NYFF 2026 Unveils 32-Film Slate: Gilroy, DuVernay, Cannes Favorites
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- New York Film Festival announced a 32-film main slate for its 64th edition, anchored by four world premieres including Tony Gilroy's centerpiece 'Behemoth!,' Ava DuVernay's closing night documentary '14th,' Mani Haghighi's 'I Deserve a Lover Whose Every Rise Sets Fiery Dooms Raging Across the Skies,' and Takashi Yamazaki's monster epic 'Godzilla Minus Zero.'
- The lineup draws heavily from Cannes, including Andrey Zvyagintsev's Grand Prix winner 'Minotaur,' Paweł Pawlikowski's best-director winner 'Fatherland,' Sandra Wollner's Un Certain Regard winner 'Everytime,' and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's shared best actress winner 'All of a Sudden' starring Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto.
- Chris Rock returns behind the camera with Hollywood drama 'Misty Green' (U.S. premiere), while Mike Leigh's 'Tender Loving Care' screens as what the festival flags as his likely final film; Andrew Haigh's 1950s drama 'A Long Winter,' Pedro Almodóvar's 'Bitter Christmas,' and Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' also feature.
- The festival opens Sept. 25 with James Gray's period thriller 'Paper Tiger' starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller and runs through Oct. 12, with screenings at Lincoln Center plus BAM, the Museum of the Moving Image, Alamo Drafthouse Staten Island, and AMC Bay Plaza Cinema in the Bronx.
- Seventeen directors appear in the main slate for the first time, including Tony Gilroy, Chris Rock, Marine Atlan, and Mani Haghighi; Hong Sangsoo is the only filmmaker with two titles, bringing his 34th and 35th features.
- Artistic director Dennis Lim said it is 'hard to recall a prior Main Slate program in which the state of the world has been as urgently reflected in so many creative ways,' underscoring the festival's curatorial emphasis on present-moment concerns.
Why it matters: With 32 films programmed and 17 first-time main-slate directors, NYFF's curatorial committee under Dennis Lim is signaling an unusually large infusion of new voices, while still anchoring marquee slots with Tony Gilroy and Ava DuVernay world premieres and the festival's deepest-ever overlap with Cannes prize winners — a balance that will shape which international titles New York audiences encounter first between Sept. 25 and Oct. 12.
