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.
Past Winners
The festival presents awards across multiple categories, judged by three separate juries (Professional, Press, and Kids). The top prize is the Icare d'Or.
43rd Icare du Cinema (2025):
- Icare d'Or: Team Solares - dir. Jeisson Zarate (paragliding documentary about a large family in Guatemala guided by their passion for paragliding)
- Mention de la solidarite: Remuer ciel et terre - dir. Roland Wacogne (documentary about making paragliding accessible to people with reduced mobility in Normandy)
- Icare du vol libre: The Leap - dir. Jean-Baptiste Chandelier (4-minute short film capturing the pure joy of flight in the Hautes-Alpes)
- Icare Coup de coeur: The Bird in My Backyard - dir. Ryan Wilkes (documentary about Eric Pittman, a retired pilot who observes hummingbirds in his Victoria, BC backyard)
- Icare de la vie: Esprits libres - dir. Solene Rombourg and Muriel Van Den Bempt (adventure film about Solene Rombourg and Alma Roblin's paragliding expedition to San Lorenzo in Patagonia)
- Icare du Public: K2, mon amour - dir. Mathieu Rivoire (documentary about Liv Sansoz and Zeb Roche climbing K2 without oxygen and paragliding from the summit)
- Icare de la Presse: Esprits libres - dir. Solene Rombourg and Muriel Van Den Bempt
- Icare des Momes: Faites de beaux reves - dir. Julien Petrisot
42nd Icare du Cinema (2024):
- Icare d'Or: The Paralpine - dir. Guillaume Funck (documentary about crossing the Alps from Slovenia to Nice by paraglider and mountaineering, with friends joining for summit ascents including the Matterhorn and Tre Cime di Lavaredo)
- Icare du Grand Voyage: Crossing Dreams - dir. Bertrand Delapierre and Jeremie Chenal (documentary about Francois Ragolski's 60-day, 2,580km solo paragliding journey across the Himalaya from Tajikistan to Nepal, past 10 of the 14 peaks over 8,000m)
Notable Alumni Films and Where They Ended Up
Icare du Cinema award winners frequently travel the international mountain and adventure film festival circuit, gaining distribution and audience reach well beyond the Coupe Icare.
- *The Bird in My Backyard* (2024) - dir. Ryan Wilkes. Won the Icare Coup de coeur in 2025. Also won the Shorts - Wildlife and Environment category at the 2024 Jackson Wild Media Awards and Best Short Film at the 2024 Banff Mountain Film Festival. Nominated for Best Short Documentary at the 2025 Canadian Screen Awards. Released on YouTube in December 2024 and picked up by CBC Gem for distribution. The film has over 1.7 million views on YouTube.
- *The Paralpine* (2023) - dir. Guillaume Funck. Won the Icare d'Or in 2024. Also won the Prix du Public at the 2024 Cine Montagne festival in Grenoble. Screened at the Dutch Mountain Film Festival as part of a festival exchange with Icare du Cinema. Available on VOD through the laparalpine.com website and Solidream platform. The film documents a 1,400km traverse of the Alps from Slovenia to Nice, combining paragliding with alpine climbing of six major peaks.
- *Crossing Dreams* (2024) - dir. Bertrand Delapierre, Jeremie Chenal, and Francois Ragolski. Won the Icare du Grand Voyage in 2024. Released on YouTube in April 2025 and available for free streaming on Filmzie. Covered by Cross Country Magazine and ExplorersWeb. The film documents a 60-day solo vol-bivouac paragliding journey across 2,580km from Tajikistan through Pakistan, India, and Nepal, with 113 hours of flight time.
- *K2, mon amour* (2025) - dir. Mathieu Rivoire. Won the Icare du Public in 2025. Had its world premiere at the Chamonix Film Festival in June 2025. Screened at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) as the North American premiere. Broadcast on France TV and RTS (Swiss Television). Available for rental and purchase through the Liv and Zeb Adventures platform. The film documents Liv Sansoz and Bertrand Roche climbing K2 without supplemental oxygen and paragliding from the summit, a first for a tandem paraglider flight from K2.
