There is a particular week every September when Ibiza quietly turns into an outdoor cinema. The sun now sets just after half eight, the tarmac has stopped radiating heat by ten, and the mosquitoes have finally lost interest. Village squares that spent August hosting brass bands and ball pagès get a white screen strung up between two plane trees instead, and half the island sits down on plastic chairs to watch a film for free.
This week — 4 to 11 September 2026 — is the busiest stretch of the open-air cinema season in Ibiza, and it is almost entirely free. There are Pixar films for the kids in the plaza, a Senegalese documentary in a Formentera village hall, a short film festival that has been running for twenty-seven editions, a queer cinema cycle with a proper post-screening discussion, and one cliff-edge screening with dinner for anyone who wants to pay for the view instead. Here is where to sit down.
Friday night: three screens, three completely different moods
Friday 4 September is the one night this week where you genuinely have to choose.
At Las Mimosas Ibiza, the boutique hotel on Carrer de Burgos in Sant Josep, the Cinema Paradiso series screens Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) at 21:00. Entry is free, the setting is a garden rather than a car park, and it is the gentlest possible introduction to the format if you have never watched a film outdoors on the island before.
Ten minutes down the road in Sant Josep village, the Mercat Nocturn is running its first-Friday night edition from around 18:00 — fifty-odd craftspeople and local farmers in the pedestrian zone by the town hall, with the Groove Garage trio playing funk and soul covers from 20:30. Eat there, then walk to the film. It is the most efficient Friday on the island.
Meanwhile in Sant Antoni, the XXVII Mostra Ixtar Curts opens with a programme of Balearic short films at 20:00 in the square behind the church. And if you happen to be on Formentera, there is a double option: Palestina 36 (Annemarie Jacir, 2025) at the Sala de Cultura in Sant Francesc at 21:00, dubbed into Spanish, 119 minutes, recommended for over-16s; or Dahomey (Mati Diop, 2024) at 22:00 at the Casa del Poble in La Mola, screened in the original version with Spanish subtitles. Both free.
Ixtar Curts: the island's own short film festival
The Mostra Ixtar Curts is the sleeper hit of the Ibiza cultural calendar and one of the best reasons to be in Sant Antoni this weekend. Part of the town's Festes de Sant Bartomeu programme, it has reached its twenty-seventh edition, and it still screens everything outdoors, for free, in the open square on the north side of the church.
The main event is Saturday 5 September at 19:30: the official section, ten finalist short films plus one international work screening out of competition. Short film programmes are the ideal open-air format — if one piece does not land, you get another in eight minutes, and the crowd reaction to a good ending in a public square is worth the trip on its own.
Earlier that day there is something rarer still. At 11:30, BiBo Hive Café hosts Las voces del rodaje, an industry brunch open to the public, moderated by Imma Puerto with professionals including Elena Octavia, Àngels Martínez, Eric Francés, Pablo Alcántara, María Guerra, Nuria Santos and Manolo Matoses. It is free, it is a real conversation about how films actually get made, and it is the sort of event that normally happens behind a festival accreditation badge.
Cine a la fresca: the family screenings
The municipal Cine a la fresca per la igualtat cycle is the backbone of the week if you have children. Every session follows the same shape: an activity at 20:00, the film at 21:00, free entry, chairs provided, nobody minding if a four-year-old falls asleep halfway through.
This week's run is a Pixar trilogy of sorts. Friday 4 September brings Del Revés (Inside Out), the one about a girl's emotions after her family moves city — a film that lands differently when you are watching it in a plaza in a place where half the audience moved here from somewhere else. Sunday 6 September follows with Del Revés 2, which takes Riley into adolescence and introduces Anxiety, Envy and Embarrassment to the control room. And Friday 11 September closes with Coco, the Day of the Dead film, which is the best of the three and will make at least one adult cry.
Screenings are in Spanish, and locations rotate between municipalities, so check the listing for the night you want before setting off.
Thursday: cinema with an argument attached
The most interesting screening of the week is also the quietest. On Thursday 10 September at 19:30, the Centre Sociocultural de Cas Serres in Ibiza Town hosts the second edition of Que(r)er Eivissa, an LGBTIQ+ film cycle run by Ibicine and Cineciutat that pairs queer cinema with social research on LGBTI-phobia.
This session screens Sidosa, a film about the stigma still attached to HIV, presented by Alas Balears and followed by an open discussion. Entry is free until the room fills. If you want to understand something about the island beyond its beaches, this is the ticket — and it costs nothing.
Cas Serres is worth knowing about generally: it is also hosting the Consell d'Eivissa's 2026 dance season, with Cía. Paula Quintana's Atlas de anatomía on Friday 4 September and Paula Quintas Cía.'s Aurora boreal on Friday 11, both at 20:00, both €8.
If you would rather pay for the view
For everything above, the price is zero. If you want the opposite experience, Amante Ibiza at Cala Sol d'en Serra runs its Movie Nights on Tuesday 8 September at 22:00 with Brooklyn. This is a cliff-top restaurant with the screen set against the sea and dinner as part of the deal, from around €55. It is a different proposition entirely — less village square, more anniversary — but on a still September night it is hard to beat.
Practical notes for watching films outdoors in September
Bring a layer. This is the single piece of advice everyone ignores in their first island September. It is 28°C at seven in the evening and 19°C by eleven, and you will be sitting still in the dark for two hours.
Arrive twenty minutes early. Free means capacity-limited. The municipal screenings put out a fixed number of chairs and the good ones fill; Ixtar Curts in particular draws a crowd on the Saturday.
Check the language. Most municipal and village screenings are in Spanish or Catalan. Formentera's La Mola session is original version with Spanish subtitles. Nobody advertises this clearly, so it is worth a look at the listing.
Park early and eat first. Village squares have almost no parking on fiesta nights. Leave the car on the edge of town, have dinner in the village, walk in. The Friday night market in Sant Josep and the Saturday market screening in Sant Antoni both make this easy.
Nights are getting shorter. The 21:00 start times work now because it is properly dark by then. By October most of these cycles will have wrapped up for the year. This is the last full month of the season — take it.
For the full week-by-week listing of what is on across Ibiza and Formentera, including every free screening, concert and village fiesta, check the Ibiza Calendar agenda. We update it daily.
