AFI FEST 2026 Announces Lineup – Bucking Fastard, Possible Love, and More

AFI FEST 2026, taking place in Hollywood from October 21 to 25, will present 157 films, including Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love; Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, starring Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto; and Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard, starring Kate Mara and Rooney Mara.

Other buzzy titles include Andrew Haigh’s A Long Winter, starring Fred Hechinger, Kit Connor, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Caitríona Balfe; Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s The Idiot(S) starring Johnny Flynn and Aimee Lou Wood; Mike Leigh’s San Sebastián Golden Shell winner Tender Loving Care; and the North American Premieres of Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales, starring Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Cassel and Virginie Efira; and Céline Sciamma’s Tutti Frutti.

Additional highlights include several eagerly anticipated award winners, including İlker Çatak’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Yellow Letters; Markus Schleinzer’s ROSE, starring Sandra Hüller, winner of the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance; Sandra Wollner’s Everytime, winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard top prize; Marine Atlan’s Cannes’ Critics’ Week Grand Prize winner La Gradiva; Louis Clichy’s Iron Boy, winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize; Stephanie Ahn’s Bedford Park, winner of the Sundance U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Debut Feature; and Lance Hammer’s Queen at Sea starring Juliette Binoche alongside Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall, who shared the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance.

This year’s edition will also include new works from top auteurs such as Ali Asgari (A Bit of Light), Clio Barnard (I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning), Anna Biller (the Face of Horror), Anthony Chen (We Are All Strangers), Quentin Dupieux (Full Phil), Fernando Eimbcke (Flies), Radu Jude (Diary of a Chambermaid), Barbara Kopple (Union Town), Marie Kreutzer (Gentle Monster), Hong Sang-Soo (The Day She Returns and Nowhere to Lay My Eyes) and Rodrigo Sorogoyen (the Beloved).

Among the other high-profile documentary selections screening at this year’s festival are Pegah Ahangarani’s Rehearsals for a Revolution, winner of Cannes’ L’Œil d’Or Prize; Joss Crowley’s Toronto-premiered Pretenders; Ahmed Hassouna’s Venice-debuted Citizen Osama; Rachel Mason’s My Brother’s Killer; Ayden Mayeri’s SXSW Grand Jury award-winning Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story; plus Sundance award winners One in a Million (Jack Macinnes and Itab Azzam), Nuisance Bear (Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden) and Soul Patrol (J.M. Harper).

The lineup represents 50 countries and includes 10 official submissions for Best International Feature at the 99th Academy Awards: 9 Temples to Heaven (Thailand); All of a Sudden (Japan); Citizen Osama (Palestine); Elephants in the Fog (Nepal); Everytime (Germany); The Meltdown (Chile); Nina Roza (Canada); Possible Love (South Korea); Rose (Austria) and We Are All Strangers (Singapore).

“Our 40th edition of AFI FEST celebrates the cinematic artistry of bold, inspiring filmmakers from around the world,” said Todd Hitchcock, Director of AFI FEST and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. “With more than 80 features and nearly 70 shorts, AFI FEST 2026 will once again light up the screen of the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre with a wide-ranging slate of films that includes highly anticipated awards favorites and a few surprises as well.”

As previously announced, the festival will open with the U.S. premiere of Wildwood and close with Being Heumann.

Additional Red Carpet Premieres include the World Premiere of The Mosquito Bowl, I Play Rocky and Ray Gunn. Special Screenings include 14th, Ashes, Behemoth!, Bitter Christmas, Bunker, Clarissa, Elsinore, Josephine, The Man I Love, Mouse, Tangles and Wild Horse Nine.

This year’s Guest Artistic Directors are Academy Award-winning filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The Guest Artistic Director Program will include “An Evening with Lord and Miller” which will feature a Q&A with the directors followed by a screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) as well as screenings of Harold and Maude (1971), The Muppet Movie (1979) and Rififi (1955).

Red Carpet Premieres

BEING HEUMANN

Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Siân Heder (AFI DWW+ Class of 2005) and based on true events, BEING HEUMANN is the revolutionary, irreverent and deeply human story of the least likely people trying to pull off the impossible and change the lives of millions. DIR Siân Heder. SCR Siân Heder, Rebekah Taussig. CAST Ruth Madeley, Madeline Delp, Mark Ruffalo, Dylan O’Brien, Rob Delaney, Daniel Durant, Roberta Colindrez, Antwan Tolliver, Jon Beavers, Ray Fisher, Andrew Pilkington, Michael Patrick Thornton, Russell Harvard, Charlie Rush-Reese, Rio Finnegan, D’Arcee Charrington Neal, Will Brill, Matthew August Jeffers, Sienna Rafter, Rein Barcel. USA

I PLAY ROCKY

Academy Award®-winning director Peter Farrelly (GREEN BOOK, AFI FEST 2018) tells the electrifying true story of an unknown actor with an unshakable belief that he wasn’t just meant to write 1976’s ROCKY. He was meant to be Rocky Balboa. DIR Peter Farrelly. SCR Peter Gamble. CAST Anthony Ippolito, AnnaSophia Robb, P.J. Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts, Jay Duplass, Matt Dillon, Stephan James, Kiki Seto. USA

THE MOSQUITO BOWL

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, four of America’s greatest college football stars, John McLaughry (Nicholas Galitzine), Bob Baumann (Bill Skarsgård), Tony Butkovich (Ray Nicholson) and David Schreiner (Tom Francis), set fame aside to enlist in the Marines. Directed by Peter Berg from a book by Buzz Bissinger. DIR Peter Berg. SCR Peter Berg, Mark L. Smith. CAST Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson, Tom Francis. USA

RAY GUNN

A decades-in-the-making passion project from Oscar® winner and visionary Brad Bird, RAY GUNN is a retro-futuristic neo-noir mystery, featuring the voice talents of Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Waits. DIR Brad Bird. SCR Brad Bird, Matthew Robbins. CAST Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Waits. USA

WILDWOOD

From Oscar®-nominated and BAFTA-winning studio LAIKA (CORALINE), WILDWOOD is a sweeping adventure about love, sacrifice and the magic that reveals itself when we dare to look beyond the familiar. DIR Travis Knight. SCR Chris Butler. CAST Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Jemaine Clement, Tom Waits, Maya Erskine, Tantoo Cardinal, Richard E. Grant. USA

Special Screenings

14th

From one of the most influential filmmakers of our time, Ava DuVernay, comes an urgent confrontation with a shattered America and its unfinished promise. DIR Ava DuVernay. USA

ASHES (CENIZA EN LA BOCA)

Multi-hyphenate director, producer and actor Diego Luna adapts Mexican writer Brenda Navarro’s acclaimed novel for his fourth feature, a powerful and unconventional immigration drama about a young Mexican woman who journeys to Spain with her brother to join the mother who left them behind as children. DIR Diego Luna. SCR Abia Castillo, Diego Rabasa, Diego Luna. CAST Anna Díaz, Adriana Paz. Mexico, Spain

BEHEMOTH!

