DANAFF has grown fast. The first edition was in 2023; by 2026 the Da Nang Asian Film Festival was screening more than 100 films from 30 countries and territories across nearly 200 sessions — and almost every cinema seat was free if you registered online. For anyone staying in Hoi An, the whole thing sits a 36-minute ride up the coast road.

This guide is written after the festival closed, so it does two jobs. It records what actually happened at DANAFF 2026 — the venues, the winners, the ticket system — and it turns that into a practical plan for riding up from Hoi An when DANAFF comes round again in 2027. Every distance below was measured on Google Maps from our shop at 84 Phan Chau Trinh.

DANAFF at a glance: what the Da Nang Asian Film Festival is

DANAFF is an annual international film festival organised by the Da Nang city government with the Vietnam Film Development Association and support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Its tagline, “Bridging Asia to the World”, is the whole pitch: an Asian competition, a Vietnamese competition, a panorama of new Asian cinema, industry workshops for young filmmakers, and a large public programme of screenings people can actually get into.

The festival has expanded every year. The first two editions ran five official days; the third, in 2025 (29 June – 5 July), stretched to seven days and roughly 200 screenings. DANAFF 2026 kept the seven-day format, ran from 28 June to 4 July, and opened with a red-carpet ceremony at the Ariyana Da Nang International Convention Centre on the beach road. The opening and closing ceremonies were broadcast live on Vietnam Television.

The 2026 programme, according to the organisers, broke down like this: 13 films in the Asian competition, 11 in the Vietnamese competition, 21 in the Asian cinema panorama and 26 Vietnamese films across other sections. Around the screenings sat a Script Lab for screenwriters, a project incubator that selected 18 film projects, seminars on AI and copyright in filmmaking, a focus on American cinema, and a retrospective called “The Face of Vietnamese Cinema in the Doi Moi Era”. More than 1,000 delegates attended, around 300 of them from abroad.

The red carpet is for invited guests. The screenings are for everyone — and that is the part worth riding up for.

One detail most English-language coverage missed: since 1 July 2025, Hoi An is administratively part of Da Nang City. DANAFF 2026 was the first full edition held after that merger, and the organisers’ own programme put screenings in Hoi An too — both at a cinema and outdoors beside the Hoai River. So “the Da Nang film festival” now technically includes the Ancient Town.

DANAFF 2026 winners, category by category

The awards ceremony closed the festival on 4 July 2026, with Vice State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan in attendance. Two strands of prizes were handed out: one for Vietnamese films, one for the Asian competition. We cross-checked the list below against the wrap-up reports from Nhan Dan and The World & Vietnam Report.

Two results stood out locally. Viet Huong took Best Actress at DANAFF for the second time, and the Jury Special Prize went to an animated feature, Fish, Fists and Ambergris — unusual for a festival competition anywhere, and a good sign for Vietnamese animation. If you want to catch the winners, keep an eye on Da Nang cinema listings: festival titles that already have Vietnamese distribution tend to reach commercial screens, while many Asian competition films only resurface later on streaming.

Where DANAFF screens, with distances from Hoi An

The festival does not happen in one building. In 2026 the festival used the convention centre for ceremonies, three main cinemas in central Da Nang for the daily programme, and a string of free outdoor screenings at 19:30 across the city — including Hoi An. The table shows the main venues and what the ride looks like from 84 Phan Chau Trinh.

The outdoor sites are where the sources disagree, and it is worth saying so plainly. The Da Nang Culture and Cinema Centre listed APEC Park, its own centre, the Hoa Khanh administrative square, Tam Thanh beach and the An Hoi Sculpture Garden in Hoi An. Nhan Dan newspaper listed Bien Dong Park, the Bach Dang walking street, Hoa Khanh square, the Culture and Cinema Centre and Song Hoai Square in Hoi An. Both lists agree that there was an outdoor DANAFF screen on the Hoai River in Hoi An — the An Hoi Sculpture Garden and Song Hoai Square face each other across the water. The official schedule we found had outdoor films there on the evenings of 2 and 3 July, including Thang Bom and a programme of animated shorts.

How the free DANAFF tickets work

This is the part that surprises most visitors: cinema screenings at the festival are free. You do not buy a ticket; you register for one. In 2026 registration opened on 25 June, three days before the festival, on the official site danaff.vn.

1. Create an account on danaff.vn with an email address or a Google login.
2. Open the ticket registration page and filter by date, time slot and cinema.
3. Pick a film, open its details and press Register on the session you want.
4. Pass the reCAPTCHA check, then download the QR code the site gives you.
5. Show the QR code at the cinema door. Arrive early — popular Vietnamese titles and anything with a guest Q&A fill up fast.

The outdoor screenings needed no registration at all in 2026: turn up, find a spot, watch. The opening and closing galas were invitation-only, but both were broadcast live on VTV, so a hotel TV in Hoi An was as close as most people got to the red carpet.

