Your 2026 Friday Harbor Film Festival Starts Here — Plan Your Festival Now!
The films are selected. The schedule is set. And now it’s time to start planning your 2026 Friday Harbor Film Festival!
The 2026 Film Guide, Festival Schedule, and official 60-page Program Guide are all available online, giving you everything you need to explore this year’s films, discover the filmmakers behind them, and build your own Festival experience.
The 14th Annual Friday Harbor Film Festival takes place October 22–25, bringing four days of remarkable documentary films, filmmakers, conversations, special events, and community to Friday Harbor.
Not sure where to begin? We’ve created three ways to explore this year’s Festival, each designed to help you plan your weekend.
Discover the Complete Festival in the Program Guide
Our official 60-page Program Guide brings everything together in one place — films, the complete schedule, venues, special events, the Gala Party, Filmmakers Forum, Audience Choice Awards, ticketing information, our collaboration with the San Juan Islands Museum of Art, and much more.
Explore the Film Guide
Dive into the 2026 lineup film by film. Read descriptions, watch trailers, meet the filmmakers, and discover the stories you don’t want to miss.
Build Your Weekend with the Festival Schedule
See what’s screening each day and at each venue, compare screening times, and start putting together your personal Festival itinerary.
Passholders: Reserve Your Screenings Now
If you already have a Festival pass, now is the time to start turning your wish list into your Festival itinerary
All FHFF passholders can now reserve tickets for the screenings they want to attend.
Screenings at the Palace Theatre and San Juan Community Theatre venues use reserved seating, so planning ahead gives you the opportunity to choose both your films and your seats.
Browse the Film Guide, compare your choices with the Schedule, and reserve your screenings as you build the Festival weekend that works for you.
More Than 50 Filmmakers Are Coming to Friday Harbor
One of the things that makes FHFF special is that the conversation doesn’t end when the credits roll.
This year, more than 50 filmmakers will be joining us in Friday Harbor, giving audiences the opportunity to hear directly from the people who created the documentaries they’ve just experienced. Attending filmmakers will participate in Q&As following their respective screenings, sharing the stories behind their films, answering audience questions, and taking the conversation beyond the screen.
And with so many filmmakers making the journey to Friday Harbor, we need our community’s help welcoming them!
FHFF is currently seeking Filmmaker Hosts with qualified housing who can provide accommodations for our visiting filmmakers during Festival weekend. Hosting is a wonderful way to become personally involved in the Festival, meet the creative people behind this year’s films, and help us provide the warm San Juan Island welcome that has become an important part of the FHFF experience.
As a thank-you, Filmmaker Hosts receive two complimentary Patron Passes to the Festival.
Interested in hosting a filmmaker? Learn more about becoming an FHFF Filmmaker Host, review the housing requirements, and apply to participate.
For the handful of films whose directors aren’t able to make the trip to Friday Harbor, we still want audiences to hear from them.
Over the past two weeks, FHFF Producer and Host Norris Palmer has been busy interviewing those filmmakers and recording special greetings and conversations that will be presented with their screenings. So whether a filmmaker is sitting in the theatre with you or joining us through a specially recorded conversation, the filmmaker’s voice remains an important part of the FHFF experience.
Continue the Story at SJIMA
During Festival weekend, the conversation between documentary film and visual art continues at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) with Convergence & Divergence: The Family Aesthetic, an extraordinary exhibition bringing together the work of Imogen Cunningham, Roi Partridge, and their son Rondal Partridge.
Three artists. One family. More than a century of creative work.
Drawing on personal archives, the exhibition presents more than 100 photographs and prints, placing the work of these three remarkable artists in direct dialogue. Across generations, they shared a devotion to the natural world, a mastery of light and form, and a drive to experiment—while each developed a distinctly different artistic vision.
The connection to this year’s Festival runs even deeper. Documentary filmmaker Meg Partridge—Rondal’s daughter and Roi’s granddaughter—is the exhibition’s lead curator, and her films offer an intimate window into the lives, relationships, and creative legacy behind the art.
Together, the films and exhibition provide a rare opportunity to experience this family’s story from multiple perspectives: on screen through documentary film, and on the gallery walls through the work they created.
As you plan your Festival weekend, make time between screenings to visit SJIMA and experience Convergence & Divergence: The Family Aesthetic for yourself.
FHFF passholders receive free admission to SJIMA during Festival weekend.
Be Part of the Festival — Volunteer!
Want to experience FHFF from the inside? Join our Festival volunteer team! Volunteers are an essential part of making the Festival happen, helping welcome audiences and filmmakers and creating the friendly, community-centered experience FHFF is known for.
There are a variety of ways to get involved throughout Festival weekend. Whether you’re a longtime FHFF volunteer or joining us for the first time, we’d love to have you be part of the team.
Learn more about volunteer opportunities and benefits and sign up today.
Thank You to Our 2026 Presenting Sponsors
Our deepest thanks to our presenting sponsors Cascade PBS, the Palace Theatre, Kenmore Air, Kings Market, morpheousStudios, and Rock Island Communications.