With this time-hopping tale of a gifted cellist and former child prodigy (Pedro Pascal) who returns to Los Angeles and the world of film scoring after two decades on the road, Tony Gilroy (MICHAEL CLAYTON) crafts a complex character study, a story of artistic reinvention and a love letter to the mysterious alchemy between moving images and the music that makes us feel their emotional heft. DIR Tony Gilroy. SCR Tony Gilroy. CAST Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Hank Azaria, Will Arnett. USA

BITTER CHRISTMAS (AMARGA NAVIDAD)

Eye-popping sweaters and interiors, the dramatic effect of a Chavela Vargas song, the sizzling screen presence of Rossy de Palma. Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar plays the hits before smashing his own playbook in this brilliant piece of autofiction, following the parallel stories of two self-obsessed filmmakers who contemplate the limits of inspiration. DIR Pedro Almodóvar. SCR Pedro Almodóvar. CAST Bárbara Lennie, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Victoria Luengo, Patrick Criado. Spain

BUNKER

Oscar® winners Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz square off in this marital thriller from Oscar®-winning filmmaker Florian Zeller. Renowned architect Miguel (Bardem) and editor Sofia (Cruz) find their 17-year marriage in jeopardy when a tech billionaire offers Miguel a Faustian bargain: design a bunker for the mogul and his oligarch friends to survive the inevitable social upheaval that will target them first. DIR Florian Zeller. SCR Florian Zeller. CAST Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Stephen Graham, Paul Dano, Patrick Schwarzenegger. France, Spain

CLARISSA

With a star-studded ensemble cast, Arie and Chuko Esiri (EYIMOFE, AFI FEST 2020) relocate Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway to contemporary Lagos, turning its meditation on memory, desire, class and privilege into a distinctly Nigerian story. DIR Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri. SCR Chuko Esiri. CAST Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo, India Amarteifio, Toheeb Jimoh, Ayo Edebiri. Nigeria, USA

ELSINORE

Andrew Scott gives a bravura performance as Ian Charleson, a gifted actor best known for his roles in CHARIOTS OF FIRE and GANDHI, who played Hamlet in a legendary 1989 National Theatre production before dying of AIDS in 1990. DIR Simon Stone. SCR Stephen Beresford. CAST Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman, Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Luke Thompson, David Dawson. UK, USA, Italy

JOSEPHINE

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the 2026 Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition, Beth de Araújo’s remarkable sophomore feature is a profound examination of childhood innocence lost, the cascading effects of violence and the limits of parental protection. DIR Beth de Araújo. SCR Beth de Araújo. CAST Mason Reeves, Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, Philip Ettinger, Syra McCarthy. USA

THE MAN I LOVE

In Ira Sachs’ 1980s NYC musical drama, self-proclaimed theater artist Jimmy George (Rami Malek) draws lovers, friends and family into his orbit but leaves them spinning as his larger-than-life personality diminishes before their eyes. DIR Ira Sachs. SCR Mauricio Zacharis, Ira Sachs. CAST Rami Malek, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Luther Ford. USA

MOUSE

When her world is turned upside down, high-school senior Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) forms a complicated relationship with her best friend’s mother (Sophie Okonedo), who presents a stark and dreamy contrast to Minnie’s own working-class, single-parent household. DIR Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson. SCR Kelly O’Sullivan. CAST Sophie Okonedo, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Chloe Coleman, Tara Mallen, Iman Vellani, David Hyde Pierce. USA

TANGLES

Leah Nelson, in her feature directorial debut, adapts Sarah Leavitt’s acclaimed graphic memoir Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me into one of this year’s most heartfelt animated films, by turns moving and surprisingly mirthful. DIR Leah Nelson. SCR Leah Nelson, Sarah Leavitt, Trev Renney. CAST Abbi Jacobson, Bryan Cranston, Seth Rogen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Beanie Feldstein, Wanda Sykes, Pamela Adlon, Sarah Silverman. USA, Canada

WILD HORSE NINE

Director Martin McDonagh continues his exploration of the complexities of male friendship, this time between two CIA agents who are stationed in Chile shortly before Pinochet’s coup. The stellar cast includes Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and an excellent John Malkovich, who delivers a nuanced, humorous turn of existential dread. DIR Martin McDonagh. SCR Martin McDonagh. CAST John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Mariana di Girolamo, Ailín Salas, Tom Waits, Parker Posey. Chile

Luminaries

ALL OF A SUDDEN

Co-winners of the Best Actress Award at Cannes, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto star in Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s (DRIVE MY CAR, AFI 2021) Paris-set tale of friendship and the resilience required to truly care for another human being. DIR Ryusuke Hamaguchi. SCR Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Léa Le Dimna. CAST Virginie Efira, Tao Okamoto, Kyôzô Nagatsuka, Kodai Kurosaki. Japan

BUCKING FASTARD

Werner Herzog’s singular new film, which stars Kate Mara and Rooney Mara in their first film together, takes inspiration from the extraordinary real-life story of British sisters Freda and Greta Chaplin, twins whose unusual bond and shared life became the subject of public fascination in the 1980s. DIR Werner Herzog. SCR Werner Herzog. CAST Kate Mara, Rooney Mara, Orlando Bloom, Domhnall Gleeson. USA

DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID (FEMME DE CHAMBRE)

Enfant terrible of the Romanian New Wave, filmmaker Radu Jude returns with another scathing satire, loosely adapting Octave Mirbeau’s novel into a metatextual and even more provocative treatise on class and immigration in modern-day Europe. DIR Radu Jude. SCR Radu Jude. CAST Ana Dumitrascu, Mélanie Thierry, Vincent Macaigne. Romania, France

DOUBLE FEATURE: HONG SANG-SOO X 2

THE DAY SHE RETURNS

Swapping soju for German beer, Hong Sang-soo’s 34th feature is a playful triptych following middle-aged actress Jeong-su as she does a series of interviews about her latest film, finding profundity in repetition and revealing truths about identity, memory and privacy. DIR Hong Sang-soo. SCR Hong Sang-soo. CAST Song Seon-mi, Cho Yun-hee, Park Mi-so, Kim Sun-jin, Kang So-yi.

Followed by:

NOWHERE TO LAY MY EYES

Prolific Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo returns with this intimate family drama which finds subtle humor and deep meaning in an experimental filmmaker reuniting with her estranged mother and new stepfather after ten years. Winner of the Best Director and Best Actress (Kim Min-hee) prizes at the 2026 Locarno Film Festival. DIR Hong Sang-soo. SCR Hong Sang-soo. CAST Kim Min-hee, Choi Myeong-gil, Kwon Hae-hyo, Shin Seok-ho, Park Mi-so.

GENTLE MONSTER

With her searing Cannes-debuted sixth feature, starring Léa Seydoux, Laurence Rupp, Jella Haase and Catherine Deneuve, Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer turns personal experience and ripped-from-the-headlines stories into a bold study of trust, denial and the unsettling truth that monsters lurk in the most ordinary of places. DIR Marie Kreutzer. SCR Marie Kreutzer. CAST Léa Seydoux, Catherine Deneuve, Laurence Rupp, Jella Haase. Austria, Germany, France

I SEE BUILDINGS FALL LIKE LIGHTNING

A group of five friends in their late twenties navigate adulthood, broken hearts and the class divide in Clio Barnard’s (ALI & EVA, AFI FEST 2021) wickedly crowd-pleasing, social realist denunciation of late-stage capitalism. DIR Clio Barnard. SCR Enda Walsh. CAST Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo, Daryl McCormack, Lola Petticrew. UK

PARALLEL TALES (HISTOIRES PARALLÈLES)

Iranian auteur Asghar Farhadi reworks aspects of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s A SHORT FILM ABOUT LOVE and A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING into a metafictional maze, mixing voyeurism, deceit and illusion into a twisty tale of competitive fictions. Isabelle Huppert leads a starry cast, including Vincent Cassel, Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney, Adam Bessa, India Hair and Catherine Deneuve. DIR Asghar Farhadi. SCR Asghar Farhadi, Saeed Farhadi. CAST Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, Adam Bessa. France, Belgium, Italy

POSSIBLE LOVE

Two couples cross paths while making a documentary about recent layoffs at a South Korean industrial complex. Lee Chang-dong’s first film in eight years is a sophisticated examination of social and gender inequality, labor, trauma and the ethics of filmmaking that unfolds through engaging storytelling, powerful performances and intense cinematic atmospheres. DIR Lee Chang-dong. SCR Lee Chang-dong, Oh Jung-mi. CAST Jeon Do-Yeon, Sul Kyung-Gu, Zo In-Sung, Cho Yeo-Jeong. South Korea

