Twelve Years of Independent Spirit
The Ibiza International Film Festival was founded in 2015 by filmmaker and cultural producer Oscar Herrero, alongside a founding group that included directors, producers, and critics who shared a single conviction: that the most urgent and authentic cinema being made in the world was being made independently, and that it deserved a home commensurate with its ambition.
The first edition, held in November 2015 at Cine Serra and the then-unnamed outdoor space at the Dalt Vila Bastions, screened 42 films from 17 countries before an audience of around 600 people. It was underfunded, overambitious, and almost overwhelmingly alive. A Zimbabwean filmmaker won the inaugural Falcó d'Or. A Mexican animator found her co-producer. A Romanian director met the distributor who would release her next three films. In its first seven days, the festival became what it would spend the next decade trying to live up to.
Over eleven editions, the festival has grown steadily but without losing the quality of attention that defined its beginning. From 42 to 847 submissions. From 17 to 63 countries. From 600 to over 8,000 audience members. The Ibiza Pitch, introduced at the 5th edition, has connected over 50 projects with international co-production partners. The festival has received institutional support from the Govern de les Illes Balears, the Ajuntament d'Eivissa, and the Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics, as well as from international bodies including the European Film Academy and the Cinema du Monde fund.
But what has not changed is the founding principle: that a film made in Burkina Faso or Belarus or Bolivia deserves to be seen on equal terms with a film made in France or Germany, and that the audience for independent cinema is larger, braver, and more curious than the distribution industry has ever properly understood.
