Film-Forward

Humboldt USA, Joybubbles, The Whole World Is a Lie | First Look 2026

All three films offer rich explorations in under 100-minute runtimes and are highly recommended.

Omaha

A quietly powerful debut feature, set in the American West in 2008, at the height of the financial and housing crisis.

Bernstein’s Wall

If there was ever a rock star in classical music, it was Leonard Bernstein.

I Swear

The occasionally stirring biopic of Tourette syndrome activist John Davidson.

Michael

The biopic offers a 1980s untainted, sanitized version of the singer that, in its own way, feels like a real-life version of Michael Jackson reaching Neverland.

Aro Berria, Chronovisor, The Prophet | New Directors/New Films 2026 Report

The festival remains a reliable space for debuting and emerging filmmakers with singular talents willing to challenge themselves (and audiences) to expand the language of cinema.

Amrum

Actor Jasper Billerbeck plays one of the most memorably multidimensional young wartime protagonists since The Tin Drum and Empire of the Sun.

Mother Mary

David Lowery’s new movie is, in many ways, unclassifiable, flirting with different genres and featuring a mise-en-scène both restrained and grandiose at once.

Blue Heron

The powerful first part of Sophy Romvari’s semi-autobiographical story reveals a frightening family struggle through the eyes of a young girl.