TENDER LOVING CARE

Acclaimed auteur Mike Leigh returns in top form with another astutely observed study on the resilience and compassion of ordinary people, this time centering on the enduring friendship between two NHS social workers, Amy (Kate O’Flynn) and Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson). DIR Mike Leigh. SCR Mike Leigh. CAST Kate O’Flynn, Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Alice Bailey Johnson. UK

TUTTI FRUTTI

Expanding on a solitary filmmaking practice from her 2023 short THIS IS HOW A CHILD BECOMES A POET, TUTTI FRUTTI sees Céline Sciamma at her most personal yet liberated, documenting a visual diary from pro-Palestine marches to Adèle Haenel’s sexual abuse trial, while also reflecting on the preservation of lesbian identity. DIR Céline Sciamma. CAST Céline Sciamma, Adèle Haenel. France

Preceded by:

THIS IS HOW A CHILD BECOMES A POET

Céline Sciamma explores the documentary form for the first time in her 2023 Venice-premiered short film, in which she pays posthumous tribute to Italian poet Patrizia Cavalli by surveying Cavalli’s house shortly before it was to be cleared after her death in 2022. DIR Céline Sciamma. France, Italy.

UNION TOWN

Fifty years after HARLAN COUNTY, USA, two-time Oscar® winner Barbara Kopple completes her landmark labor trilogy with UNION TOWN. Following UPS workers, Amazon subcontractors and the mostly immigrant deliveristas organizing across New York City, Kopple captures the risks, victories and everyday solidarity fueling a new chapter in the American labor movement. DIR Barbara Kopple. USA

Discovery

9 TEMPLES TO HEAVEN (9 วัด สู่สวรรค์)

The narrative feature debut from Thai filmmaker Sompot Chidgasornpongse, a frequent collaborator of Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, finds a family wrestling with Buddhist traditions and practices in this meditative travelogue. DIR Sompot Chidgasornpongse. SCR Sompot Chidgasornpongse. CAST Amara Ramnarong, Surachai Ningsanond, Jirawut Chiwaruck, Yaneenan Jiraphatjittrin, Klaichan Phunman. Thailand, Singapore, France, Norway

AT NIGHT

British filmmaker Beatrice Gibson’s feature debut is a mesmerizing work of autofiction exploring personal malaise and communal dialogue among six women over a single night in Paris. Drifting between fiction, reality and dream, Gibson boldly articulates a refreshingly honest and sometimes difficult conversation on identity, solidarity, sexuality, race and class privilege. DIR Beatrice Gibson. SCR Beatrice Gibson. CAST Diocouda Diaoune, Kátia Belo Cardoso, Sophie Robinson, Amy Gwatkin, Lily Mcmenamy, Beatrice Gibson. UK

BEDFORD PARK

An incredible South Korean cast grounds Stephanie Ahn’s deeply affecting Sundance award-winning feature debut, a nuanced and emotionally layered portrait of two lost souls and a connection that emerges in the most unexpected of places. DIR Stephanie Ahn. SCR Stephanie Ahn. CAST Moon Choi, Son Sukku, Jefferson White, Won Mi Kyung, Kim Eung Soo. USA

BEN’IMANA

Set in a rural Rwandan village, eighteen years after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s exceptional Cannes Caméra d’Or-winning feature debut is a powerful portrait of the complex personal and societal dynamics of a nation still coming to terms with the horrors of its painful past. DIR Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo. SCR Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, Delphine Agut. CAST Clémentine U. Nyirinkindi, Isabelle Kabano, Kesia Kelly Nishimwe. Rwanda, Gabon, France, Norway

CHRONICLES FROM THE SIEGE

Winner of the Best First Feature Award in the Perspectives section of the Berlinale, Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Alkhatib’s striking debut weaves interconnected stories of life under siege, where bombardment and displacement are met with resilience, humor and humanity. DIR Abdallah Alkhatib. SCR Abdallah Alkhatib. CAST Nadim Rimawi, Saja Kilani, Ahmed Zitouni, Ahmad Kontar, Kassem Alkhoja. Algeria, France, Palestine

ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG

Surrounded by wild elephants, a remote Nepalese village is home to a sacred Kinnar community of transgender women in writer-director Abinash Bikram Shah’s empathetic and atmospheric thriller, winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes. DIR Abinash Bikram Shah. SCR Abinash Bikram Shah, Sandeep Badal. CAST Pushpa Thing Lama, Sahab Din Miya, Jasmin Bishwokarma, Aliz Ghimire. Nepal, Brazil, France, Germany, Norway

FLESH AND FUEL

A casual hookup between veteran French trucker Étienne and Bartosz, a Polish driver working for cheaper wages, unexpectedly deepens into something more. Sexually frank and disarmingly tender, Pierre Le Gall’s unconventional romance follows two solitary men navigating borders, punishing schedules and an industry that keeps them perpetually in motion. DIR Pierre Le Gall. SCR Pierre Le Gall, Camille Perton, Martin Drouot. CAST Alexis Manenti, Julian Świeżewski. France, Poland

FOREST HIGH

Belgian filmmaker Manon Coubia spent 10 years working seasonally as a mountain refuge keeper in the French Alps, a wealth of experience which imbues her debut feature film, a triptych of tales set in a mountain refuge across three seasons, with the greatest authenticity. DIR Manon Coubia. SCR Manon Coubia. CAST Salomé Richard, Aurélia Petit, Anne Coesens, Arthur Marbaix, Yoann Zimmer. Belgium, France

FOREVER YOUR MATERNAL ANIMAL (SIEMPRE SOY TU ANIMAL MATERNO)

Winner of the 2026 Cannes Un Certain Regard Best Actress Awards for the tempestuous performances of its three leads, Valentina Maurel’s lyrical sophomore feature traces the knotty threads of an unraveling Costa Rican family. DIR Valentina Maurel. SCR Valentina Maurel. CAST Daniela Marín, Mariangel Montero, Marina de Tavira, Reinaldo Amién. Belgium, France, Mexico

THE FRIEND’S HOUSE IS HERE

Pari and Hanna are artist friends in Tehran whose lives unfold within a bubble of freedom and creativity, even as the oppressive conditions beyond that fragile space loom over them. Shot in secret, the film offers an intimate portrait of contemporary Tehran from the perspectives of its young, defiant female protagonists. DIR Hossein Keshavarz, Maryam Ataei. SCR Maryam Ataei, Hossein Keshavarz. CAST Mahshad Bahram, Hana Mana, Mahshad Bahraminejad, Haniyeh Khosravani, Zorheh Piran. USA, Iran

GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD (ADIEU MONDE CRUEL)

Félix de Givry (the lead of Mia Hansen-Løve’s EDEN, AFI FEST 2014) makes his directorial debut with this enchanting, fable-like teen romance that harkens back to the French New Wave and stars Milo Machado-Graner, known for his seismic performance as the blind son in the Academy Award®-winning ANATOMY OF A FALL. DIR Félix de Givry. SCR Félix de Givry, Marie-Stéphane Imbert. CAST Milo Machado-Graner, Jane Beever, Françoise Lebrun, Maïa Sandoz, Emmanuelle Destremau. France

IVÁN & HADOUM

Winner of the Teddy Award at the Berlinale, IVÁN & HADOUM offers a positive and complex story on queer love set in a fruit packing facility in Almería. Ian de la Rosa’s feature debut is an exploration of the transformative power of desire and love as a path toward self-acceptance. DIR Ian de la Rosa. SCR Ian de la Rosa. Spain, Germany, Belgium

