If you are in Bali this week and want something more local than another beach-club night, the island’s short-film festival is still very much alive. Minikino Film Week 12 is an in-person festival spread across cinemas, cultural spaces, malls and community venues rather than one fenced-off festival site. That means residents and travellers can dip into individual programmes without treating it as an all-or-nothing event.
01 The festival is running through Friday 18 September
Minikino describes Film Week as Bali’s annual international short-film festival, and 2026 is its twelfth edition. The official dates are Friday 11 September to Friday 18 September 2026, making this a live event rather than an advance calendar listing.
The format is deliberately distributed. Minikino says screenings happen in Micro Cinemas and Pop-up Cinemas, with Community Screenings extending the programme into additional spaces around Bali. The festival’s own description emphasises bringing audiences and projection screens together physically; this is not an online-only programme.
That scattered layout is useful if you live in Bali or are already travelling around the island, but it also means there is no single “festival gate” to turn up at. The sensible approach is to choose a programme first, then confirm the venue, time and age rating on Minikino’s current schedule.
02 Tuesday’s programme still has screenings and industry sessions
On Tuesday 15 September, the official schedule lists public-facing screenings at Dharma Negara Alaya and Living World Bali, alongside Short Film Market sessions and forums at RTB–Rumah Tanjung Bungkak.
At Dharma Negara Alaya, the listed Audio Visual programme includes Jolly at 09:00, Sense of Place at 11:00, Alienation at 13:00 and an inclusive audio-description + SDH programme at 15:00. The same complex also lists education and discussion-room activity, plus the MFW12 Short Film Library.
At Living World Bali Amphitheatre, the published Tuesday evening schedule has Wee Asian at 18:30 and Our Planet at 19:45. RTB’s Tuesday programme is more industry-focused, with market screenings during the day followed by Meet the Industry Guests and Roast Your Shorts forums.
Times can matter more than the festival’s overall date range, so anyone reading this later on Tuesday should treat the official live schedule as the final planning reference.
03 Wednesday and Thursday keep the programme moving
The festival does not wind down after Tuesday. Wednesday 16 September has another full day at Dharma Negara Alaya, including About Us, Lost & Found, Hidden Truth and Known Unknown with SDH. RTB lists market screenings and a Shorts Up Showcase, while Living World and The Rooms both list open-air cinema programmes in the evening.
Thursday 17 September continues with screenings at Dharma Negara Alaya and RTB. Among the published entries are Bottled Up, Bittersweet, Known Unknown, selected films marking ten years of BEGADANG, Sense of Place, Passages, Adore, Solace and an evening Open Screen! session.
The timetable also carries age ratings ranging from all-ages or 7+ programmes through 13+ and 18+ sessions. Families should check the individual programme rather than assume “short film festival” means every screening is suitable for children.
04 Friday’s finale is the International Awarding Event
Minikino lists the International Awarding Event 2026 for 18:00 on Friday 18 September at Hongkong Garden Restaurant in Kesiman Kertalangu, Denpasar. The venue listing gives an indoor capacity of 200 people.
The awards are part of a broader programme that includes both international and national selections. Minikino’s festival information also highlights Indonesia Raja, its national short-film exchange; the Southeast Asia Programmers Network; BEGADANG; and collaborations with festival partners and programmers beyond Indonesia.
If the awards night is your main target, check Minikino’s own access information before travelling. The timetable confirms the event, location and time, but availability and admission arrangements can change independently of the editorial schedule.
05 It is more than a sequence of screenings
MFW12 includes the 8th Short Film Market, a professional programme built around exhibitions, talks, seminars, workshops, market screenings, gatherings and a Short Film Library. For Bali-based filmmakers, producers and students, that makes the festival relevant even when a particular screening block is not.
The festival also runs its MFW Education programme, which Minikino describes as an entry point for people who want to understand festivals and short-film production more deeply. The published schedule includes workshops and discussion-room sessions alongside conventional screenings.
Community Screenings push the event further outside the main festival spaces. Minikino frames these as a way for communities, cultural institutions and educational venues around Bali to host short films in parallel, widening access and turning different spaces into temporary cultural hubs.
06 How residents and travellers can plan a session
- Start with the official schedule. Pick the programme, then confirm the venue and start time rather than relying on an old event roundup.
- Check the age rating. The timetable includes all-ages, 7+, 13+ and 18+ programmes, plus NR entries for forums, market or education sessions.
- Allow for Bali traffic. Denpasar venues can look close on a map while still requiring meaningful travel time at busy hours.
- Do not assume every venue has the same capacity. Official listings range from small 30–50 seat spaces to much larger outdoor areas.
- Check access or ticket details directly. This article does not assume that every screening or industry session has the same admission rules.
- Use the remaining dates. The programme continues through Friday, so missing one session does not mean the festival is over.
For visitors, Minikino is also a useful way to see a different layer of Bali’s cultural life: local creative networks, regional film exchange and community venues rather than only attractions designed around tourism.
07 Why Minikino matters to Bali’s cultural calendar
The festival’s island-wide structure gives it a different character from a single-location cinema event. Screenings and discussions sit across formal arts venues, community spaces and commercial locations, while the programme mixes Indonesian work with films and programmers from abroad.
Minikino says short films can act as cultural expressions carrying the social values and perspectives of the artists and communities behind them. That matters in Bali, where a large resident creative community and a huge visitor economy often occupy the same physical spaces without necessarily sharing the same cultural calendar.
For residents, this is a home-grown film event with international reach. For travellers, it is a chance to join something that exists for more than tourism. And for filmmakers, the market, forums and networking sessions make the week as much about the ecosystem around short film as the screening itself.
