Event
Bend Film Festival
October 7–11, 2026
The 23rd annual Bend Film Festival runs October 7–11, 2026, bringing more than 100 independent features and shorts, filmmaker Q&As, panels, and parties to theaters and venues across Bend. Presented by BendFilm, the festival is volunteer-run from the box office to the theater doors, and volunteers get perks like a festival tee and access to screenings when seats are available.
Organizations taking part
BendFilm is a Bend nonprofit, founded in 2003, that celebrates independent cinema's power to enrich lives, amplify diverse voices, and inspire change. It presents the annual Bend Film Festival each October, which brings more than 100 independent and student films, filmmaker Q&As, panels, and parties to venues across town. Year-round, BendFilm owns and operates Tin Pan Theater, the downtown arthouse cinema, and runs Free Movies in the Park, the Basecamp filmmaker program, and youth filmmaking camps and workshops.
Volunteers run nearly every part of the Bend Film Festival, including box office and ticketing, theater and venue operations, guest and filmmaker hospitality, event and party support, and distributing the festival guide. Year-round, volunteers also help with screenings, special events, and parties. Perks include a festival volunteer tee, screenings when seats are available, and free Tin Pan Theater tickets.
Tin Pan Theater is downtown Bend's arthouse cinema, a 28-seat historic theater tucked into Tin Pan Alley with old-fashioned red velvet seats, homemade popcorn, and local beer and wine on tap. Owned and operated by BendFilm since 2019, it screens curated independent and international films, documentaries, Oscar contenders, and cult classics daily, hosts special events and outdoor summer screenings, can be rented for private movie parties, and serves as a signature venue of the Bend Film Festival.
Volunteers join BendFilm's crew to help with special screenings, events, and parties at Tin Pan and its outdoor alley and summer screenings, and the theater is a core venue during the Bend Film Festival each October. Volunteering runs through BendFilm, whose perks include two free Tin Pan tickets.
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