LA GRADIVA

A high school trip to Naples and Pompeii becomes a defining passage into adulthood in César-nominated cinematographer-turned-director Marine Atlan’s remarkable first feature, in which the dormant emotions of a group of Parisian teenagers are stirred by an ancient landscape marked by desire, loss and tragedy. DIR Marine Atlan. SCR Marine Atlan, Anne Brouillet. CAST Colas Quignard, Suzanne Gerin, Mitia Capellier, Antonia Buresi. France

THE MELTDOWN (EL DESHIELO)

In Manuela Martelli’s (CHILE ’76) new feature set in the post-Pinochet era, a lonely child staying at her grandparents’ southern resort befriends a teenage German ski champion and witnesses her family’s dealings with foreign investors, as well as the ways they cope with potentially damaging truths. DIR Manuela Martelli. SCR Manuela Martelli. CAST Maya O’Rourke, Saskia Rosendahl, Maia Domagala. Chile, USA, Spain, Mexico

PROSECUTION (STAATSSCHUTZ)

Faraz Shariat returns to the realm of queer, post-migrant cinema with this propulsive, gritty procedural about a state prosecutor in East Germany. When she is targeted in a racist attack, her rogue investigation draws her into the malevolent web of neo-Nazi networks, challenging both her belief in the judicial system and her personal integrity. DIR Faraz Shariat. SCR Faraz Shariat, Claudia Schaefer. CAST Chen Emilie Yan, Julia Jentsch, Alev Irmak, Arnd Klawitter, Sebastian Urzendowsky. Germany

THE STATION (AL MAHATTAH)

In war-torn Yemen, Layal runs a women-only petrol station and café, a fragile sanctuary from the conflict outside. When her 12-year-old brother is targeted for enlistment, Layal seeks help from her estranged sister to save him before it’s too late. DIR Sara Ishaq. SCR Sara Ishaq, Nadia Eliewat. CAST Abeer Mohammed, Amal Ismail, Manal Al-Mulaiki. Jordan

TRIAL OF HEIN (DER HEIMATLOSE)

In this timeless and strikingly original parable, Hein returns to the windswept, fiercely insular island he left behind as a teenager, determined to reunite with his first love. But after a 14-year absence, the eccentric villagers no longer recognize him, and insist he stand trial to prove his identity. DIR Kai Stänicke. SCR Kai Stänicke. CAST Paul Boche, Philip Froissant, Emilia Schüle, Stephanie Amarell. Germany

WE ARE ALIENS

Kōhei Kadowaki’s 2D animated feature debut is an astonishingly layered, heart-wrenchingly tender diptych of a tumultuous, life-changing friendship between two boys, as a cruel accusation one afternoon at school irrevocably splinters the trajectory of their lives in unimaginable ways. DIR Kohei Kadowaki. SCR Kohei Kadowaki. CAST Ryota Bando, Amane Okayama. Japan, France

World Cinema

THE BELOVED (EL SER QUERIDO)

In Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s (THE BEASTS) latest, Javier Bardem gives a frightening performance as a legendary filmmaker who casts his estranged daughter (a fantastic Victoria Luengo) in his newest venture. On set, the two get close and reopen old wounds that threaten not only their reconciliation but the entire production. DIR Rodrigo Sorogoyen. SCR Isabel Peña, Rodrigo Sorogoyen. CAST Javier Bardem, Victoria Luengo, Raúl Arévalo. Spain, France

A BIT OF LIGHT

A disillusioned Iranian doctor methodically prepares to end his life after being arrested and banned from practicing medicine. Ali Asgari’s new film avoids sentimentality by alternating moments of deadpan humor with references to oppressive realities, while Misagh Zare delivers an outstanding performance filled with subtlety and vulnerability. DIR Ali Asgari. SCR Ali Asgari, Shadmehr Rastin. CAST Misagh Zare, Sadaf Asghari, Foroozan Jamshidnezhad, Ramtin Daghigh, Mina Rahimzadeh. Iran, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Turkey

BLACK MONEY FOR WHITE NIGHTS

When a dream vacation goes disastrously awry, a middle-aged Bulgarian couple accustomed to working the angles finds the tables suddenly turned. Darkly funny and unexpectedly moving, BLACK MONEY FOR WHITE NIGHTS transforms their misfortune into a mordant morality tale about corruption, complicity and the price of ill-gotten gains. DIR Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov. SCR Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov, Decho Taralezhkov. CAST Ivan Savov, Tanya Shahova, Margita Gosheva, Ivan Barnev, Sibila Petrova. Bulgaria, Greece

EVERYTIME

A woman becomes the emotional anchor for her daughter and daughter’s boyfriend in the wake of an unimaginable tragedy. On the sunny beaches during a family vacation, each of the trio’s preferred retreat into the past begins to merge and transform into a surreal new present around them. DIR Sandra Wollner. SCR Sandra Wollner. CAST Birgit Minichmayr, Lotte Shirin Keiling, Tristan López, Carla Hüttermann. Austria, Germany

FLIES (MOSCAS)

Returning to the nostalgia-laden black-and-white form of his breakthrough debut DUCK SEASON, Mexican filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke crafts a delicate yet wry exploration of grief in his bittersweet new feature following an uncompromising retiree who rents her spare room to a father and his precocious nine-year-old son. DIR Fernando Eimbcke. SCR Vanessa Garnica, Fernando Eimbcke. CAST Teresa Sánchez, Bastian Escobar, Hugo Ramírez, Enrique Arreola. Mexico

THE IDIOT(S)

The latest film from co-directors Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert takes an irreverent look at the messy life of one of the world’s great literary icons, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Johnny Flynn), who honeymoons in Baden-Baden with new wife Anna (Aimee Lou Wood), and does his best to avoid working on The Idiot, his follow-up to Crime and Punishment. DIR Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert. SCR Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert, Kasper Bajon, Brid Arnstein. CAST Aimee Lou Wood, Johnny Flynn, Vicky Krieps, Christian Friedel. Poland, Germany

IRON BOY

Winner of the Special Jury Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, IRON BOY is the tender tale of a young boy whose life is upended when he’s forced to wear a corrective iron brace, told through beautiful watercolor animation, a superb voice cast and enveloping classical music. DIR Louis Clichy. SCR Louis Clichy, Frank Salomé. CAST Gary Clichy, Rod Paradot, Dimitri Colas, Aurélie Vassort, Brune Moulin. France, Belgium

THE LONELIEST MAN IN TOWN

The Italian-Austrian directing duo of Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel (LA PIVELLINA) return with this fictionalized portrait of real-life Austrian blues musician Al Cook (aka Alois Koch), who, inspired by Elvis Presley and legendary blues musicians like Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson, has dedicated his life and career to honoring this musical tradition. DIR Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel. SCR Tizza Covi. CAST Alois Koch, Brigitte Meduna, Alfred Blechinger, Flurina Schneider, Sarah Morrissette. Austria

A LONG WINTER

Award-winning British filmmaker Andrew Haigh (45 YEARS, AFI FEST 2015; ALL OF US STRANGERS, AFI FEST 2023) adapts Irish writer Colm Tóibín’s eponymous novella for this mysterious and beguiling film about grief, desire, queer awakening, self-discovery and the elusive structures that hold a family together. DIR Andrew Haigh. SCR Andrew Haigh, Colm Tóibín. CAST Fred Hechinger, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Caitríona Balfe, Kit Connor, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. USA, Canada, UK

A MAN OF HIS TIME (NOTRE SALUT)

Writer-director Emmanuel Marre takes an unconventional approach in this Cannes prize-winning biopic on an opportunist bureaucrat (Swann Arlaud) in the Vichy Regime whose career ambitions help oil the machinery of the Nazi occupation. DIR Emmanuel Marre. SCR Emmanuel Marre. CAST Swann Arlaud, Sandrine Blancke, Mathieu Perotto. Belgium, France

