Fort Myers Film Festival

The 16th annual Fort Myers Film Festival will deliver five days of film screenings, filmmaker panels, and celebration. The festival, which runs May 20-24, 2026, will include 81 selected feature, documentary, and short films from all over the world. We’ll get a preview of the festival in a conversation with Fort Myers Film Festival founder and Executive Director Eric Raddatz. We’ll also talk with multi-award winning filmmaker Jordan Axelrod, whose short film “Szypliski” will be featured at the opening night red carpet gala at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center.

The 16th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival will screen Ted Dintersmith’s documentary “Multiple Choice” and Jordan Axelrod’s "Szypliski" on opening night.

The 15th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival closed Sunday night with an awards ceremony. Winners were announced in nine film and three individual categories.

With a background as an international film publicist for Disney, Warner Brothers and Lionsgate, Events and Programming Coordinator Michael Hebler is determined to expand the importance of cinema at the Alliance for the Arts.

The 15th annual Fort Myers Film Festival kicks off next Wednesday and runs through May 18. Over the course of the five-day event, attendees will get to screen a wide variety of feature films, short films and documentaries from filmmakers here in Southwest Florida and from around the world. We’ll get a preview of this year’s offerings with Fort Myers Film Festival Founder Eric Raddatz and Steve Hilfiker who produced and stars in a film called “Daniel, My Brother” about his own experience as a heart transplant recipient.

Although they’ve been around for years, dome films are making a comeback. Known for cutting edge programming, the Fort Myers Film Festival is joining this trend. Director Eric Raddatz, has recently announced the Film Festival’s collaboration with Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium and is preparing to issue a call for dome film submissions.

The 14th annual Fort Myers Film Festival runs May 22-26, 2024. Over the course of the five-day festival, more than 90 films in a broad spectrum of genres will be screened, including the unconventional love story film “In Fidelity,” starring “Saturday Night Live” alum Chris Parnell. We’ll talk with Parnell about the film and get a broader preview of this year’s festival offerings from Fort Myers Film Festival founder Eric Raddatz.

The 13th annual Fort Myers Film Festival includes a screening of the short documentary “Warriors: The BERNIE MAC Disease,” about the famed comedian’s decades-long struggle with sarcoidosis. The film aims to raise awareness about the often-misdiagnosed disease. It was produced by Fort Myers resident Steve Hilfiker, whose own battle with cardiac sarcoidosis required a heart transplant.

The Fort Myers Film Festival returns for it’s 13th year May 17-21 and will include screenings of 79 international and independent films in five categories as well as a red-carpet gala, Q&As with filmmakers, a cosplay competition and a closing-night award ceremony. We’ll get a preview with film festival founder Eric Raddatz. We’ll also hear from director Sasha Levinson whose short film “Yachts on the Rocks” will have its world premiere at the festival, and Steve Hilficker who produced the short film “Warriors: The Bernie Mac Disease,” which will be featured.

This week the Fort Myers Film Festival will screen three environmental documentary selections from award-winning filmmaker and conservation and science communicator Sonny DePasquale. We’ll explore these documentaries with the filmmaker.