ICARE DU CINÉMA, 43rd edition

International Air Film Festival
from Tuesday 16 to Sunday 21 September 2025 in St Hilaire

What is Icare du Cinéma?

In 1983, ten years after the COUPE ICARE, the 1st International Aerial Film Festival was born.
Today, ICARE DU CINEMA attracts almost 5,000 spectators and is a benchmark for all film professionals and free-flight enthusiasts.

From short to feature films on the theme of air…

The festival brings together film productions (shorts, medium-length and feature films) on the theme of air, wind, flight and all aerial sports such as paragliding, hang-gliding, skydiving, hot-air ballooning, muscle flying, gliding, bungee jumping, base jumping, kites, boomerangs, etc.

Motorised air sports are limited to paramotor, ulm, aeromodelling, aerobatics and aerial exploits. Films on bird flight are also allowed.

A very official competition

Every year, the International Airline Film Festival receives around a hundred entries from all over the world.

After a pre-selection by a committee within the festival organisation, the best films are put to the vote of the festival’s official jury, a panel made up of professionals from the world of sport and image (programme producers, directors, etc.).

2 other juries also award prizes: the Press Jury and the Children’s Jury.
The children’s jury is made up of CM2 pupils from schools in St Hilaire, Lumbin and St Pancrasse, who attend a screening of selected films organised just for them on Thursday afternoon. The pupils then choose their favourite film.

Hélios Gracia has flown…

Hélios joined the Coupe Icare team some twenty years ago.
A cinema enthusiast, he was the creator of a travelling cinema network in the 80s and 90s for the Grésivaudan and Belledonne regions. He was also involved in the creation of the Espace Aragon in Villard Bonnot.
As headmaster of the primary school in Lumbin, Hélios set up a school circuit with screenings in class followed by work on the language of film.
It is thanks to his initiative that the ‘Icare des Mômes’ prize is awarded every year by schoolchildren and features prominently in the Festival’s awards list.
For more than 10 years, he has been the director of the Festival Icare du Cinéma, taking over from Laurent Simonet, bringing rigour, wisdom and innovation to the event. He was able to gather around him a small team of volunteers who were just as passionate as he was.
Although he had never piloted a flying machine himself, every year he had the same
enthusiasm for discovering the cinematic nuggets from a year of free flight across the planet.
Hélios also sat on the Board of Directors of the Coupe Icare; he was one of the wise men of our organisation. A man of experience, commitment and values, Hélios was a great listener, and his words, full of common sense and often tinged with humour, enlightened us by combining passion and reason, always with a great deal of humanity and kindness.
He left us for the 2024 edition, but he will always remain in our hearts and in our memories.
We dedicate the 2025 Festival to him…

In 2025, the Icare Film Festival is supported by