NYFF 2026 preview: 14 films you’ll want to see (and how)

The New York Film Festival kicks off this week, continuing what’s already been a jam-packed fall festival season. Whether you’re attending the festival in person or just planning out your fall moviegoing calendar, Mashable has you covered on the buzziest titles you’ll want to check out.

This year, NYFF’s slate includes films from acclaimed directors like Werner Herzog, Pedro Almodóvar, and James Gray, as well as highly-anticipated films like Godzilla Minus One sequel Godzilla Minus Zero and Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything. Plus, keep an eye out for Oscar hopeful turns from stars like Julianne Moore, Pedro Pascal, John Turturro, and more.

From searing documentaries to poignant dramas, here are 14 films to keep an eye out for at NYFF.

1. Godzilla Minus Zero

One of the most thrilling surprises of 2023 cinema was just how epic Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One was. While American filmmakers had made a flurry of flashy monster movies, it was this period piece set in World War II that had audiences and critics roaring with renewed vigor for the iconic kaiju.

That its sequel is playing the New York Film Festival speaks to the enthusiasm of cinephiles for more. Yamazaki returns with a story that picks up two years after the events of the first film. The monster is sure to rise again. And we cannot wait! —Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor

Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, and Yuki Yamada

How to watch: Godzilla Minus Zero will open in theaters and IMAX on Nov. 6.

2. Behemoth!

Tony Gilroy, writer/director of The Bourne Legacy, Duplicity, and Michael Clayton, returns with a tantalizing drama headlined by Pedro Pascal.

The Last of Us star plays a musician — from a family of musicians — who makes a living playing for movie scores. Beyond that, it’s unclear what exactly will go down in Bohemoth! But considering Gilroy’s past films, we expect plenty of seduction and tension. And honestly, the cast alone would have us seated. — K.P.

Starring: Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, and Will Arnett

How to watch: Behemoth! will open in theaters on Dec. 4.

3. Paper Tiger

Writer/director James Gray has previously offered audiences New York-set dramas like Two Lovers, The Immigrant, and Armageddon Time. His latest returns to the city that never sleeps, focusing on a pair of brothers who want to be kings of Queens.

Adam Driver stars as Gary Pearl, a cop-turned-security consultant, who’s living a luxury life and is eager to cut his young brother Irwin, an earnest engineer played by Miles Teller, in on a big opportunity. But when they accidentally cross the Russian mob, Irwin’s family — including two young sons and a loving wife (Scarlett Johansson) — are threatened. A thriller that explores how an average man might fare against Goodfellas makes for a tense watch you won’t want to miss. — K.P.

Starring: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller

How to watch: Paper Tiger will open in theaters on Nov. 13.

4. A Long Winter

From Andrew Haigh, the writer/director of All of Us Strangers, comes another brilliant adaptation rooted in queer love. Based on Colm Tóibín’s novella of the same name, A Long Winter stars Fred Hechinger as a young man living in the Colorado Mountains with his parents whose life is forever changed when his mother goes missing.

A tale patient, passionate, poignant, and a bit spooky, A Long Winter is a stirring drama about growing up. Plus, it offers a phenomenal lead performance from Fred Hechinger. Don’t overlook it. — K.P.

Starring: Fred Hechinger, Caitríona Balfe, Martin Freeman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Kit Connor, and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai

How to watch: A Long Winter has not yet announced a theatrical release date.

5. Clarissa

Directors Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri (This Is My Desire) re-team for a curious adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Chuko began by transporting the novel’s setting from 1920’s London, England, to contemporary Lagos, Nigeria.

There, a wealthy, watchful wife named Clarissa (Sophie Okonedo) plans a party, which she hopes her submissive husband (Jude Akuwudike) won’t mar. Invited are some old friends, including a former beau (David Oyelowo), and an estranged gal pal (Nikki Amuka-Bird). But their pasts come alive as the story leaps back to their youth, where passion, status, and intellect intersect with young love.

With a crackling cast, Clarissa is a promising new spin on Woolf’s beloved novel. — K.P.

Starring: Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo, India Amarteifio, Toheeb Jimoh, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Ayo Edebiri

How to watch: Clarissa will open in limited release on Dec. 11.

6. NAZA

Credit: NYFF

Israeli documentarians Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who co-directed 2024’s Academy Award-winning No Other Land alongside Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal, return to NYFF with their new documentary NAZA. Made up of interviews with 24 anonymous Israeli military and intelligence officers, NAZA takes an unflinching look at how Israeli forces use AI and high-tech surveillance systems to target and kill Palestinians. The film draws its title from the term for the number of estimated civilian deaths in strikes. Instead of saying 15 people will die, Israeli forces say 15 NAZA.

