Overview The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival screens more than 100 independent films over six days each April across downtown San Luis Obispo, and in 2012 it screened Citizen Kane at Hearst Castle, 71 years after the film's release. It is an Academy Award-qualifying festival for documentary short films, and MovieMaker named it one of its 25 coolest film festivals in 2024. The 2027 edition is the 33rd. The nonprofit behind it took over the Palm Theatre in July 2024 and turned it into the SLO Film Center, a year-round independent cinema that also serves as the festival's hub. On site Screenings run in several downtown venues, from the art deco Fremont Theater to the Palm. Feature films play two or three times across the week and shorts twice, question-and-answer sessions follow screenings, and filmmakers mix with pass holders in the festival lounge. The evenings belong to special events: an Opening Night gala with a red carpet and a premiere, Surf Nite with a surf film and guest surf legends on stage, a Music Video Night with live performances, Community of Skate for skateboarding films, conversations with Hollywood guests, and a Closing Night that hands out the Filmmaker Awards. Audience In 2026, 42% of attendees lived in the city of San Luis Obispo and another 31% elsewhere in the county; 17% came from the rest of California and 10% from out of state. Top passes buy entry to every screening, the lounge and the special events, and outside festival week the Palm sells a Palmie membership for its year-round screenings. Talent and Influencers The festival's highest honor is the King Vidor Award, which went to Bob Mackie in 2025, Heather Graham in 2024, Rick Carter in 2023, Dale Dickey in 2022 and Lawrence Kasdan in 2020; Morgan Freeman, Jeff Bridges and Alan Arkin are earlier recipients. In 2026 the new Craft in Focus award brought Haley Joel Osment and Britt Lower to the Masonic Lodge for on-stage conversations, Osment ahead of the world premiere of his new film, shot mostly in the county, and Lower ahead of Sender, which had opened at SXSW. Josh Brolin sat on the festival's advisory board in 2024. Track record Local attorney Mary A. Harris started the festival in 1993 as a showcase for classic and restored films, with a city grant and the Palm's owners behind it; submissions from filmmakers worldwide followed within a few years. The festival counted more than 8,600 in-person admissions in 2026, and says attendance has risen every year since 2020. It went back to Hearst Castle in 2015 to show Citizen Kane a second time, in the castle's original 50-seat screening room. Brand presence One presenting sponsorship is offered, and three venues are sold with the sponsor's name displayed at the door and a slide in that venue's pre-show reel. Below that, a partner can take a special event such as Opening Night or Surf Nite, a program or series, or a single film, and the larger levels attach a Filmmaker Award presented at Closing Night. Most levels carry a 30-second spot in the pre-show reel and a slide at the Palm that runs all year. Wineries, restaurants and hotels come in as hospitality sponsors, pouring for guests and housing visiting filmmakers.