52nd Seattle International Film Festival Reveals Lineup

The 52nd Seattle International Film Festival, taking place May 7 to 17, 2026, announced the lineup of 203 films from 71 countries and regions.

The Festival will open with Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters, starring Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza Gonzalez, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle, and Demi Moore.

Closing the Festival is Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, starring Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton. The film follows two very different couples whose lives collide during an unexpected night together.

The Festival slate includes 71 narrative features, 34 documentaries, and 98 shorts across 11 programs.

Highlights of the festival include a locally shot documentary Powwow People, where The Seattle Film Critics Society (SFCS) will be presenting the 2025 John Hartl Pacific Northwest Spotlight award to director Sky Hopinka; a midnight screening of writer and director Curry Barker’s darkly comic, horror fable Obsession; John Carney’s Power Ballad; a reimagined soundtrack to Wes Craven’s iconic horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, with DJ NicFit; Kenji Tanigaki’s martial arts brawler The Furious; and the Festival fan favorite Secret Fest, which includes two confidential and unannounced screenings that require each viewer to sign an NDA before attending.

“The films at this year’s Festival represent a wide array of voices, regions, storytelling, and style. In our increasingly divided world, film is a medium that can close some of those gaps and help us understand the universality of humanity,” said SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett. “This year’s lineup will cinelate the mind, body, and soul—even while at times providing an escape, these 203 films don’t shy away from diving headfirst into the issues of today. We salute the bravery and fortitude of all the filmmakers who poured into their creations in such a complex artistic landscape,” said SIFF Festival Programming Manager Megan Leonard.

Opening Night Film

I Love Boosters

I Love Boosters follows a crew of professional shoplifters taking aim at a cutthroat fashion maven. It’s like community service! Boots Riley’s sophomore film stars Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza Gonzalez, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle & Demi Moore. Riley’s feature debut Sorry to Bother You was featured as the Centerpiece film at the 2018 Seattle International Film Festival.

(d: Boots Riley c: Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza Gonzalez, LaKeith Stanfield, Don Cheadle, Demi Moore, USA 2026, 115 min)

Closing Night Film

The Invite

In The Invite, Joe and Angela’s marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. Have they reignited the spark or lit the match that burns it all down?

Fresh off its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and newly acquired by A24, The Invite has already generated strong buzz, with early reviews calling it “a wildly funny, deeply human look at modern relationships.” Also starring Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton, the film follows two very different couples whose lives collide during an unexpected night together. Director Olivia Wilde is scheduled to appear in person to present this San Francisco-set story, which was written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.

(d: Olivia Wilde c: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton, USA 2026, 107 min)

Competitions

Golden Space Needle Awards

Official Competition

Burn, d: Makoto Nagahisa (Japan 2026)
The Friend’s House is Here, d: Hossein Keshavarz, Maryam Ataei (Iran/USA 2026)
Lady, d: Samuel Abrahams (United Kingdom 2025)
Mārama, d: Taratoa Stappard (Māori) (New Zealand 2025)
Silent Friend, d: Ildikó Enyedi (Germany/Hungary 2025)
Sundays, d: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (Spain 2025)

Documentary Competition

American Doctor, d: Poh Si Teng (USA/Palestine/Malaysia/Qatar 2026)
Birds of War, d: Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak (United Kingdom/Syria/Lebanon 2026)
Bucks Harbor, d: Peter Muller (USA 2026)
Kikuyu Land, d: Andrew H. Brown (Huron-Wyandot), Bea Wangondu (Kikuyu) (Kenya/USA 2026)
Nuisance Bear, d: Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman (USA/Canada/United Kingdom 2026)
The Seoul Guardians, d: Jong-woo Kim, Shin-Wan Kim, Chul-Young Cho (South Korea 2026)
To Hold a Mountain, d: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić (Serbia/France/Montenegro/Slovenia 2026)
Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird), d: Anna Fitch, Banker White (USA 2026)

