This mobile cinema initiative in Medellín provides training for 4,000 creators to boost local digital advertising and entrepreneurship.

MEDELLÍN — The mobile film festival SMARTFILMS announced the launch of its third edition in the “City of the Eternal Primavera” on March 17, 2026. The initiative aims to democratize cinema and foster local creative talent through technology and audiovisual narratives. The program’s goal is to train 4,000 participants in the technical skills required to produce films using mobile devices.

The launch is supported by the Alcaldía de Medellín (Medellín mayor’s office), which is providing 3,300 training slots, the Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá (Aburrá Valley metropolitan area) with 300 slots, and the Cámara de Comercio de Medellín para Antioquia with 250 slots. Additional strategic partners include EPM and Fenalco Antioquia, organizations that focus on regional innovation and commercial development. The official opening, led by CEO Yesenia Valencia, took place at the Poblado branch of the Chamber of Commerce,

“SMARTFILMS is not just a festival; it is a platform that demonstrates that to tell a great story, one only needs a good idea and the device everyone carries in their pocket.”

The 2026 program utilizes a four-phase methodology designed to transition creators into digital entrepreneurs. The first phase involves mass training for 4,000 individuals in mobile audiovisual production. In the second phase, 400 selected participants will attend a specialized bootcamp at the Cámara de Comercio de Medellín para Antioquia featuring industry experts. The third phase focuses on business skills for 40 finalists, covering marketing, digital advertising, budgeting, and legal contracts.

In the final stage, participants must produce advertising content for three local neighborhood businesses to assist in their digital transition. Financial incentives include prizes of $10 million COP for first place, $5 million COP for second place, and $3 million COP for third place. Additionally, finalists receive seed capital of $1.5 million COP per person for recording equipment. Registration is managed through the cineconcelular.com platform.

The festival reports a significant regional economic impact, generating 115 direct jobs and over 300 indirect jobs. The direct positions include 33 payroll staff and 82 contractors based in Medellín. Since its inception, the model has trained 8,000 people and led to the creation of 120 businesses nationwide. These creative enterprises currently report monthly revenues ranging from $2 million COP to $10 million COP.

The 2026 version of the project seeks to expand its reach across all districts of the metropolitan area to stimulate the development of cultural companies and social transformation. Documentation from the organizers highlights a 0% desertion rate among participants over the last two years.

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Every December, Bogotá transforms. Streets glow with constellations of LED lights, plazas turn into theatrical stages, and entire neighborhoods feel suspended somewhere between festive nostalgia and big-city spectacle. But this year’s celebration, dubbed Navidad es Cultura, is bigger, brighter, and more imaginative than ever before. Running from December 5 to 23, it invites locals and travelers alike to explore a holiday season built around creativity, community, and a forward-looking vision of the capital.

“This year, Christmas in Bogotá asks us to imagine and build the future we deserve,” says Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán, who unveiled a lineup of 670 activities and more than 4,300 artists. The result is a citywide cultural takeover – part art festival, part family tradition, and always a playground for the young and young-at-heart.

Following the Christmas Trail

For many visitors, the gateway into Bogotá’s holiday spirit begins with La Ruta de la Navidad, a curated trail of illuminated landmarks running through three major sectors: the historic downtown corridor, the sprawling Parque El Tunal in the south, and the bustling districts of the city’s north. This isn’t a gentle dusting of fairy lights. The 2025 installation includes 114 LED Christmas trees, more than 54 kilometers of miniature lights, and 1,655 decorative elements that dazzle both day and night. All of it is powered with a dramatically reduced energy load thanks to the city’s commitment to efficient, sustainable LED technology.

The season’s tallest marvel rises in Parque El Tunal, where Bogotá has erected its highest Christmas tree to date – a shimmering 56-meter-high tower of light with a 20-meter base. Surrounding it, the park becomes a walk-through holiday storybook. More than 1.3 kilometers of illuminated trails lead visitors through a world of giant glowing reindeer, oversized ornaments, a whimsical Santa’s garden, a luminous gift zone, and a charming Postal Navideña designed for festive snapshots.

At night, the park’s central plaza turns into a stage for a 360-degree laser and music show, performed every half hour from December 5 to 28. And this year, two colossal LED matrices – stretching more than 300 meters and totaling 200,000 programmable bulbs – transform the façades of the Palacio Liévano downtown and the Parque El Tunal cultural center, splashing them with color and geometric patterns that ripple like digital brushstrokes.

The Imagined City

The heartbeat of Navidad es Cultura pulses strongest at two iconic venues: Plaza de Bolívar and La Santamaría.

In Plaza de Bolívar, “Una Ciudad Imaginada” steals the show. This high-tech production blends projection mapping, live performance, soundscapes, and more than 50 artists to create a vivid dreamscape. Running December 13–14 and 17–23, the 35-minute performances—three each evening—draw thousands to the capital’s political and cultural heart. Here, Bogotá’s imagined future is cast across historic stone façades, offering a sensory journey through light, architecture, and shared aspiration.

Just a short walk away, Plaza Cultural La Santamaría will host “Más Allá de las Nubes,” a tender 35-minute theatrical piece performed by 80 artists. It tells the poetic story of a young girl and her cat traveling through Bogotá’s neighborhoods – an enchanting family-friendly work that blends dance, acrobatics, immersive staging, and soaring visual elements. With capacity for 10,000 spectators per show, it is one of the season’s most endearing offerings for visitors with children in tow.

Bogotá Belongs to the Night

No Bogotá Christmas is complete without the city’s most beloved holiday tradition: the Ciclovía Nocturna, an annual nighttime cycling celebration when Bogotá hands its streets back to the public.

The edition 48 takes place on Thursday, December 11, from 6 p.m. to midnight, drawing an estimated 2.5 million participants onto 95 kilometers of car-free avenues. Whether you’re pedaling a bike, cruising on a skateboard, or strolling with a cup of hot chocolate, the Ciclovía reveals Bogotá’s electrifying nighttime personality: impromptu music groups, couples on tandem bikes, toddlers being towed in light-strung trailers, and streams of cyclists coasting down Avenida Boyacá or Carrera Séptima under illuminated tunnels of color.

“The Ciclovía is a symbol of Bogotá – of encounter, health, and coexistence,” says IDRD director Daniel García Cañón. This year’s celebration also marks 50 years of Bogotá’s pioneering Ciclovía, now replicated by cities around the world. Fittingly, Bogotá will also host the 15th International Congress of Recreational Ciclovías of the Americas on December 11 and 12, welcoming global leaders for conversations on urban recreation, mobility, and community health.

More than a display of lights, Bogotá’s Christmas season feels like a cultural manifesto—an invitation to imagine a brighter city through shared art, open spaces, and collective celebration. From the sensory wonder of Plaza de Bolívar to the poetic warmth of La Santamaría and the joyful nighttime takeover during Ciclovía Nocturna, Navidad es Cultura positions Bogotá as one of Latin America’s most compelling December destinations.

As Mayor Galán puts it, “I invite everyone to enjoy this year’s Christmas programming and celebrate the end of the year in peace.” This season, Bogotá shines brighter—not only with a constellation of LEDs, but with imagination beyond the clouds.

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