Your guide to the Breckenridge Film Festival 2026, which takes place this weekend, Sept. 17-20.
The leaves aren’t the only attraction drawing people to Breckenridge this weekend. The Breckenridge Film Festival returns Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 17-20, with 91 films.
Now in its 46th year, the gathering began in 1981, making the Breck Film one of Colorado’s longest-running film festivals. This year’s program ranges from dramas and documentaries to adventure movies, comedy, animation and student work, with nightly spotlight screenings at the Riverwalk Center providing the festival’s biggest communal events.
With events scheduled across threewalkable venues — the Eclipse Theater, Riverwalk Center and Breck Backstage Theater — here are some highlights to help plan the weekend.
Opening night brings a local story to Breckenridge
The festival begins with a film carrying a particularly strong Colorado connection.
Jay Duplass’ See You When I See You, screening at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, is based on Denver writer and comedian Adam Cayton-Holland’s memoir about his family’s experience with grief following the death of his younger sister. Cayton-Holland adapted the screenplay and produced the film, and he will attend the Breckenridge screening.
A filmmaker welcome party begins at 4 p.m., and an opening night party follows the screening at 9 p.m.
Friday ranges from Indigenous art to polar bears
Friday offers one of the clearest examples of the festival’s breadth.
Dream Touch Believe, screening at 1:30 p.m., profiles Michael Naranjo, a Santa Clara Pueblo sculptor who lost his eyesight and use of his right hand after being wounded in the Vietnam War. Directed by his daughter, Jenna Naranjo Winters, the documentary follows Naranjo as he develops a celebrated sculpting practice using touch.
At 3:30 p.m., Wayward: The Women Who Changed Snowboarding turns toward mountain culture, while Colorado Sunshine at 5 p.m. adds another two regional documetnary selections to the lineup.
Friday’s 7 p.m. spotlight is Nuisance Bear, co-presented with the Sundance Film Festival. Directors Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman follow a polar bear moving through human settlements along its migration path, examining the increasingly uneasy overlap between wildlife and development. The film won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, and Weisman is expected to be in attendance at the screening.
Those looking for something lighter can choose the Friday Funnies program at 7:30 p.m., while the narrative feature Born to Lose follows a small-time dealer who, after losing his father and falling into debt with a crime boss, tries to rebuild his father’s vintage motorcycle.
Saturday mixes music, sports and suspense
Saturday starts with the High School Shorts Program at 9:30 a.m. before branching into programs devoted to women, justice, sports and human connection.
Music fans may want to seek out Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers at 2:30 p.m. Narrated by Jeff Bridges, the documentary traces the original members of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band through the group’s early Key West years, touring life and the development of Buffett’s signature sound.
After the Best of Fest Film Awards at 6 p.m., three evening programs compete for attention: I’m Just Here For The Drama at 7:30 p.m., Adventure is Out There! at 7:45 p.m. and Saturday’s spotlight film, Sender, at 8 p.m.
Sender stars Britt Lower, Jamie Lee Curtis and Rhea Seehorn in a psychological thriller about a woman receiving disturbingly personal packages that send her searching for whoever is behind them. Director Russell Goldman is scheduled to attend.
Sunday ends with cookies and Christmas
Families have several ways into the festival Sunday, beginning with a Children’s Program at 10 a.m. and followed by a Girls in STEM screening at 1 p.m.
At 3 p.m., Cookie Queens follows four ambitious girls through Girl Scout Cookie season as they compete to become top sellers while navigating the pressures surrounding an $800 million business. The documentary premiered at Sundance earlier this year, and it’s probably the most cutthroat film you’re likely to see about baked goods any time soon.
The festival then closes by looking backward. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, portions of which were filmed in Breckenridge, screens at 6:30 p.m.
How to attend
Breckenridge is located roughly two hours from Denver International Airport and about 20 minutes south of Interstate 70 on Highway 9. The festival recommends you exit at Frisco. Shuttles are available directly from DIA, and most of Breckenridge is walkable or can be navigated using its free public transportation.
While most of the parking in town requires you to pay, for the duration of the festival, the South Gondola Lot will be free.
Individual screenings generally cost $17 to $22. The festival also offers four multi-event options: the Peak 10 all-access pass for $300, the Peak 9 film pass for $200, the Riverwalk Pass for $85 and the Festival 4-Pack for 65.
For anyone unable to spend four days in Breckenridge, the sheer variety makes the festival easy to sample. A visitor might come for one spotlight screening, devote a day to documentaries and shorts, or treat the weekend as a crash course in independent filmmaking.
That flexibility has helped Breck Film endure for 46 years. The scenery may get people to the mountains in September, but once the lights go down, the movies do the rest.