NINA ROZA

Geneviève Dulude-de Celles’ sophomore narrative feature is a poetic contemplation on the dualities of fatherhood and heritage, art and commodification through the lens of post-Soviet diaspora, as Canadian art curator Mihail returns to his native Bulgaria on a mission to confirm the authenticity of an eight-year-old art prodigy, Nina. DIR Geneviève Dulude-De Celles. SCR Geneviève Dulude-De Celles. CAST Galin Stoev, Ekatarina Stanina, Sofia Stanina, Chiara Caselli, Christian Bégin. Canada, Italy, Bulgaria, Belgium

QUEEN AT SEA

Juliette Binoche plays a daughter concerned that her stepfather (Tom Courtenay), the primary carer for her dementia-afflicted mother (Anna Calder-Marshall), is abusing her sexually. Lance Hammer’s sensitive and devastating drama explores the complexities of elder care, and how good intentions may yield bad results. Courtenay and Calder-Marshall shared the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the Berlin Film Festival. DIR Lance Hammer. SCR Lance Hammer. CAST Juliette Binoche, Tom Courtenay, Anna Calder-Marshall, Florence Hunt. UK, USA

ROSE

Academy Award® nominee Sandra Hüller (ANATOMY OF A FALL) delivers another showstopping performance in Austrian filmmaker Markus Schleinzer’s (MICHAEL, AFI FEST 2011) captivating third feature, a transfixing, strikingly original folk tale about a woman who poses as a male soldier in 17th-century Germany. DIR Markus Schleinzer. SCR Markus Schleinzer, Alexander Brom. CAST Sandra Hüller, Caro Braun, Marisa Growaldt. Austria, Germany

SALVATION

Emin Alper’s provocative allegory examines how long-simmering grievances can be stoked by a charismatic leader into hatred and violence, where religion gives way to madness, and a struggle for political leadership gives way to authoritarianism. DIR Emin Alper. SCR Emin Alper. CAST Caner Cindoruk, Berkay Ateş, Feyyaz Duman, Naz Göktan, Özlem Taş. Turkey, France, Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Saudi Arabia

WE ARE ALL STRANGERS

Noodle hawker Boon Kiat and his son grapple with new love, responsibilities and economic survival in Anthony Chen’s (ILO ILO, WET SEASON) panoramic multi-generational tableau and love letter to working-class Singapore, marking the ambitious final chapter of his Growing Up trilogy. DIR Anthony Chen. SCR Anthony Chen. CAST Yeo Yann Yann, Koh Jia Ler, Andi Lim, Regene Lim. Singapore

YELLOW LETTERS (GELBE BRIEFE)

Turkish German filmmaker İlker Çatak (THE TEACHERS LOUNGE, AFI FEST 2023) returns with this thought-provoking allegory about art and authoritarianism, winner of the Golden Bear at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival. DIR İlker Çatak. SCR İlker Çatak, Ayda Meryem Çatak, Enis Köstepen. CAST Özgü Namal, Tansu Biçer, Leyla Smyrna Cabas, İpek Bilgin. Germany, France, Turkey

After Dark

THE FACE OF HORROR

Anna Biller (THE LOVE WITCH, AFI FEST 2016) continues her streak of pulpy, technicolor macabre with this reimagined feminist folktale inspired by the Japanese ghost story, Yotsuya Kaidan. Redressed in medieval England, we follow the beautiful, innocent Eleanor and the handsome but deceitful knight Edward in a tale of betrayal and revenge. DIR Anna Biller. SCR Anna Biller. CAST Jonah Hauer-King, Kristine Frøseth, Ellie Bamber, Ben Radcliffe, Bella Heathcote. UK

FULL PHIL

Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart star as a father and daughter attempting to reconcile on a Parisian vacation. Quentin Dupieux (SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING, AFI FEST 2022) returns to the English language but keeps his trademark absurdist humor intact in this tale of arguments, copious amounts of food and meddling hotel employees. DIR Quentin Dupieux. SCR Quentin Dupieux. CAST Woody Harrelson, Kristen Stewart, Charlotte Le Bon. France, Belgium, Luxembourg

TOO MANY BEASTS (L’ESPÈCE EXPLOSIVE)

Things go deliriously hog-wild in Swiss-Italian filmmaker Sarah Arnold’s wonderfully unpredictable, delightfully deadpan debut, which won the Europa Cinemas Label for Best European Film at this year’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. DIR Sarah Arnold. SCR Sarah Arnold, Mehdi Ben Attia, Jérémie Dubois, Olivier Seror, Romain Winkler. CAST Alexis Manenti, Ella Rumpf, Vincent Dedienne, Jean-Louis Coulloc’h. France

Documentary

THE BEST SUMMER

Revisiting unedited performance and interview footage from the 1995-1996 Summersault tour in Australia that featured the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Beck, Pavement, Bikini Kill, Rancid and the Foo Fighters, filmmaker Tamra Davis crafts a fascinating tour document capturing part music festival, part summer camp of artists in the prime of their careers. DIR Tamra Davis. CAST Kathleen Hanna, Dave Grohl, Kim Gordon, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth. USA

CITIZEN OSAMA (AL MOWATEN OSAMA)

In CITIZEN OSAMA, Palestinian photographer turned citizen journalist Osama Al-Ashi documents life in northern Gaza while struggling to keep his young family safe. Amid devastation and the targeting of fellow journalists, his camera bears witness to the devastation while asking what it means to call a place home when that home is being erased. DIR Ahmed Hassouna. CAST Osama Al-Ashi. Palestine, France

EDWARD SAID: BETWEEN WORLDS

The legacy and indomitable voice of Palestinian activist and scholar Edward Said are revitalized in documentarian Maiken Baird’s sweeping profile, moving from his childhood in Jerusalem to his foundational academic texts including Orientalism and The Question of Palestine, as well as his lifelong advocacy for Palestinian freedom. DIR Maiken Baird. CAST Edward Said. USA

I DESERVE A LOVER WHOSE EVERY RISE SETS FIERY DOOMS RAGING ACROSS THE SKIES

An unorthodox documentary about Nasser Bakhshi and Roghayeh Najdi, married artists in Iran who curate an archive of found ephemera and personal belongings to help preserve the culture of their people. DIR Mani Haghighi. SCR Mani Haghighi. Iran

JAIL TIME RECORDS

Winner of Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, JAIL TIME RECORDS mixes verité documentary with raucous music videos for a guided tour through the densely populated New Bell Prison in Cameroon to reveal the beating heart at its center: a recording studio where inmates can find a creative outlet and publish their music to the outside world. DIR Dione Roach, Steve Happi. CAST Belgie Ludrovic Abantsia, Hamadou Daibou, Josue Aristide Ticky Moulende, Dilan Nyamsi. Cameroon, USA

THE MATCH

The infamous World Cup match between Argentina and England in 1986, where Diego Maradona scored the controversial Hand of God goal, is recounted in this exhilarating documentary that uses rare archival footage, narration by footballers Gary Lineker and Jorge Valdano and new interviews with other players who were there on the pitch that fateful day. DIR Juan Cabral, Santiago Fraco. SCR Juan Cabral, Santiago Fraco. CAST Gary Lineker, Jorge Valdano, Oscar Ruggeri, Peter Shilton, John Barnes. Argentina, Spain

MAVERICK: THE EPIC ADVENTURES OF DAVID LEAN

Barnaby Thompson’s masterful documentary convincingly makes the case for David Lean as a filmmaker’s filmmaker, one whose body of work continues to inspire directors ranging from Steven Spielberg to Wes Anderson to Denis Villeneuve to Greta Gerwig. DIR Barnaby Thompson. CAST David Lean, Cate Blanchett, Kenneth Branagh, Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola. UK

