The Colombian Film Festival New York

What The Colombian Film Festival New York does

The Colombian Film Festival New York is a cultural organization founded in 2012 that operates an annual showcase of Colombian cinema for audiences in New York City. The festival was founded by Juan Carvajal, who continues to serve as its director, and is headquartered in New York with a five-person team. Its flagship event is held at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan, and over twelve completed editions the festival has screened more than 200 films. The program comprises four core modules — an official competition, out-of-competition screenings, retrospectives, and special events — and operates as a single annual event rather than a year-round platform.

The organization monetizes through three revenue streams: ticket sales to festival attendees, sponsorship income from cultural and commercial partners, and submission fees paid by filmmakers entering the competition. No sponsors, attendance figures, or submission volumes are disclosed in the available data. The organization has built ties to the broader Colombian film ecosystem by co-founding the Bogotá International Film Festival (IndieBo) in 2014 and by launching "The Classics" in 2017, a heritage strand dedicated to restored Colombian cinema presented in partnership with Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano. A 13th edition is scheduled for Fall 2026, indicating operational continuity at a stable annual cadence rather than a period of accelerated expansion.

From a structural standpoint, the organization is a small, founder-led nonprofit cultural enterprise with a niche geographic-cultural positioning (Colombian cinema in the US market), a single-venue annual format, and institutional partnerships anchored in Colombia. There is no disclosed use of proprietary technology, data platforms, or AI/ML components; operational technology is implied to be conventional festival programming and event production tooling, including a social-media presence across Instagram, X, and Facebook.

Name

The Colombian Film Festival New York

Legal name

Unknown - No legal entity name disclosed

Website

https://colfilmny.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Colombian Film Festival New York is a cultural organization founded in 2012 that hosts an annual showcase of Colombian cinema at Quad Cinema in Manhattan, serving NYC audiences and the Colombian filmmaker community through screenings, retrospectives, and special events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Film Festival Services

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Exhibition (51213)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture Theaters (7830)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPADAKAD

Film Festivals & Festival Organizers

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Film & Video Production/Distribution/Exhibition (Cinemas, Film Festivals, Screenings)

SECONDARYMPADAKAH

Community & Cultural Screenings (Museums, Cultural Centers)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Film & Video Production/Distribution/Exhibition (Cinemas, Film Festivals, Screenings)

SECONDARYMPADAKAF

Screening Rooms & Cinematheques (Nonprofit/Institutional)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Film & Video Production/Distribution/Exhibition (Cinemas, Film Festivals, Screenings)

Keywords

• Film festival programming
• Colombian cinema showcase
• Cultural film events
• Film restoration programs
• Filmmaker submission platform

Headquarters

HQ city

New York City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Revenue generated from audience tickets for festival screenings at Quad Cinema.
2. Sponsorships: Corporate and institutional sponsorship arrangements supporting festival operations and programming.
3. Film Submissions: Filmmakers pay submission fees to have their works considered for festival selection.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Colombian Film Festival NY produces an annual fall film festival at the Quad Cinema in New York City, screening Colombian short films, narrative features, documentaries, and restored classics. The festival combines curated film programming with filmmaker Q&As, panels, and networking events that connect Colombian filmmakers with New York audiences and US industry professionals. Restored masterworks are presented through a dedicated partnership with Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano.

Product overview

The Colombian Film Festival NY is a single annual event product that operates as a unified festival, combining four program modules: Short Films (narrative, experimental, documentary, animated), Narrative Features, Documentaries, and The Classics (restored masterworks in partnership with Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano). The festival also encompasses related initiatives including IndieBo (a co-founded film industry platform from 2014) and The Classics (a sub-brand focused on film restoration from 2017). All programs share the core festival infrastructure and take place annually at New York City's Quad Cinema, with filmmaker events, Q&As, and panels extending the audience experience.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Colombian Film Festival NY An annual film festival held each fall in New York City at the Quad Cinema, screening Colombian short films, narrative features, documentaries, and restored classics, with filmmaker Q&As, panels, and networking events for New York audiences and industry professionals.
• The Classics A restoration and presentation initiative operated in partnership with Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano, dedicated to showcasing restored masterworks of Colombian cinema at the festival.
• IndieBo A film industry platform co-founded by Juan Carvajal in 2014 that supports independent Colombian filmmakers and connects them to industry resources and audiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• 200+ films screened across 13 editions

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Patrimonio Fílmico ColombianocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe festival partners with Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano (Colombian Film Heritage) to present restored masterworks of Colombian cinema as part of the 'Classics' section. This partnership provides access to archival Colombian film restorations and positions the festival as a curator of significant cultural heritage, enhancing its programming depth and legitimacy.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Film Forum: A long-established NYC nonprofit independent cinema operating year-round repertory and curated programming; comparable as the exhibition counterpart that anchors the kind of festival venue ColFilmNY uses (Quad Cinema).
• IFC Center: NYC independent cinema and repertory exhibition venue; comparable to ColFilmNY's venue model and audience overlap for international and indie cinema audiences in New York.
• DOC NYC: One of the largest documentary festivals in the US, based in NYC; comparable to ColFilmNY's documentaries program track, though operating at meaningfully larger scale and across the full nonfiction spectrum.
• Quad Cinema: The landmark independent NYC cinema that hosts ColFilmNY's annual edition; comparable as a curated, single-venue exhibition operator for specialty and international cinema in New York.

Direct peers

• IndieBo Festival de Cine Independiente de Bogotá: Bogotá-based independent film festival co-founded by Juan Carvajal in 2014; comparable as the originating/source-side counterpart to ColFilmNY and an alternative international gateway for the same Colombian independent film slate.
• NY Latino Film Festival: A NYC-based festival showcasing broader Latinx and Latin American cinema; comparable to ColFilmNY in venue-based exhibition model and target audience (NYC diaspora and cinephiles), though it covers the entire region rather than a single country.
• Dominican Film Festival in New York: An NYC-based single-country Latin American cinema showcase with diaspora-driven attendance and industry programming; directly comparable business model and audience profile to ColFilmNY.
• Havana Film Festival New York: A New York-based annual festival dedicated exclusively to Cuban cinema, directly comparable to ColFilmNY's role as a single-country Latin American cinema showcase operating in NYC with a diaspora-focused audience and industry tie-ins.
• Brazilian Film Festival NYC: A New York-based festival dedicated to Brazilian cinema; mirrors ColFilmNY's country-specific positioning and use of NYC as a gateway for South American filmmakers to reach US audiences.

Others

• Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano: Colombian state-affiliated film archive and restoration body that partners with ColFilmNY on The Classics program; comparable as a cultural-heritage content enabler upstream of ColFilmNY's curated restored-classics programming.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/colfilmny
• Facebookfacebook.com/ColFilmNYC
• Instagraminstagram.com/colfilmny
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-colombian-film-festival

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Colombian Film Festival New York