The inaugural Cabarete Film Festival is set to be a standout addition to the North Coast’s cultural calendar. The event is scheduled for Friday, 1 and Saturday, 2 May 2026 in the Puerto Plata kite and surf beach town.
The first-ever Cabarete Film Festival will feature a high-profile tribute to acclaimed Dominican filmmaker Laura Amelia Guzmán. The honor recognizes her nearly two decades of contribution to Ibero-American cinema and her pivotal role in elevating the Dominican Republic’s presence at top-tier international festivals.
Spearheaded by the production group Cabarete Tango, this first-ever edition aims to reposition Cabarete as a high-level cultural destination, moving beyond its traditional identity as solely a hub for wind and water sports.
The festival is designed as an “oceanfront international music and cinema” experience, following the “luxury natural” model established by its sister event, the Cabarete Jazz Festival scheduled for June 2026.
Screenings will take place at prime beachfront locations, including sites near Eden Cabarete and Hotel Villa Taina, allowing viewers to experience world-class cinema “in flip-flops.” Curations highlight Caribbean identity, sustainability, and international independent cinema. The film festival is part of a broader “Bulletproof Ecosystem” strategy by local developers to integrate gastronomy, arts, and sports.
Local hoteliers report that such boutique festivals are helping smooth out the “boom-or-bust” rhythm of the tourism season, encouraging longer stays beyond traditional holiday weekends. May is low season in Puerto Plata.
Like the Cabarete Kite Festival (held in June), the film festival includes “sustainability storytelling,” often bundling environmental workshops or beach clean-ups into the event schedule.
Who is Laura Amelia Guzman
Guzmán, an alumna of the Altos de Chavón School of Design and the International Film and Television School (EICTV) in Cuba, is being celebrated for a body of work that often bridges the gap between documentary and fiction. Alongside her husband and creative partner, Israel Cárdenas, she has produced some of the most critically successful films in the region under their production house, Aurora Dominicana.
Key highlights of her filmography likely to be showcased during the festival include:
• Dólares de Arena (Sand Dollars, 2014): Starring legendary actress Geraldine Chaplin, this film earned Guzmán international acclaim and a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, focusing on the complex dynamics of tourism and relationships in Las Terrenas (Samana).
• Jean Gentil (2010): A deeply humanistic look at the Haitian experience in the Dominican Republic, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival (Orizzonti).
• La Fiera y la Fiesta (Holy Beasts, 2019): A stylistic homage to her uncle, the late cult director Jean-Louis Jorge, which premiered at the Berlinale and remains one of her most personal works.
The tribute in Cabarete follows Guzmán’s 2023 induction into the Paseo del Cine Downtown in Santo Domingo, where she was honored with a star on the walk of fame.
Organizers of the Cabarete Film Festival note that honoring Guzmán is a statement of intent: to prove that Cabarete is a destination for “intellectual tourism” and high-level cultural exchange, not just water sports.
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Cabarete Film Festival
7 April 2026