Los Alamos Film and Culture Festival returns April 17-19 with global lineup

The Los Alamos Film & Culture Festival is set to turn SALA Los Alamos Event Center into a three-day downtown draw, with screenings Friday from 3 to 7:30 p.m., Saturday from 1 to 8:15 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5:30 p.m. A $25 three-day pass covers the full weekend, including filmmaker conversations and the closing winners announcement, a modest ticket price for a volunteer-run event that also sends net proceeds to SALA Phase Forward.

Festival director Sandy Jones is leading the 2026 edition, with organizers thanking board members Yuri Findlay, Satya Srinivasan, Radha Bahukutumbi, Dr. Frederick Jones and volunteer Jane Lin. The festival, now in its third year, has become one of the clearest examples of how Los Alamos can define itself beyond the Lab: as a small county that can still fill a weekend with international art, public conversation and foot traffic on Central Avenue.

The lineup reaches across Finland, Iran, Ireland, Spain, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Guernsey, Serbia, Switzerland and Canada. SALA says the weekend will include feature films, documentaries, short films, student films and filmmaker Q&A sessions, with cash prizes going to winning films. That global mix matters in a town shaped by science and security, where public culture often sits in the shadow of institutional life. The festival’s stated mission is to broaden cultural exposure and push back against prejudice, and its structure reflects that goal by centering non-English films with English subtitles, including for hearing-impaired audiences.

Several titles stand out for local audiences. The Saturday evening screening of The Demon Core will likely resonate in a community where nuclear history is never far from view. Spiral into the Yellow Void, listed with a New Mexico filmmaker credit, gives local viewers a chance to see homegrown work in the same program as international features. Black Light Unveiled - Choose Life, a Canadian documentary in the Sunday block, adds another conversation piece for a county that regularly wrestles with science, ethics and the human cost of power.

For families, the daytime Saturday and Sunday blocks offer the easiest entry point. Film buffs will want the full weekend pass for the international range and post-screening talks. Students may find the strongest draw in the filmmaker conversations, the New Mexico-made title and the festival’s student-film recognition, including a promised $500 Best Student Film prize. In a town where so much attention centers on the Lab, the festival gives downtown Los Alamos a different kind of visibility, one built on stories, audiences and a room full of people listening together.