The surf contest at Playa Cerritos now hands out points toward a World Surf League qualifying season that runs from the US coast to Mexico. The film festival at Teatro Márquez de León now opens in San José del Cabo and spends two days in La Paz. Both events have grown well past Todos Santos, El Pescadero and Cerritos, and both still finish here.
On the calendar, the back half of November 2026 lands on two Thursday-to-Sunday stretches a week apart. The WSL Pacífico Surf Open Cerritos runs Thursday, November 19 through Sunday, November 22. The 21st Festival de Cine de Todos Santos then returns to its home theater from Thursday, November 26, Thanksgiving Day, through Sunday, November 29, after three days on the road.
A Contest That Doubled Its Rating in Two Years
The Cerritos event has climbed fast for a contest only in its third year. In 2024 the WSL listed the debut as a men's QS 1,000, held November 20 to 23. The 2025 edition ran at QS 2,000 under the Corona Cero name. This year it keeps the QS 2,000 rating and the Pacífico name. It is stop No. 4 of the men's 2026/2027 North America Qualifying Series, and the surfers are competing for Challenger Series points, according to the WSL's October 29 preview.
| Edition | Year | WSL rating | Champion | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2024 | QS 1,000 | Jett Schilling, USA | Taro Watanabe, USA |
| 2nd | 2025 | QS 2,000 | Hayden Rodgers, USA | Ryan Huckabee, USA |
| 3rd | 2026 | QS 2,000 | Decided Nov 19–22 | Decided Nov 19–22 |
The first two finals both drew wild scores. Schilling won the 2024 final with a 9.73 alley-oop, as the WSL reported. In 2025 the league's preview credits Huckabee's aerials with stealing Finals Day, even though Rodgers took the title. The same preview recalls a heat in which two 10-point rides came from Kepa Mendia and Cannon Carr, both of the USA.
Both titles so far have gone to Americans. That makes the home-coast surfers the story to follow this year. The WSL names Lucas Cassity of Mexico and Cooper Roberts of New Zealand as local contenders, along with Mexico's Jhony Corzo, a former ISA gold medalist, Sasha Donnanno and Travis Southworth. Cassity, from La Paz, made Finals Day in 2025. The organizer, Surf Open League, confirms Cassity, Corzo, Alan Cleland Jr. and Sebastian Williams in this year's field of more than 120 surfers. It also lists Ana Laura González in a separate national women's category.
What Happens on the Sand When the Heats Stop
The contest has a beach festival built around it, and all of it is free. El Publicista reported in August that every activity at the 2026 event is free to the public. The four-day program includes surf short-film screenings, beach cleanups, a local market, live music and a free concert to close the weekend. The full schedule goes out through the official channels of Surf Open League, the World Surf League and Cerveza Pacífico.
The sponsor list explains how a beach break in El Pescadero ended up on a regional tour. Cerveza Pacífico is the main sponsor. Visit Baja California Sur and Surf Open League back it too, and MAJA Sportswear joins them this year. Boardwalk Productions has been bringing WSL events to Los Cabos since 2013. Boardwalk and Gustavo Duccini Mediaworks are partner producers on this year's audiovisual and digital push. Surf Open League founder Gustavo Duccini told the WSL where he sees the event going:
"With Pacifico committed to a three-year vision, the support of Visit Baja California Sur, and the global reach of the WSL, our goal is to keep growing this event beyond the competition itself."
On the practical side, Gringo Gazette noted that contest days usually bring more business to local hotels, restaurants and surf shops. It also warned of heavier traffic on the coastal road.
The Film Festival Starts Somewhere Else
The day after the surf festival's closing concert, the film festival opens on Monday, November 23, in San José del Cabo at Costa Azul, according to the Gringo Gazette events listing. Here is the week as listed:
- Monday, November 23: San José del Cabo, Costa Azul
- Tuesday, November 24 and Wednesday, November 25: La Paz, Teatro Juárez
- Thursday, November 26 through Sunday, November 29: Todos Santos, Teatro Márquez de León
The festival's own site places this year's edition in Todos Santos, Pescadero, Cerritos, La Paz and Los Cabos, and calls it an expansion from its home town. Gringo Gazette lists admission as free. Screening times and individual venues are released through the festival's official channels.
For anyone living between El Pescadero and the plaza, the two events fill matching Thursday-to-Sunday stretches, with three weekdays in between while the film festival is in Costa Azul and La Paz.
What Comes Home to Teatro Márquez de León
Sylvia Perel founded the festival and still directs it. She describes this edition's program as fiction, documentaries, shorts and animation. It also includes the Hecho en BCS competition, where a jury recognizes young and local filmmakers.
The festival's 2026 press bulletin names twelve films, including:
- Vainilla, directed by Mayra Hermosillo
- Los otros Californios
- Isleño
- No nos moverán
- Selkirk, el verdadero Robinson Crusoe
- Cuidando al sol
The same bulletin lists Damián Alcázar, Ana Serradilla and Hermosillo among the special guests. It also highlights filmmakers César Talamantes and Pierre Saint-Martin Castellanos.
Alcázar turns up twice more in the week. The Leonardo Perel Film School, the festival's teaching arm, lists a masterclass with Alcázar and Ariel Broitman. Its other sessions cover film sound, post-production for vertical video, color management, AI in cinema, copyright, astrophotography and acting. The school is also premiering Alicia y la Isla Misteriosa, a short directed by Perel, with Alcázar as the voice of the Cat. Pilar Colomé and Cristian Denevi round out the school's listed team.
Reading the Fortnight as One Calendar
Taken together, the two events give the Pacific side two home weekends over eleven days:
- Thursday, Nov 19 to Sunday, Nov 22: Heats at Playa Cerritos, with the free market, film shorts, cleanups and music around them, and a closing concert to end the contest
- Monday, Nov 23 to Wednesday, Nov 25: The film festival screens in San José del Cabo and La Paz
- Thursday, Nov 26 to Sunday, Nov 29: The festival's home run at Teatro Márquez de León, starting on Thanksgiving Day
The Cerritos contest went from QS 1,000 to QS 2,000 between its first and second years. The film festival now opens two towns away. Both have outgrown the area that started them, and both still end on Sunday a short drive from the plaza in Todos Santos.
If watching heats at Cerritos or sitting in the theater this month makes you think about spending more of the year on this coast, Apex Real Estate Los Cabos knows the stretch from El Pescadero to the plaza and can talk it through with you. Schedule a private consultation.
