Cartagena Hosts the 13th Human Rights Film Festival in August

Film: Cartagena

The 13th International Film Festival for Human Rights brings free screenings and debates to Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, from 12 to 14 August 2026, hosted by the Spanish Cooperation’s training centre.

A Human-Rights Festival That Travels the Country

The Festival Internacional de Cine por los Derechos Humanos, or FICDEH, is one of Colombia’s most widely distributed film events. Now in its 13th edition, it runs from 12 to 19 August 2026, screening the same selection simultaneously in cities and towns across the country rather than in a single host location.

This year the festival reaches 11 Colombian cities and more than 30 municipalities, using over 120 screening spaces. Its guiding theme, “Sí Hay Poder Humano” (“Yes, There Is Human Power”), frames cinema as a tool for reflection on migration, memory, the environment and the rights of ethnic and LGBTIQ+ communities.

Cartagena’s Leg at the Spanish Cooperation Centre

In Cartagena de Indias, the festival is hosted by the Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española, the Spanish Cooperation’s training centre on the Caribbean coast. Its Cartagena programme concentrates screenings and discussion sessions between 12 and 14 August, with free admission.

Hosting a human-rights film festival fits the centre’s remit. As part of Spain’s international development agency, it runs cultural and training activities across Ibero-America, and lending its halls to FICDEH extends the festival’s reach into one of Colombia’s most visited cities.

Why It Is in Colombia, Not Spain

The name can mislead. Although the Cooperación Española is a Spanish institution, its Cartagena centre sits firmly in Colombia, in the old walled city of Cartagena de Indias on the country’s Caribbean coast. The festival itself is Colombian, organised nationally under the FICDEH banner.

The Spanish connection is one of hosting, not ownership. Spain’s cooperation agency has run a training centre in Cartagena for decades, and it regularly opens its restored colonial premises to local cultural programming. For this festival, that means a Colombian event using a Spanish-funded venue on Colombian soil.

What Is on the Screen

The 13th edition’s official selection gathers 76 films from 32 countries, of which 41 were directed by women. The programming leans into contemporary social themes, from migration and historical memory to the defence of territory, environmental crisis and the resistances of ethnic peoples.

For audiences, the appeal is breadth. A programme that is free in Cartagena opens onto documentary and fiction work from around the world that rarely reaches commercial cinemas, paired with talks that turn each screening into a conversation.

The Venue: A Restored Cloister on Plaza Santo Domingo

The Cartagena centre occupies a restored Santo Domingo cloister on Plaza Santo Domingo, in the heart of the walled city. With some 7,700 square metres of halls, an exhibition space and a library, it is one of Ibero-America’s notable venues for cultural and training work.

The location puts the festival squarely inside Cartagena’s UNESCO-listed old town. Details of the centre and its programming are published by the Spanish Cultural Cooperation in Colombia, with the wider lineup on the official FICDEH site.

What It Offers Expats and Film-Goers

For expats in Cartagena, the festival is an unusually accessible cultural event: free, central and international in outlook. It offers a way to engage with Colombian and global human-rights debates without the language barrier that fiction cinema can sometimes raise, since documentaries often travel with subtitles.

It also rewards visitors who time a trip to mid-August. Combining a stay in the walled city with three days of free screenings and talks turns a beach-and-history holiday into something with a civic edge, and connects newcomers to the questions animating Colombian public life.

More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where is the 13th Human Rights Film Festival in Cartagena?

In Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, the 13th International Film Festival for Human Rights (FICDEH) runs from 12 to 14 August 2026 at the Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española on Plaza Santo Domingo, with free admission. The national festival runs 12 to 19 August.

Is the Cartagena film festival in Spain or Colombia?

It is in Colombia. The festival takes place in Cartagena de Indias on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española is a Spanish-funded cultural centre located in that Colombian city, not in Spain.

How much do tickets cost for FICDEH in Cartagena?

Admission to the Cartagena screenings and discussion sessions is free. The festival’s official selection includes 76 films from 32 countries under the theme “Sí Hay Poder Humano”.

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