Where do you go to see a film at the Leander Film Festival? For much of the daytime program, you leave Leander. The first festival runs November 11 through 15, 2026. It's put on by the Leander Arts & Film Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and promises more than 30 films and more than 20 filmmakers in attendance. Many of those screenings are in Cedar Park conference rooms and at the Lakeline theaters. The evening events are mostly in Leander, at a VFW post off Ranch Road 2243, a distillery and an activity center that sit next to each other on Hero Way West, a church on East Woodview Drive and a steakhouse on Raider Way.
That split matters if you live here. With school runs and work, you probably can't spend a weekday afternoon at a shorts block. Most of the evening events, though, are a short drive from home. You can treat the festival as five evenings out and buy only the nights you want.
Where the daytime program is
Visit Leander, run by the Leander Chamber and Visitors Center, describes the festival as spread across "venues across Leander and surrounding communities." The Eventive schedule shows where the films actually play.
| Day | Daytime venue | What's scheduled there |
|---|---|---|
| Thu., Nov. 12 | Facilities Resource Inc., 1641 Scottsdale Drive, Cedar Park | Shorts Block 1, 1:30 p.m. |
| Thu., Nov. 12 | Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline, 14028 N. US 183, Bldg. F, Austin | Animation shorts at 3 p.m., opening-night premiere at 5 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Facilities Resource Inc., Cedar Park | Student shorts at noon, screenplay contest, Emerging Creator feature, a panel on AI and post-production |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Film Alley | Shorts and features from 12:30 p.m. through the 7 p.m. "Leander and Lone Star" feature |
| Sun., Nov. 15 | AMC Lakeline 9 | Closing-night feature, 4:30 p.m. |
Facilities Resource is also on the festival's sponsor wall, next to Alamo Drafthouse, Leanderthal, the Leander Chamber of Commerce, Fieldhouse Texas, Freedom Fun USA and Community Impact. Three of those sponsors, Facilities Resource, Alamo Drafthouse and Leanderthal, also host festival events.
The two panel mornings are at SpringHill Suites by Marriott. Saturday's 10 a.m. panel covers filming in Texas, and Sunday's 11 a.m. Producers Network panel is for people working in the industry. Visit Leander describes the daytime hours as "packed with screenings, panels, and showcases for filmmakers and film fans," and the evenings as the part "where the whole community comes together."
Night by night, the festival comes back to Leander
- Wednesday, Nov. 11, at the Leander VFW. The festival starts on Veterans Day with a 5 p.m. memorial and community gathering. At 7 p.m. there's a pop-up drive-in screening of Sgt Stubby: An Unlikely Hero, with sound through your car's FM radio. Eventive lists the VFW at 8760 Ranch Road 2243. That's the same address Visit Cedar Park lists for Texas Pumpkin Fest, which runs weekends through November 1. The Sgt Stubby page says to buy a ticket to the Veterans Day event to attend.
- Thursday, Nov. 12, pick one of two. The opening-night film is Jimmy, a 2026 feature about James Stewart directed by Aaron Burns. It premieres at 5 p.m. at Alamo Drafthouse after a private red-carpet arrival where, per Visit Leander, you can meet members of the cast. The other choice is the Law vs Law Community VR Boxing Competition at 7 p.m. at The Crossover in Cedar Park, where the Leander and Cedar Park police chiefs box each other. Visit Leander says both events end with a mixer featuring wine, beer and food trucks. That mixer starts at 9:15 p.m. at The Crossover.
- Friday, Nov. 13, at Leanderthal Distilling. "The Industry" Night starts at 8:30 p.m. in the distillery's lounge at 11894 Hero Way West.
- Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Leander Activity Center. "REEL Moves and Country Grooves" starts at 8:15 p.m. The program describes it as open to the community, with live music, dancing, brick-oven pizza, craft beer and wine flights.
- Sunday, Nov. 15, at Generations Church and Estancia. Sunday is covered in its own section below.
Thursday is the only night when both choices are outside Leander. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings are in town, and Sunday ends with a banquet in Leander.
Hero Way West has two back-to-back festival nights
The City of Leander lists the Leander Activity Center at 11880 Hero Way West, Suite 600. Leanderthal Distilling is at 11894 Hero Way West. That puts Friday's industry night and Saturday's community party on neighboring addresses, on consecutive nights.
Hero Way is getting busier in general. Wren's Landing, a board game cafe and bar, has been reported as targeting December 2026 at 1561 Hero Way. Vanta Beauty Lounge opened August 21 at 11620 Hero Way West, according to Community Impact. If you've been driving past Hero Way on the way to the 183A corridor, the festival is a good reason to stop for a weekend evening.
Sunday is the most Leander day of the five
Sunday is the only day when the daytime program is also in Leander. Starting at 1:30 p.m., Generations Church at 1461 East Woodview Drive hosts faith-based screenings, a faith-based shorts block that includes student work, and a 3 p.m. panel on distributors, streaming and theatrical releases.
The 1:30 p.m. slot is a screening of Faith, a 22-minute pilot filmed in Leander. It's about an optimistic teacher who becomes pastor of a small-town Texas church. Visit Leander says the pilot stars Adrian Grenier, who's best known as the lead in HBO's Entourage. Chris Hoyt directed it, and Sterling Griffin wrote and produced it. The festival's program lists the screening as "Pilot Shot in Leander."
The closing feature plays at AMC Lakeline 9 at 4:30 p.m. Then the festival returns to Leander for the 7 p.m. awards banquet at Estancia Brazilian Steakhouse, 2132 Raider Way.
Which pass fits how you'll actually attend
The festival's passes page lists these prices. All include fees, and none are refundable:
- Day Pass, $65. Available for November 12, 13, 14 or 15. There's no day pass for November 11.
- All Panels Pass, $80.
- All Screenings Pass, $130.
- Festival Pass, $195.
- Awards Banquet only, $230.
- VIP All Access, $475.
The early-bird deadline was September 30, so these are the prices now. The Veterans Day drive-in, the VR boxing night and the Saturday party each have their own "Order tickets" button on the Eventive schedule, and each event page shows its own price. If you mainly want the evenings in town, start with those event pages before paying for a pass. If you want to catch every shorts block, the $130 All Screenings Pass costs the same as two day passes.
Where the festival falls in Leander's fall calendar
Two city events bracket festival week. Leander's Fall Family Campout at Devine Lake Park is November 6 to 7. It costs $35 per family and includes dinner, games, a movie, a campfire and breakfast the next morning. The Old Town Christmas Festival is December 5 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 100 North Brushy Street, with the Rudolph Run, a Christmas Marketplace, a parade and local vendors.
So the stretch from the first weekend of November to the first weekend of December has Leander events every week. The festival adds five evenings in the middle. Three of them are in town, a fourth ends at a Leander banquet, and two are next door to each other on Hero Way West.
Spending your festival nights on Hero Way and around Leander means seeing parts of town that are changing fast. If you'd like to know what that growth means for your street, or you just want a local read on how your neighborhood is shifting, the Bolanos Realty team is happy to talk. Schedule Your Free Consultation.
