and fighter remain pillars of the festival’s identity. By opening space for narratives that echo the struggle for territory, the resistance and the strength of the Contestado people, it is also a way to honor her memory.
Among this edition’s awards are Best Film by the Popular Jury, Best Film by the Official Jury, Cinematography, Editing and Direction.
Held March 12–15 in Videira (SC), with in-person and online screenings on play.pupilo.tv.br, the festival invites filmmakers from all over the country and Latin America to submit their works.
The Chica Pelega Film Festival is produced by VMS Filmagens e Eventos Ltda. and Pupilo, reaffirming its commitment to the circulation of diverse narratives and to broadening access to Brazilian and Latin American cinema. Funding comes from the Prêmio Catarinense de Cinema – Special Lei Paulo Gustavo Edition, through the Fundação Catarinense de Cultura, Government of the State of Santa Catarina, with support from the Lei Paulo Gustavo, the Ministry of Culture and the Federal Government.
Submissions must be made via https://forms.gle/rUwdpU9BVxM3dUuy7
Festival website: chicapelega.com.br
Festival Instagram: instagram.com/mostra.chicapelega
Festival Facebook: facebook.com/mostra.chicapelega
More information:
Rudolfo Auffinger (Pupilo) – 21 967078494
Press office – Barbara Pettres 48 99926-6429