MY BROTHER’S KILLER

Documentarian Rachel Mason (CIRCUS OF BOOKS, AFI FEST 2019) investigates the gruesome and long-unsolved 1990 murder of William Arnold Newton, whose mutilated body was found in a dumpster near La Brea Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. Mason’s efforts help lead to the case being solved more than 30 years later. DIR Rachel Mason. SCR Rachel Mason, Dion Labriola, James Cude. CAST Wendi Berndt, Kevin Clarke, Krystal DeLight, Sabin Gray, John Lamberti. USA

NUISANCE BEAR

A nuisance bear, a polar bear that’s lost its fear of people, encroaches on the town of Churchill, Manitoba in this soulful exploration of the tensions between humans and wildlife, told through beautiful widescreen photography of the Arctic landscape and incredible close-ups of these apex predators. DIR Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman. CAST Mike Tunalaaq Gibbons, Saad Kassis-Mohamed. Canada, USA, UK

ONE IN A MILLION

Winner of the Audience Award and the Directing Award in the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary section, this sweeping and intimate 10-year chronicle follows a Syrian family and their spirited eldest daughter, Isra’a, as they make the perilous journey to Europe, then navigate the joys and heartaches of assimilation. DIR Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes. UK, USA

PRETENDERS

Joss Crowley’s immersive, insightful and in-depth documentary traces the journey of rock legend Chrissie Hynde across more than five decades, from her Ohio upbringing and early London years to the formation of the Pretenders, their explosive breakthrough at the dawn of the 1980s and beyond. DIR Joss Crowley. SCR Joss Crowley. CAST Chrissie Hynde, Martin Chambers, Pete Farndon, Jimmy Honeyman Scott, Elvis Costello. UK

REHEARSALS FOR A REVOLUTION

A deeply personal account of Iran’s history since the 1979 Revolution, this Cannes Golden Eye-winning documentary reflects on successive waves of political and social upheaval repeatedly crushed by walls of oppression, while preserving a sense of hope for the Iranian people and their ongoing fight for freedom. DIR Pegah Ahangarani. SCR Pegah Ahangarani. Czech Republic, Spain

REVOLUTIONARIES NEVER DIE

Structured as a cinematic letter to the late Lebanese filmmaker Jocelyne Saab (1948-2019), Palestinian filmmaker and archivist Mohanad Yaqubi explores Saab’s daring and dynamic documentary work from 1973-1983, when she brought her trenchant insight to the complexities of Lebanon’s civil war, as well as events in Egypt, Western Sahara and Iran. DIR Mohanad Yaqubi. SCR Mohanad Yaqubi, Mathilde Rouxel. Palestine, Belgium, Norway, Qatar

SOUL PATROL

The travails of the Soul Patrol, the U.S. Army’s first all-Black Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol deployed during the Vietnam War, are recounted in this documentary adaptation of Vietnam veteran Ed Emanuel’s memoir. Utilizing a mixture of archival footage, contemporary interviews and reenactments, SOUL PATROL recounts the harrowing experiences of Black teens who fought a war for a country that struggled to give them their own civil rights back home. DIR J.M. Harper. SCR J.M. Harper. CAST Barbara Branch, Emerson Branch, Teresa Brown. USA

STEALING MAGIC

When a group of professional magicians discover their original tricks are being stolen and sold online, they launch a globe-spanning investigation into the shadowy world of cybercrime and extortion. This riveting documentary reveals the extraordinary lengths artists will go to defend their life’s work. DIR Matthew Testa. CAST Andi Gladwin, George Luck, Joshua Jay, Penn Jillette, Teller, Julie Eng. USA

SUMMER 2000: THE X-CETRA STORY

In her SXSW Grand Jury Award-winning directorial debut, filmmaker Ayden Mayeri revisits the improbable story of X-Cetra, the band she formed with three childhood friends in the summer of 2000. When their music resurfaces online two decades later, becoming a cult phenomenon, Mayeri captures the friends’ reunion, crafting a joyful, nostalgic and moving portrait of female friendship and coming of age. DIR Ayden Mayeri. SCR Barry Rothbart, Ayden Mayeri. CAST Ayden Mayeri, Janet Kariuki, Mary Washburn, Jessica Hall, Robin O’Brien. USA

SUMO: SPIRIT WEIGHS NOTHING (SUMO: 魂を鍛え抜く)

Returning eleven years after THE BIRTH OF SAKE, Erik Shirai delivers another insightful look into a rich and storied tradition of Japanese culture with SUMO: SPIRIT WEIGHS NOTHING, following four professional wrestlers in various stages of their careers across a year of trials and tribulations. DIR Erik Shirai. CAST Terunofuji Haruo, Hiradoumi Yuki, Yonezawaryu Daiki, Kosei Motomura. Japan, UK, Denmark, USA

Guest Artistic Director

In a special Spotlight section, Guest Artistic Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (PROJECT HAIL MARY, THE LEGO MOVIE) present four films that shaped their cinematic vision — 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, HAROLD AND MAUDE, THE MUPPET MOVIE and RIFIFI.

AN EVENING WITH PHIL LORD AND CHRIS MILLER: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

Stanley Kubrick’s dazzling, Academy Award®-winning achievement is a compelling drama of man vs. machine, a stunning meld of music and motion. Kubrick (who co-wrote the screenplay with sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke) first visits man’s prehistoric ape-ancestry past, then leaps millennia into colonized space and ultimately whisks astronaut David Bowman (Keir Dullea) into uncharted territory, perhaps even into immortality. DIR Stanley Kubrick. SCR Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, from his story The Sentinel. CAST Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter, Douglas Rain. UK, USA

HAROLD AND MAUDE

When Harold (Bud Cort), a wealthy young man obsessed with staging fake suicides and attending funerals, meets the free-spirited septuagenarian Maude (Ruth Gordon), their unconventional romance challenges Harold’s sheltered life and his mother’s indifference. Initially overlooked, Hal Ashby’s HAROLD AND MAUDE became a defining cult classic of the 1970s. DIR Hal Ashby. SCR Colin Higgins. CAST Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Charles Tyner, Ellen Geer. USA

THE MUPPET MOVIE

In their first foray onto the silver screen, Kermit the Frog and his Muppet cohort, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Miss Piggy and the gang, sing their way to Hollywood, hoping to make it big. But Charles Durning’s evil Doc Hopper, a frog-leg restaurant magnate, has other plans for Kermit. DIR James Frawley. SCR Jack Burns, Jerry Juhl. CAST Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Charles Durning, Austin Pendleton, Edgar Bergen, Milton Berle, Mel Brooks. UK, USA

RIFIFI (DU RIFIFI CHEZ LES HOMMES)

Considered one of the best international translations of American film noir, Jules Dassin’s beloved heist film RIFIFI follows an unconventional narrative arc, with a meticulous and silent 28-minute safe-cracking scene that is the center of the film, not its climax. While the action takes place in Paris, a particularly American tenacity adds the bite necessary to make this a perfectly balanced film noir. DIR Jules Dassin. SCR Jules Dassin, René Wheeler, Auguste Le Breton, from his novel. CAST Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Jules Dassin. France

Short Film Competition

After Dark Shorts

MUKBANG

In a near-future dystopia, an underground mukbang factory turns human appetite into entertainment, forcing participants to gorge themselves for an insatiable online audience. DIR Joe Grode. USA

TROPIC OF THE MOURNING GECKO (ΤΡΟΠΙΚΌΣ ΤΟΥ ΘΡΗΝΟΎΝΤΟΣ ΓΚΈΚΟ)

Yorgos is about to leave home when he has his first sexual experience with a boy. In these final days, Yorgos’ dreams will give birth to his new skin, at any cost. DIR Stavros Markoulakis. Greece

A CRIME ACROSS FOUR LANDSCAPES

When a small-town crime goes awry, the evidence is scattered across four picturesque landscapes in the American South, inviting viewers to piece together what happened. DIR Aidan Weaver. USA

THE LIFE CYCLE OF A GREY ANT (LE CYCLE DE VIE DES FOURMIS GRISES)

Blending fiction and dance, THE LIFE CYCLE OF A GREY ANT is a retro-futuristic ballet that flips a middle finger to modernity. DIR Caraz. Canada, France

A BREACH WITHIN (UNE BRÈCHE)

A detective and her partner head to the country on a sweltering summer afternoon for a routine witness interview in an ongoing investigation. DIR Jean-François Leblanc. Canada

THE BOVINE COMEDY

In a future where cows have nearly vanished, Phop, a rich farmer, owns Southeast Asia’s last bull and relies on Jon’s unique skill to help the bull produce semen. DIR Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke. France

Animation Shorts 1

TRADING CARDS

An exploration of identity, mental health and the erosion of childhood innocence, TRADING CARDS is a dark fantasy animated film about the weight of living with obsessive-compulsive disorder. DIR Radheya Jang. Australia, UK

WHERE WERE WE?

