OFF plans to return

Orlando Film Festival schedules in-person event

Exclusive to MeierMovies, October 9, 2026

The Orlando Film Festival (OFF) is planning to return to the downtown CMX Cinemas Plaza Café on November 19-22, according to multiple sources.

Dan Springen, festival executive director, says OFF will use four auditoriums for screenings and two additional ones for educational events. Though the venue has been closed for about a year and a half and has no plans to reopen, Springen has arranged to hold his fest there.

The cinema, shown here on October 7, 2026, has been closed for about a year and a half but plans to reopen temporarily for OFF.

Total films will number 119, including Boris Is Dead, the opening-night movie starring Dane Cook and directed by James Cullen Bressack.

The festival will be smaller and shorter than in the past, running four days. At its height, it ran for eight days and screened roughly 400 films, making it one of the world’s largest film festivals when judged by total number of movies.

The festival website has not been updated in two years, but Springen says he plans to update it next week. More information can be found on Film Freeway.

Controversy arose following the cancellation of the 2025 festival. (Read previous articles here.) And with little chance of a permanent reopening of the cinema, the feeling among locals and filmmakers was that the fest would not return to in-person screenings, at least not at this venue. But Springen has apparently defied the odds.

Roger Soderstrom Jr., of Stirling International Real Estate, which manages the property, confirmed the fest will take place next month. He also says the theaters are clean, repaired from the spray-paint vandalism that took place last year and ready to welcome the public. In addition, he says the theater has stayed climate-controlled during its closure, preventing issues with potential mold. Even the popcorn machine is working, he says, though you should not necessarily expect the normal theater menu.

Except for the opening film, there is no word yet on which films will play and whether, as Springen said last year, some of the 2025 award winners (which were never screened) will play at this year’s fest. Stay tuned for further announcements soon.