Eritrea is set to host its first-ever national film festival — the 1st Asmara Film Festival — from March 21 to March 29, 2026, under the theme "Renaissance of Film in Eritrea."
The festival was announced on March 12 by Eritrea's Commission of Culture and Sports. It will open on March 21 at Cinema Roma in Asmara, the country's capital, with additional screenings scheduled at Cinema Impero, Cinema Asmara, and Cinema Hamasien.
Officials say more than 200 films were collected for consideration, with 55 selected for public screening. The program will also include seminars on film history and the role of cinema in Eritrea's cultural life.
The government-backed initiative represents a significant moment for Eritrea's film festival circuit, which has had limited public visibility. Before this launch, official sources documented the European Film Week in Eritrea through 2019 as one of the few recurring film events in the country.
That context gives the Asmara Film Festival added weight as a domestic event in a country where organized film exhibition has remained largely outside the international conversation. The festival's four-venue structure — spanning Cinema Roma, Cinema Impero, Cinema Asmara, and Cinema Hamasien — draws on Asmara's distinctive Italian colonial-era architecture, which has made the city a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017.
