About

Estranhos Encontros: São Paulo International Film Festival is a festival devoted to independent cinema and to work that finds little room in traditional exhibition circuits. Held annually in São Paulo, the festival takes a Brazilian view of world cinema in order to bring audiences closer to films and filmmakers from different parts of the world, with particular attention to directors at the start of their careers, films still without distribution in Brazil, and work that challenges the more conventional paths of production, circulation and film language.

The programme is organised into national and international competitive sections, alongside special programmes and retrospectives devoted to rediscovering Brazilian and foreign filmmakers. Beside recent films, the festival seeks to establish relations between different moments and geographies of cinema, putting little-known work, active authors and filmographies that deserve revisiting into dialogue with one another. Films in competition compete for prizes decided by juries of recognised film professionals, among them the Jairo Ferreira Prize, named after the São Paulo film critic and filmmaker.

Estranhos Encontros understands exhibition as a space of encounter, and for that reason its programme extends beyond the screenings. Discussions, conversations with directors, panels, masterclasses and other activities bring together audiences, filmmakers, critics, programmers and professionals from different fields, creating room for the exchange of ideas and for reflection on contemporary cinema. The festival also seeks to contribute to the international circulation of the films and to the creation of new networks of collaboration between Brazilian and foreign professionals.

With an entirely free programme, one of the festival's founding premises is to widen access to cinema and to form new audiences. Its activities take place mainly at the Centro Cultural São Paulo and at other partner venues across the city, building a direct relationship with its territory and with the cultural life of São Paulo. Catalogues, critical writing and other publications complement the experience of the screenings and preserve part of the thinking produced around each edition.

Founded in 2024 by professionals working across different areas of cinema, Estranhos Encontros held its first in-person edition in 2025 and has since been widening its programme, its partnerships and its network of collaborators. More than presenting films, the festival seeks to create the conditions for them to be seen, discussed and shared – placing the encounter between films, people and different ways of thinking about cinema at the centre of what it does.