In the last ten years, the field of film production in Chile has been considerably transformed, showing an exceptional increase in local production, a growing professionalization and wider international recognition. Chilean film festivals have played a pivotal role in this change, both as sociocultural hubs that promote regular encounters and exchanges among filmmakers, and also by fostering a local cinematographic culture among film audiences. This article is based on a multi-sited ethnography conducted in the Chilean field between 2010 and 2018, including participant observation and in-depth interviews with festival organizers and participants. It analyzes the major transformations seen in Chilean film festivals, from relatively informal showcases for local cinephiles and hangouts for filmmakers to professionalized “industrial” hubs and nodes for project development, education and “audience formation”. These developments are linked to diverse changes in a Chilean cultural policy that considers national cinema as a creative industry, while they also reflect the global trend of film festivals toward a “business model”. The Chilean case shows how festivals can articulate new, at times contradictory, modes of film practice, serving to reconfigure a local field of cultural production.