Riding from Hoi An to DANAFF

Most people staying in Hoi An reach DANAFF the same way they reach anything in Da Nang: north along the coast. It is an easy ride on wide, flat roads, and having your own bike solves the one real problem with a film festival 30 km away — getting home after a 20:00 screening without hunting for a taxi.

To the Ariyana (opening night, beach-side events): ride out of Hoi An on Lac Long Quan and keep the sea on your right. Google Maps measures 21.4 km and about 36 minutes; the parallel DT607 is 22.9 km and takes about the same time. The Ariyana is on Vo Nguyen Giap, the beach road, so you never really leave the coast.

To the city-centre cinemas (daily programme): keep going north past the Ariyana, then cut left across the Han River. Le Do Cinema is 29.1 km and about 50 minutes; CGV Vinh Trung Plaza is 29.0 km; Galaxy Da Nang on Dien Bien Phu is 31.0 km. Allow an hour door to door once you add parking. Our Hoi An to Da Nang by scooter guide has the full route with stops.

A few things specific to festival nights:

• Coming home after dark. Lac Long Quan is lit and busy until late, but the stretch past the resorts has fast cars. Ride in the right lane at 40–50 km/h, switch to clear glasses and check your lights before you set off.
• Late June is hot. DANAFF falls in the middle of the dry season. Ride up in the late afternoon rather than at midday, and carry water — the cinemas are cold, the road is not.
• Fuel. A full tank on a 125cc scooter covers the round trip several times over. There are petrol stations all along Lac Long Quan and in Da Nang.
• Documents. Carry your licence and the bike’s registration papers we hand over. If you are not sure whether your licence is valid in Vietnam, read our licence guide before the trip, not at a police checkpoint.

Which bike for a DANAFF night

The honest answer depends on how many round trips you plan. One evening at the Ariyana and back is about 43 km; a day in the city-centre cinemas and back is closer to 60 km.

If you are only going to the outdoor DANAFF screen on the Hoai River, you do not need a motorbike at all — walk, or take a bicycle. For everything in Da Nang, a petrol scooter is the least stressful choice. Our motorbike rental in Hoi An page lists the full fleet with current prices, and we deliver to hotels in Hoi An.

A DANAFF festival week based in Hoi An

You do not have to choose between the Da Nang Asian Film Festival and the Ancient Town. Stay in Hoi An — quieter, cheaper, and far better food — and treat Da Nang as the place you ride to in the afternoon. A sample week:

• Opening day (Sunday in 2026): watch the opening ceremony live on VTV, then ride up the coast next morning for the first public screenings.
• Weekday afternoons: take the 15:00 or 17:30 session at Le Do or CGV, eat in Hai Chau, and ride back before 21:00.
• Saturday or Sunday: combine a 17:30 screening with the Dragon Bridge fire-and-water show at 21:00 — Le Do is a five-minute ride from the bridge. Details in our Dragon Bridge guide.
• A day off from films: ride to the Museum of Cham Sculpture in the morning; it is on the same side of the river as the cinemas.
• The Hoi An evenings: the outdoor screen by the Hoai River, then the night market and lantern boats afterwards.

Where to sleep matters more than it looks. If you plan several Da Nang trips, stay on the northern side of Hoi An (Cam An, towards An Bang) to shave a few minutes off every ride; if you want the riverside screenings and the Old Town at night, stay close to the centre. Our where to stay in Hoi An guide compares the areas.

Planning for DANAFF 2027

As of September 2026, the dates for the fifth DANAFF have not been announced. The pattern so far is steady, though: 2025 ran 29 June – 5 July, and 2026 ran 28 June – 4 July. If the festival keeps its slot, expect the last days of June and the first week of July 2027, with ticket registration opening a few days before the start.

Things to do in advance:

• Follow the festival on its official site and Facebook page in May and June; the film list and cinema schedule are published shortly before the opening.
• Book Hoi An accommodation early — the festival overlaps with the summer beach season and Vietnamese school holidays. Our summer beach festivals guide covers what else is on in the same weeks.
• Reserve your bike before you arrive, especially if you want an automatic for two or more Da Nang runs.
• Set a reminder for the day registration opens. In 2026 that was 25 June; popular sessions fill quickly.

For the bigger picture of the year’s events around Hoi An, see our top 10 Hoi An festivals. For the official wrap-up of the 2026 edition, Nhan Dan’s English report is here.

FAQ

Updated September 2026. Festival facts come from the organisers’ programme (Da Nang Culture and Cinema Centre), DANAFF’s official site, and wrap-up reports by Nhan Dan, VietnamPlus and The World & Vietnam Report; where they disagree (the outdoor venue list), both versions are given. Distances and times were measured with Google Maps directions from 84 Phan Chau Trinh, Hoi An, and will vary with traffic. Anh Khoa Hoi An rents motorbikes and has no connection to the festival organisers.