- *Why I Fly (2025) - dir. Jean-Baptiste Chandelier. The follow-up to the Icare du vol libre winner The Leap*, released on YouTube in November 2025 and quickly accumulating over 75,000 views in two days. Selected for the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival 2026 and the Mountains on Stage tour. The film is a tribute to Chandelier's parents, both of whom died when he was young, and explores why he flies.
Submission Tips Specific to This Festival
Icare du Cinema is the only established international film festival dedicated specifically to aerial sports and free-flight cinema. If your film is about paragliding, hang gliding, skydiving, wingsuit flying, base jumping, or related disciplines, this is the most targeted festival you can submit to.
Submissions are free, which removes the financial barrier that many festivals present. There is no entry fee at all, and the festival accepts films through both their own website and the FilmFest Platform. Take advantage of this: even if you are unsure about your film's competitiveness, the cost of submission is zero.
The selection committee favors films under 52 minutes. This is a programming preference, not a hard rule, but feature-length films face a disadvantage given the volume of short films in the aerial sports genre. If your film is a feature, consider whether a shorter cut might serve you better at this festival.
Your film must be in French or English, or feature French or English subtitles. Given the festival's location in France and its international audience, bilingual accessibility matters. If your film is in another language, ensure professional-quality French or English subtitles.
A teaser trailer not exceeding 2 minutes must be provided with your submission. This is a firm requirement, not optional. Prepare this in advance so you are not scrambling at the deadline.
Films must be delivered in H264 HD format with MP4 encapsulation and AAC audio, with a maximum video bitrate of 30 Mbps. The festival accepts download links, USB flash drives, SD cards, or external hard drives. If using a download link, it must remain accessible until June 15, 2026.
The festival keeps selected films to build a festival cinematheque unless the producer or director specifically requests otherwise. If you want your film returned or do not want it archived, state this clearly in your submission.
Industry Reputation Notes
Icare du Cinema holds a unique position in the film festival landscape as the oldest continuously running aerial film festival in the world. Founded in 1983, it has a 43-year track record of celebrating free-flight and aerial sports cinema. No other festival occupies this niche with the same longevity and institutional backing.
The festival's integration with the Coupe Icare, the world's largest paragliding and ultra-light air sports festival, gives it a built-in audience of approximately 5,000 spectators who are themselves free-flight practitioners. This creates a screening environment unlike any other: films are evaluated for technical accuracy and authenticity by people who practice the sports depicted. A film that accurately captures the experience of flight will resonate deeply here in a way it cannot at a general film festival.
Award winners from Icare du Cinema consistently travel the international mountain and adventure film festival circuit. Films like The Bird in My Backyard (Banff, Jackson Wild, Canadian Screen Awards), The Paralpine (Cine Montagne, Dutch Mountain Film Festival), and Crossing Dreams (Cross Country Magazine, ExplorersWeb coverage) demonstrate that an Icare du Cinema award serves as a launchpad to the broader adventure film festival ecosystem.
The festival's free submission model is notable in a landscape where many festivals charge significant entry fees. This makes it accessible to amateur filmmakers and independent producers who might be priced out of other festivals. The trade-off is that the festival does not offer the industry networking, market access, or distribution deals that larger general festivals like Sheffield DocFest or IDFA provide.
The Coupe Icare's broader audience of nearly 100,000 visitors provides visibility that extends beyond the cinema tent. Filmmakers whose work is selected benefit from being part of a major international event with media coverage from outlets like Cross Country Magazine, France 3, and specialized paragliding media. The festival's partnership with the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Region and the Department of Isere provides institutional support that ensures continuity.
For filmmakers working in the aerial sports and adventure documentary space, Icare du Cinema is a must-submit festival. Its combination of free entry, a targeted audience of practitioners, and a proven track record of launching films into the broader festival circuit makes it one of the highest-value submissions for this genre.
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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.
