Police have arrested a teenage girl after almost 40 cars parked at a film festival in Alice Springs were smashed and spray painted in a parking lot.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival was cancelled after 39 cars had windows smashed and words spray painted across them at the Araluen Arts Centre on May 17.

Seven youths were arrested by officers at the scene.

Police, in a statement on Saturday, said they had also arrested and charged a 15-year-old girl with 39 counts of criminal damage along with trespassing and stealing from vehicles.

She made no application for bail and is expected to front Alice Springs Local Youth Court on Monday.

“Officers from Operation Dawson will continue to investigate this incident and identify and locate further offenders,” Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Leith Phillips said.

Our night of watching the Banff Mountain Film Festival interrupted by vandalism in the car park. It was so good until then! pic.twitter.com/TQlQC2aLnF

— Andrea J (@AndreaJ_Oz) May 17, 2018

The film festival’s organisers thanked patrons for their support in the wake of the damage.

“We are so sorry about the events in the car park last night and are thinking of all of you who were affected,” they wrote on Facebook.

The fresh arrest follows a police crackdown on youth offenders stealing cars and engaging in anti-social behaviour in the region.

NT police crime statistics for Alice Springs show a drop in crimes against property such as cars in the last year by 10 per cent but there has been a sharp jump of 25 per cent in crimes against the person such as assaults, 66 per cent of which were alcohol-related.

For all of the NT, crimes against persons were up 10 per cent and down four per cent for property.

-AAP