A deep dive into an oceanic terrain of essentials and reminiscences transforms the familiar into the extraordinary, gently blurring the line between the world we’re in and the worlds we carry. DIR Suresh Eriyat. India

A LITTLE DEATH

Death’s patience is tested when his sweet and gentle apprentice appears incapable of the task, leading him to seek professional help from the most unlikely of places. DIR Leto Meade, Jonathan Rockefeller. UK

THE DAUGHTERS OF THE LATE COLONEL

After the death of their ill-tempered and controlling father, two middle aged sisters clear away their father’s effects and find the courage to begin their lives anew. DIR Elizabeth Hobbs. Germany, UK

EMULSION

Once born from the same matter, two forms slowly grow into different beings, suspended between attraction and resistance. Intimacy becomes an unstable state where closeness and individuality struggle to coexist. DIR Shiyu (Shino) Tang. USA

WITH TAPES AND TOASTS IN THE CAR (IM AUTO TAPES UND BUTTERBROT)

In the face of her body fading into stardust, Shari realizes what truly matters to her. DIR Kiana Naghshineh. Germany, France

GAÏA
Gaïa is a living planet whose body is inhabited by humans. As her resources begin to diminish, her inhabitants attempt to fertilize her egg to create another planet. But Gaïa intervenes. DIR Gwenola Heck. Germany

THE END

A darkly humorous tale of death and existence set in a large, international airport. DIR Niki Lindroth von Bahr. Sweden, France, Denmark

Animation Shorts 2

VENEZIA DIORAMA

Through a series of animated art boards depicting a decaying Venice, the film unfolds like a set of postcards, capturing the mythical city’s final moments of fragility. DIR Nicolas Piret. Belgium

IN THE BEGINNING

A space probe called Beresheet, legless birds of paradise, a hamster cull and humanity trying to make the world make sense. DIR Ala Nunu. Poland, Portugal, Spain

SABA

In a world where gravity is reversed, a unique bond forms between a grandfather and his grandson before a turbulent storm strikes and changes their life together. DIR Liron Topaz. USA, UK

LE JARDIN ROSSINI

Hervé Rossini is a renowned artist who expresses himself through his surrealist garden. DIR William Burger, Siméon Jacob, Odelia Laine, Garance Mondamert, Tara Rewal, Mathilde Vergereau, Arthur Wong. France

AKTOS

Twelve-year-old Batyr has been secretly working on a daring project with his loyal dog Aktos by his side. When a sudden crisis threatens his plan, Batyr must race against time to finish it. DIR Madina Yelikbayeva. Kazakhstan

EACH, ALL AND EVERY

Mr. Rabbit is unable to decide what to become when he grows up. Overwhelmed by the number of choices, he instead escapes into his imagination and creates tiny replicas of himself. DIR Nikoletta Veress. Hungary

DEEP END

In an early-2000s swimming class, a shy preteen girl confronts her fear of water and human connection when she forms an unexpected, magical bond in the deep end of the pool. DIR Puzhen Zhang. UK

LIVING WITH A VISIONARY

Narrated by James Cromwell, and based on John Matthias’ memoir, this soulful, bittersweet chronicle reflects on the final chapter in John’s fifty-year marriage to Diana, an art curator grappling with Parkinson’s. DIR Stephen P. Neary. USA

Documentary Shorts 1

LISTEN

Alaskan sound recordist Hank Lentfer captures the natural world’s forgotten sounds while caring for his mother with dementia. This sensory immersion dissolves the boundaries between us and the more-than-human world. DIR Taliesin Black-Brown. USA

A WOMAN’S PLACE IS EVERYWHERE

Identical twins Emilija and Ona have lived in their mother’s rent-controlled loft in Brooklyn for as long as they can remember. But after her sudden passing, they find themselves on the brink of eviction. An intimate story of grief, memory, sisterhood and motherhood, set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing NYC. DIR Fanny Texier. USA

I THINK YOU SHOULD BE HERE

Near Geneva, seven girls on the verge of adulthood recall in their rooms the words and dances of TikTok that shaped their youth. DIR Anna-Marija Adomaitytė, Élie Grappe. France, Switzerland

STALIN BOYS

A documentary short from Emmy Award®-winning filmmakers Ora DeKornfeld and Bianca Giaever. DIR Bianca Giaever, Ora DeKornfeld. USA

STILL STANDING

A documentary on the transformation of homes left standing from the fires in Altadena, California, from intimate spaces into alien and hazardous landscapes. DIR Victor Tadashi Suarez, Livia Albeck-Ripka. USA

A WOLF IN THE SUBURBS

Welcome to Mississauga, where lawns are clipped, neighbors are watchful and no blade of grass dares misbehave. Except at Wolf Ruck’s place. His lawn grows wild, and so does trouble. DIR Amélie Hardy. Canada

Documentary Shorts 2

TERRI & RICHARD

In 1960s NYC, Terri was a manager of folk musicians, while Richard was a pioneer in the literary avant-garde. Now, sixty years later, they reflect on their legacy and mortality. DIR Alex Bijan Zandi. USA

CHUURAA

In the wilderness of the Siberian Arctic, an Indigenous Sakha paleontologist descends into the depths of the melting permafrost and traverses the mythical realm of the Underworld in search of an ancient creature. DIR Evgenia Arbugaeva. UK

BUCKSKIN

An experimental portrait of the filmmaker’s grandfather: Carroll B. Williams, a ground-breaking African-American and Indigenous forester, reflecting on his work and legacy in the twilight of his life. DIR Mars Verrone. USA

AT THE STAGE WHEN (CI SHI CI KE)

In a Chinese megacity, a young laborer navigates her marriage to a well-off man and finds herself bound to an unintended future. DIR Hao Zhou. China

WATER COOLER

This documentary short, filmed in New York’s Federal Plaza from November 2025 through January 2026, captures the virulent callousness of ICE agents detaining migrants who are trying to stay in the country legally. DIR Emma V.F. USA

THE BOYS AND THE BEES

THE BOYS AND THE BEES chronicles the changing seasons in the life of the Ray Family as they pursue their dream of freedom: raising bees on a farm in Georgia. DIR Arielle C. Knight. USA

Live Action Shorts 1

A FEW THINGS HAPPENING BY A RIVER (ALGUMAS COISAS QUE ACONTECEM AO LADO DE UM RIO)

A seemingly lifeless body floats downstream, while a fragmented world occupies itself with other things. DIR Daniel Soares. Portugal, France

NOBODY SAID ANYTHING (NIKO NIŠTA NIJE REKAO)

Katarina is called to her daughter’s friend’s home to confront the consequences of a seemingly innocent game that has spiraled out of control. DIR Tamara Todorović. Croatia, France, Serbia, Slovenia

WE WERE HERE

In a crumbling Indian town, three retired men stage a protest against machines taking over human jobs by pretending to be household appliances. DIR Pranav Bhasin. India

