The AFI Fest has announced their lineup to take place at the end of October, the 21st-29th, just before the early voting for the Oscars starts. By that, I mean, at the end of November we get the Gothams, the New York Film Critics and the National Board of Review (last year, it was Mass Formation Psychosis that bowed down to One Battle After Another).
But hope springs eternal right now when all doors remain open. The AFI Fest can sometimes push a movie in depending on how the crowd reacts. It is, like Toronto, a live event that is less micro-managed than, say, Telluride, and less insular than, say, New York Film Fest.
Here are the 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
And here are the rest of the 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
You can see the full list and more here: FEST.AFI.com.
