Declared Biosphere Reserve in 2002 by Unesco, La Palma is one of the biggest nature marvels in the peripherals of Europe. An emerald heart forged in volcanic lava, a treasure full of surprises on the banks of the Atlantic...

But La Palma is more than just a unique nature paradise, it is also an island that oozes history, a meeting point between continents that has known how to absorb the essences of different cultures without renouncing their personality and traditions. Perhaps, because one of the leading traditions in La Palma is innovation.

It was in La Palma where, in 1773,the first democratic town hall in Spain was established. There was still three years left to go before the declaration of Independence in the U.S.A, and more than a decade and a half until the victory of the French Revolution, but in Santa Cruz de La Palma they had already decided that it would be the votes of the citizens of the municipality that would decide who should be councillor.

Also in La Palma, almost a century later, the first telegraph in the Canary Islands was operated. The same happened with the electric lighting system and the telephone, the devices on the Beautiful Island had their coming-out party for the Archipelago. Another one of the big scientific wonders born in the XIX century, cinema, also arrived on the island in the hands of a pioneer of the seventh art born in Santa Cruz de La Palma: Miguel Brito Rodríguez.

Even though Brito Rodriguez presented to society the kinetoscope in the Commercial Circles of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, it would not take long to show the wonders of moving images in his native land. It was the 31^st of July in 1897, on this date the relationship between La Palma and the seventh art began, that has only gotten stronger with time: currently, La Palma is the Canarian island with the highest percentage of movie theatres compared with the population and that each summer organizes the Festivalito, pioneer in the diffusion of digital cinema in Europe and the first International Festival to use filmmaking in their program taking advantage of new technologies.