PRIVATE PROPERTY

Two outsiders, Maya, a Nepali immigrant working overnight to build a future, and Danny, an unhoused Black veteran searching for warmth and shelter, clash over where they each belong. DIR Deepak Rauniyar. Australia, France, Nepal, USA

FREE ELIZA (NOTES ON AN ANATOMICAL IMPERFECTION)

Eliza works at a glamorous hotel resort designed to keep guests constantly satisfied. But within this world of toxic positivity, she possesses a rare liability: a condition leaving her physically unable to smile. DIR Alexandra Matheou. Cyprus, France, Greece

SAUNA SICKNESS

Struggling to maintain the peace she mistakes for love, Cleo’s steamy New Year’s Eve plans fissure into a chilling nightmare. DIR Malin Barr. Sweden

Live Action Shorts 2

MUTRION

Marco returns to the lagoon community he once fled and reconnects with his childhood friend. Their encounter stirs old ghosts and memories, revealing how deeply the lagoon still lives inside him. DIR Marco Cavazzin. Italy

A SHOT AT ART

When two seasoned volunteers at an international art festival participate in a highly controversial installation piece, the situation spirals completely out of control. But who was actually crossing the line here? DIR Ilke Paddenburg. Netherlands

A COUNTRY DOG

In this adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s The Renegade, a young family moves from the city to an isolated rural community, where their beloved dog is accused of killing a neighbor’s chickens. DIR Ryan Nielsen. USA

STALLION Y LA BOLA DE CRISTAL (STALLION AND A CRYSTAL BALL)

In his dark, silent room, a secluded teenager sick with a burning desire casts a spell. As violent visions warp his reality, a bubble threatens to burst; something must break. DIR Christian Avilés. Spain

MARGA EN EL DF

In the wake of Selena Quintanilla’s murder, Marga’s life takes an unexpected turn during a surprise visit to Mexico City. DIR Gabriela Ortega. Mexico

AFI Conservatory Showcase

A collection of short narrative films from the most recent graduates of the world-renowned AFI Conservatory.

CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 1

EL FRÍO QUE GUÍA LUZ

While waiting for the bus, a single mother is suddenly swept into her painful past as she tells her six-year-old daughter a tale. DIR Emily Gularte. SCR Emily Gularte, Claudio Del Pino Mercado. USA

NORTH

In 1960s rural Appalachia, a determined mother refuses to accept the death of her coal mining town as she struggles to put together a birthday party for her son. DIR Timur Almazov. SCR Timur Almazov, Sydney Lawson. USA

LITTLE BIRDS

Two girls escape from their bleak world into one of their own, but when their game of flight takes a dark turn, one is left to face the consequences alone. DIR Eliana Victoria Alcouloumre. SCR Eliana Victoria Alcouloumre. USA

JIE

A young Chinese boy, Jie, navigates a new life in the U.S. while facing quiet family tensions and begins to grow through an unexpected friendship. DIR Zhanyin River Xiao. SCR Zhanyin River Xiao, Hira Sheraz. USA

PUNKIN

When their road trip is derailed by a car breakdown and the threat of deportation, eight-year-old Nina, an undocumented Venezuelan girl, begins to see the cracks in her father’s armor. DIR Ines Corina Michelena. SCR Annabel Newland, Ines Corina Michelena. USA

CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 2

NO COWBOYS

A horse trainer who’s overcome his troubled past by pouring himself into training a wild horse is tested when a fading movie star tries to buy it from under him. DIR Piper De Palma. SCR Ian Geronimo. USA

SHEDDING

A Chinese-American teen battling hair-pulling compulsions and a tyrannical mother’s obsession with discipline reaches a breaking point, unleashing a chilling descent into violence and transformation inside their sewing room. DIR Peiqi Peng. SCR April Yixiao Peng. USA

KILLER OF MEN

In the 1830s American South, an enslaved prizefighter confronts guilt and buried identity after discovering the funeral of the man he was forced to kill. DIR Jordan Betine. SCR Jordan Betine, Kiera Bratton-Lewis. USA

SOUND OF FIRE

Ten years after losing her father to a wildfire, a girl sees life growing in the ashes while her mother sees a curse. DIR Hyo Kim. SCR Hyo Kim, Andrew Yung. USA

KAVOR

Leon, a working-class Armenian immigrant, is honored as Kavor at a wedding, but old wounds resurface as his wealthy cousin Vaz arrives, the man whose money made the celebration possible. DIR Joseph El-Khoury. SCR Edward Nenedzhyan. USA

CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 3

RAMBLE MANIA

A naïve poet who dreams of glory competes inside a surreal battle royale. The rules are simple: one hundred wrestlers in a ring, last man talking wins. DIR Yash Saraf. SCR Yash Saraf. USA

THE CRYONICIST

When her comatose lover is taken off life support by his family, a brilliant but obsessive college student risks everything to steal his body and DIY cryogenically freeze him. DIR Joe Greening. SCR Quinn Spicker. USA

WILL

A guilt-ridden veteran clashes with his estranged bohemian sister over their inherited childhood home, unearthing buried guilt, grief and the haunting legacy of their family’s past. DIR Adam von Carr. SCR Adam von Carr, Zoe Milenkovic. USA

VENGEANCE IS ALL I HAVE

Consumed by rage, a young man penetrates the insidious facade of a suburban family, setting the stage for a chilling reckoning that exposes his need for more than just revenge. DIR Christian Osagiede. SCR Christian Osagiede. USA

DOOR KNOCKING

Wanda keeps her cancer battle a secret from her daughter, Rosie. As she reinvents herself as a city council candidate, she realizes the hardest door to knock on is Rosie’s. DIR Rachel Elizabeth Deutsch. SCR Rachel Elizabeth Deutsch, Ashley Moore, Isabela Santos. USA

CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 4

YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU

Seven-year-old Lucía arrives at her grandparents’ house with a baby chick she was told to abandon. While the adults talk, she and her siblings wander, finding their grandfather’s revolver. DIR Maria Mondragon Gomez Tagle. SCR Maria del Pilar Castro. USA

THE LITTLE MERMAID

When a heartbroken woman seeks revenge on her married lover’s family, his daughter mistakes her for a mermaid. DIR Jingchu Zhang. SCR Christina Huang, Jingchu Zhang. USA

A SUPERHERO’S FATHER

When his superhero son rallies the town to search for a missing woman, a lonely father demands he first fix the leak in his bedroom. DIR Megh Patil. SCR Ameya Chaturvedi. USA

IF EVER

When a long-anticipated wildfire approaches, a young girl struggles to say goodbye to the only home she’s ever known. DIR Colin Rosemont. SCR Colin Rosemont. USA

CONGRATS ON FIRST CHAIR

A high school trumpet player struggles with her feelings toward her best friend, and her competition. DIR Kaylin Allshouse. SCR Kaylin Allshouse, Lillian Young. USA

CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 5

BITER

After being sent to a wilderness therapy program, a troubled teen must confront his aggressive instincts to grow and find some semblance of inner peace. DIR Jack Beckett Cohen. SCR Jack Beckett Cohen. USA

DEGREE OF CERTAINTY

When an oil company’s young risk analyst learns the climate research department has discovered a rapid rise in global temperatures, he must decide which side of history to be on. DIR Simon Schneider. SCR Simon Schneider. USA

COOL PEOPLE

A young woman thinking about ending her life forms an unexpected connection with a kind party store clerk who challenges her worldview, pushing her to question her desire to die. DIR Michelle Kahn. SCR Isabela Cristina de Oliveira Santos. USA

TRUANT

Stranded with a defiant, abandoned boy, a burnt-out social worker is forced to confront the emotional avoidance she’s built her life around. DIR Robyn Wholey. SCR Robyn Wholey, Carl Rennie. USA