Within festivals and events, film festivals are among the fastest growing cultural events in the world and are recognised as bringing environmental, sociocultural and economic benefits to host tourism destinations including enhanced well-being. These festivals are an important marketing strategy for developing destination image and attracting interest towards a destination. However, there are limited studies on the film festival experience exploring the antecedents of participants’ satisfaction. This study examines the relationship between eudaimonic feelings, novelty, local culture, nostalgia, perceived quality, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions. Data were gathered during the last 3 days of the Penedo Film in the City of Penedo, Northeast Brazil using a questionnaire. A total of 97 valid questionnaires were collected from the festival attendees. Findings show that only eudaimonic feelings and perceived quality are predictors of satisfaction. To the best of authors knowledge, this study is the first to examine the perceived experience of participants in a film festival context from a positive psychology perspective and providing further empirical support for construct validity of eudaimonic feelings. The findings contribute to the existing tourism literature on film festivals by identifying key antecedents (eudaimonic feelings and perceived quality) and outcomes (behavioural intentions) of satisfaction with film festival. One of the main managerial implications includes engaging film festival participants in co-creation processes and in promoting group discussions about a specific movie with an appealing and social relevant theme.