The contest, pioneering in the coverage of digital cinema in Europe, was also the first international festival to incorporate and take advantage of cutting-edge technologies by filming within the program schedule. The Festivalito contest was born with three objectives: to authenticate the validity of the digital format as a tool for telling stories, to function as a shop window for new standards and to explore new audiovisual reality resulting from the digital revolution.

The idea came about when director, Jose Victor Fuentes, was studying cinema at the New York Film Academy and where he shot like the rest of his classmates, short films in super 16mm. His roommate used to spend her days playing around with her video camera (a Sony VX1000). She used to look at Victor and joke saying: if I make films, you won't. It wasn't long before he changed his mind. One day she invited him to the filming of a short film, "a small video recording", where there were many surprises: she was the only person on the technical and artistic team of short film; the speed with which a film could be shot with a small camera and the endless possibilities that existed for this type of filming...

Everything started there. An idea was born that would eventually, mature in La Palma, and where in the summer of 2001, along with a group of anxious young people the project of Festivalito was established. The organization sets out for a fun festival of film, which is at odds from the fake glamour events of the red carpet...but also to showcase a new model for film contests for a new audiovisual platform. "I remember we would say that if people came to La Palma and stayed they would always be fascinated by the island. The guest directors and actors should feel the same way...,I am sure that the idea of shooting with video cameras on the spot would seem like fun to them." recalls Fuentes. At the end of the year the project was presented to organizations. With the initial full support from the Town Hall of La Palma, the machinery was set in motion. It would then be six months of hard work in order for a miracle to happen.

In this way, on the 27th of July of 2002, the first edition of the contest at the Chico Theatre of Santa Cruz de La Palma was inaugurated, including customary sections present in traditional film festivals- official and informative sections, retrospectives, round table discussions...- it is a contemporary contest that challenges the participants to shoot a short film in the setting of the festival taking advantage of the virtues of digital technology: La Palma Rueda (La Palmas Shoots).

Actors and directors from all over the world have been to La Palma, including acclaimed figures and other emerging icons. All of them, form part of a movement that proves itself...shooting films! In only five years 120 short films have been produced with the La Palma Rueda stamp, as well as two feature films: an experimental piece of work by Khavn de la Cruz, Formas de matar a un indio bravo (Ways to kill a brave Indian) and the documentary-style piece of work by Miguel Ángel Cárcano Entre Islas (Between Islands), that has been selected this year by the International Film Festival of Malaga in the Zona Zine section.
The Festivalito is a contest with a heterodox vocation that also takes advantage of the peculiar natural features of La Palma in order to program screenings on the beach or on volcanoes every year. They are unique film theatres for a peculiar festival.

The contest was presented to society in 2002 with the official name International Digital Cinema Festival of the Island of La Palma-the Canary Islands, although since the first edition the sobriquet, The Festivalito, was introduced. Currently, the official name is International Cine Chico Festival of the Island of La Palma-the Canary Islands. The modification of the nomenclature is due to the evolving objectives of the contest that have stopped emphasizing the technologic nuances in order to highlight the more philosophical aspects.

According to the director of the Festivalito, Jose Victor Fuentes, "cinema is not what it used to be anymore. It is more alive than ever, and finally, it belongs to everyone and is for everyone."