New American Cinema Competition

April X, d: Michel K. Parandi (USA/Romania 2025)
Crystal Cross, d: Richie James Follin (Cherokee) (USA 2025)
Edie Arnold is a Loser, d: Megan Rico, Kade Atwood (USA 2026)
Hot Water, d: Ramzi Bashour (USA 2026)
Lucky Lu, d: Lloyd Lee Choi (USA/Canada 2025)
Valentina, d: Tatti Ribeiro (USA 2025)

Dan Ireland Prize – New Directors Competition

Becoming Human, d: Polen Ly (Cambodia 2025)
Cotton Queen, d: Suzannah Mirghani (Germany/France/Palestine/Egypt/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Sudan 2025)
Happy Birthday, d: Sarah Goher (Egypt 2025)
Hijra, d: Shahad Ameen (Saudi Arabia/Iraq/Egypt/United Kingdom 2025)
Shape of Momo, d: Tribeny Rai (India/South Korea 2025)
Three of a Kind, d: Charlotte Brodthagen (Denmark 2026)
Trial of Hein, d: Kai Stänicke (Germany 2026)

Ibero-American Competition

Balandrau, Where the Fierce Wind Blew, d: Fernando Trullols (Spain 2026)
The Condor Daughter, d: Alvaro Olmos Torrico (Quechua) (Bolivia 2025)
Fifteen, d: Jack Zagha, Yossy Zagha (Mexico/Argentina 2026)
The Garden We Dreamed, d: Joaquín del Paso (Mexico 2026)
It Would Be Night in Caracas, d: Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugás (Mexico/Venezuela 2025)
Iván & Hadoum, d: Ian de la Rosa (Spain/Germany/Belgium 2026)
Jaripeo, d: Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig (Mexico/USA/France 2026)
The Red Hangar, d: Juan Pablo Sallato (Chile/Argentina/Italy 2026)

Programs

New American Cinema

April X
Chili Finger
Drunken Noodles
Edie Arnold is a Loser
Hot Water
If I Go Will They Miss Me
I Want Your Sex
Late Fame
Lucky Lu
See You When I See You
Valentina

World Cinema

African Pictures

Black Burns Fast
Cotton Queen
Happy Birthday
Kikuyu Land
Promised Sky

Asian Crossroads

Another World
Becoming Human
Burn
Deadline
En Route To
Renoir
Roid
The Seoul Guardians
Shape of Momo
Sons of the Neon Night

Australia

Body Blow

Canada

100 Sunset

Ibero-American Cinema

Balandrau, Where the Fierce Wind Blew
The Condor Daughter
The Garden We Dreamed
It Would Be Night in Caracas
Iván & Hadoum
Jaripeo
Maspalomas
The Red Hangar
Strange River
Sundays

Europe

Amrum
Case 137
Franz
Hen
Lady
Murder in the Building
Primavera
Silent Friend
Tell Everyone
Three Goodbyes
Three of a Kind
Trial of Hein

Middle East

The Friend’s House is Here
Hijra
Hold Onto Me
Salvation

Alternate Cinema

EIGHT BRIDGES

Archival Films

Prisoners of the Earth
Queen Kelly

Documentary Films

American Doctor
The Ascent
Barbara Forever
Beat the Lotto
Birds of War
Boorman and the Devil
Bucks Harbor
Cuba & Alaska
Ghost in the Machine
Hanging by a Wire
Love Chaos Kin
Maintenance Artist
Nuisance Bear
Rising Through the Fray
Soul Patrol
To Hold a Mountain
When A Witness Recants
Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)

Culinary Cinema

The Big Cheese
One of Our Own: A Tribute to Joan Roca

Face the Music

The Best Summer
Broken English

cINeDIGENOUS

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]
Crystal Cross
Mārama
Meadowlarks
Powwow People
Reservation Redemption

Northwest Connections

Again Again
Assets & Liabilities
The Life We Leave
Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Superhero
RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole
Under a Million Stars

WTF: Wild, Terrifying, Fantastic!

Camp
Fifteen
The Furious
Gaua
Obsession
The Restoration at Grayson Manor

Films4Families

Cookie Queens
Songbirds’ Secret