Icare du Cinema - International Aerial Film Festival

Overview

Icare du Cinema is the world's longest-running international aerial film festival. The 44th edition runs September 15 to 20, 2026, in Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet, France, as part of the Coupe Icare, the world's largest paragliding and ultra-light air sports festival. The film festival screens approximately 30 competition films to nearly 5,000 spectators under the Chapiteau du Cinema (Cinema Tent) at Deco Sud in Saint-Hilaire.

The festival is open to both professional and amateur filmmakers. Submissions are free. Films must address themes of air, wind, flight, or aerial sports: paragliding, hang gliding, skydiving, hot air ballooning, sailplane, base jump, kite, speed riding, wingsuit, boomerang, and slackline. Motorized aerial sports are limited to paramotor, ultra-light microlights (ULM), model aircraft, aerobatics, and aviation feats. Films about bird flight are also accepted.

The festival is embedded within the broader Coupe Icare event, which draws tens of thousands of spectators to the Isere valley for a week of free-flight competitions, air shows, and outdoor sports. This integration gives the film festival a unique audience: not just cinema enthusiasts, but free-flight practitioners and aerial sports professionals who engage with the films as documentation of their own disciplines.

Submission Details

Submissions are free and made online through the Coupe Icare website or via FilmFest Platform.

Icare du Cinema 2026 deadlines:

• June 15, 2026: Registration and film delivery deadline
• June 30, 2026: Selection announcement date
• September 15 to 20, 2026: Festival dates

Eligibility requirements:

• Films must be directly related to air, flight, wind, or aerial sports
• Films may not be more than 3 years old (produced in 2023 or later for the 2026 edition)
• A film cannot be entered twice
• For programming reasons, the organizing committee favors films under 52 minutes in duration
• Films must be in French or English, or feature French or English subtitles
• Technical format: H264 HD (MP4 encapsulation, AAC audio, maximum video bitrate 30 Mbps)
• A teaser trailer not exceeding 2 minutes must also be provided
• Accepted delivery methods: download link (must remain accessible until June 15, 2026), USB flash drive, SD card, or external hard drive

Entry fees: None. Registration is free of charge.

Key Sections

• Official Competition - approximately 30 films selected by the committee, screened under the Chapiteau du Cinema
• Three Juries - Professional Jury, Press Jury, and Kids Jury, each evaluating the competition films
• Daytime Screenings - free screenings of competition films during the day
• Evening Screenings - ticketed evening screenings (Tuesday to Thursday), including single screenings and double-feature evenings
• Awards Ceremony - Friday evening, screening of award-winning films (ticketed)
• Award-Winning Films Screening - Saturday, encore screening of jury-selected winners (ticketed)

What Filmmakers Should Know

Icare du Cinema is the only established international film festival dedicated specifically to aerial sports and free-flight cinema. For filmmakers who have made films about paragliding, hang gliding, skydiving, wingsuit flying, base jumping, or related aerial disciplines, this festival provides the most targeted audience in the world.

The festival's integration with the Coupe Icare means the audience includes active free-flight practitioners, not just general cinema audiences. This creates a different screening dynamic: films are evaluated for their authenticity and technical accuracy by people who practice the sports depicted. A film that misrepresents free-flight mechanics or safety procedures will be noticed.

The selection committee favors films under 52 minutes. Feature-length films are accepted but face a programming disadvantage given the volume of short films in the aerial sports genre. The committee also keeps selected films to build a festival cinematheque, unless the producer or director specifically requests otherwise.

Screening attendance is approximately 5,000 spectators across the week. Daytime screenings are free, making the festival accessible to the broader Coupe Icare audience. Evening screenings are ticketed at 10 to 15 EUR per session, with an all-inclusive Coupe Icare pass available for 60 EUR covering 3 days and all cinema evenings. Children under 12 attend free.

The festival does not charge entry fees, and the selection process is handled by a committee of sports and media professionals. Films are reviewed as they arrive, so early submission does not affect selection chances. The full program is announced in summer 2026.

Major Awards

The festival presents awards across three jury categories:

• Professional Jury Award - selected by a jury of sports and media professionals
• Press Jury Award - selected by accredited journalists covering the Coupe Icare
• Kids Jury Award - selected by a youth jury

Specific award categories and prize details are announced with the full program in summer 2026. Awards are presented at the Friday evening ceremony, followed by a screening of the award-winning films.

Festival History

Icare du Cinema was founded in 1983, ten years after the inception of the Coupe Icare in 1973. The Coupe Icare was established as a gathering for free-flight enthusiasts in the Isere valley, and the film festival was added to document and celebrate aerial sports cinema.

The festival has grown to welcome nearly 5,000 spectators and has become a benchmark for both image professionals and free-flight enthusiasts. It is the oldest continuously running aerial film festival in the world.

The Coupe Icare itself is the world's largest paragliding and ultra-light air sports festival, drawing participants and spectators from across Europe and beyond. The film festival operates as a curated section within the broader event, with its own venue (the Chapiteau du Cinema), programming team, and jury system.

The festival is organized by the Coupe Icare.Org association of Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet. The 2026 edition is the 44th, coinciding with the 53rd Coupe Icare.

See Also

To calculate the return on your festival submission spending, use the Festival ROI Calculator. To estimate your probability of acceptance based on festival tier and film characteristics, use the Festival Acceptance Odds Estimator. For documentary filmmaking techniques, see Documentary Filmmaking Guide. For visual effects in aviation and action films, see Visual Effects Guide. For festival strategy guidance, see Film Festival Strategy.