The theme for this year’s Subtropic Film Festival, “Between Two Waters,” plays with expectations: The waters in question are not, strictly speaking, the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, but rather the oceans and the Florida Everglades, which are closer and more connected than probably anyone who isn’t an ecologist or cartographer has meaningfully pondered.
The in-between-ness captures Subtropic’s vision for 2026 of the cultural intersections that make up life and art in Florida. “Our lineup this year is wide, and we love that about it,” Subtropic founding director Noelia Solange tells PureHoney. “You can go from a sugar cane town in Pahokee [The Moths and The Flame] to a single-take drive through Miami [Tropical Park] to a swamp creature in the Panhandle [Frogtown], all in one weekend. Florida doesn’t have one story, and neither does this festival.”
Noelia Solange by Yuliia Safonkina
The fourth annual festival, November 6-8, opens at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach with “Homegrown,” a block of short films from five directors with a shared theme: “This land holds more than most people ever stop to notice.”
Subtropic continues at three principal locations, including Afflux Studios at G-star Studios in Palm Springs, with more thematic blocks, feature-length screenings, filmmaker Q&As, panels and camera workshops for aspiring filmmakers, plus after- parties around town, and a street photo walk in Lake Worth Beach, where Subtropic has added Lake Worth Playhouse to its roster of venues.
Solange mentions two films screening there on Saturday, November 8: “First They Came For My College is a firsthand look at what’s happening on a campus in our own backyard, and Junkie is a performance by Rocky Shay that audiences won’t forget.”
To call it a full weekend is an understatement. ”Subtropic is something you move through,” Solange says as she tallies some of the social doings, from the opening night after-party at Studio 1608 to a tea ceremony by Jojo Tea at the Dancing Elephant in Lake Worth Beach on Saturday. “It’s a whole weekend of meeting the people behind the films.”
The fourth Subtropic Film Festival takes place Friday-Sunday November 6-8 in Palm Beach County. subtropic.org ~ Tim Moffatt
