Herceg Novi Film Festival

The Montenegro Film Festival is the country's national film event, screened under the stars at the Kanli kula fortress in Herceg Novi. Following the festival's established late-August pattern, the 2026 edition is expected on 23–29 August — the 38th edition ran exactly those dates in 2025.

Kanli kula is the kind of cinema no multiplex can imitate: a fortress above the town, the night sky for a ceiling and the film lighting the stone. The walls hold the day's warmth into the evening, the sea glints below, and the setting turns even a routine screening into an occasion. Herceg Novi itself, climbing the hillside in stairways and gardens, is at its best on a late-August evening.

The festival is where Montenegro's national film awards are decided, and its programme pairs the competition with regional premieres, all projected in the open air within the fortress walls. For the country's filmmakers the week carries real stakes; for the audience it is simply the best seat in Montenegrin cinema.

An evening at the festival follows a simple ritual: the climb to the fortress as the light fades, the amphitheatre filling, and the film beginning against the stone once darkness settles. Visitors can treat it as a single night out or follow the competition across the week.

For a week each August it makes Herceg Novi the centre of Montenegrin film — a festival with real weight in the national film year, and an unbeatable setting for anyone who simply loves watching movies outdoors.

The festival takes place in late August at Kanli kula, Herceg Novi; the 2026 edition is expected on 23–29 August, matching the dates of the 38th edition in 2025. Screenings are ticketed at symbolic prices.