The term NAZA is one of the many ways Abraham and Szor’s striking film illustrates how the Israeli government and military dehumanize Palestinians and try to justify their killings. Often, interviewees will claim they’re just cogs in a machine. Abraham and Szor refrain from showing any actual atrocities, instead forcing viewers to sit in the descriptions of killings and strikes. The result is a calmly brutal portrait of the banality of evil that should be required viewing. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

How to watch: NAZA opens in limited theaters Sept. 30.

7. Misty Green

Chris Rock writes and directs a drama about a once-revered Black actress who is struggling to make ends meet in Hollywood. Rosalind Eleazar stars as the eponymous has-been, who’s trying to keep her cool while remounting a second act and being confronted with a dehumanizing establishment that’s obsessed with everything new, hot, and white. In this journey, she’ll encounter lots of familiar faces, and with fire.

Rock knows comedy. Can he helm drama? We’re ready to find out. — K.P.

Starring: Rosalind Eleazar, Daniel Kaluuya, Adam Driver, and Anna Kendrick

How to watch: Misty Green will open in select theaters on Oct. 9.

8. The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

You might recognize Noah Segan from his appearances in Rian Johnson movies like Knives Out, Brick, and Looper. Now, he’s writer/director of The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, which stars John Turturro as an aging thief who targets the wrong mark. On a ticking clock to set things right, this thriller is being celebrated as a “love letter to New York” with another terrific turn by Turturro. — K.P.

Starring: John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, and Tatiana Maslany

How to watch: The Only Living Pickpocket in New York opens in NYC and L.A. Oct. 23, before going nationwide on Oct. 30.

9. Tender Loving Care

If Widow‘s Bay has you craving more Kate O’Flynn, you won’t want to miss Mike Leigh’s latest. Tender Loving Care stars the actress as a social worker who’s coping with a breakup and the realization that her beloved father is sliding into dementia. But far from a ruthless tearjerker, this is a drama alight with joy, love, and a bit of song and dance. And O’Flynn is brilliant in every bit.

Starring: Kate O’Flynn, Amanda Lawrence, Marion Bailey, and Paul Jesson

How to watch: Tender Loving Care will open in theaters on Dec. 4.

10. You Can See Everything

Comedian Nathan Fielder and filmmaker Lance Oppenheim (Primetime) team up for a documentary about infamous Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Following its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, critics have been awed and the internet has been obsessed with You Can See Everything.

Considering Fielder is known for blurring the lines of reality and performance, what will his doc about living in the same house as Holmes ahead of her incarceration offer? We’re as curious as everyone else. — K.P.

Starring: Nathan Fielder, Elizabeth Holmes

How to watch: You Can See Everything will open in theaters on Oct. 16.

11. Club Kid

You might know Jordan Firstman as the self-sabotaging stylist on I Love L.A. Now, get to know him as a filmmaker.

Written and directed by and starring Firstman, Club Kid centers on a New York City club promoter whose life dramatically changes when a kid comes into his life. Club Kid has been gathering praise on the festival circuit, and seems certain to thrill audiences that are already in love with the Big Apple. Ready to party? — K.P.

Starring: Jordan Firstman, Reggie Absolom, Cara Delevingne, and Diego Calva

How to watch: Club Kid will open in theaters on Nov. 6.

12. Bucking Fastard

Werner Herzog hasn’t shown a film at NYFF since 1982’s Fitzcarraldo. So fans of the offbeat auteur are practically giddy over the New York premiere of Bucking Fastard.

In this drama, written and directed by Herzog, real-life sisters Rooney Mara and Kate Mara plays sisters who speak in unison, share the same dreams, and fall in love with the same man (Orlando Bloom). Early buzz has it that this setup makes for some surreal moments and unsettling threesome scenes. — K.P.

Starring: Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, and Orlando Bloom

How to watch: Bucking Fastard’s theatrical release is currently TBD.

13. Bitter Christmas

It’s Pedro Almodóvar, back with a semi-autobiographical drama about a filmmaker whose search for source material proves a problem for his closest friend.

Rich with color and melodrama, Bitter Christmas weaves not one story of an artist who irks their loved ones by pulling from their lives for his work, but two! In 2004, Elsa is looking to overcome grief over her mother with a new project. In 2025, Raúl faces a similar struggle, looking to a suffering friend for inspiration. But these two have more in common than you might expect.

After scoring praise out of the Cannes International Film Festival, Bitter Christmas comes to NYFF to stir emotions and discourse. — K.P.

Starring: Bárbara Lennie, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Victoria Luengo, Patrick Criado, Milena Smit, and Quim Gutiérrez

How to watch: Bitter Christmas opens in limited release on Nov. 13, expanding Nov. 25.

14. The Debut

Oh, we do love a film about making theatre. Director, writer, and producer Jesse Eisenberg’s A24 comedy looks to capture the sheer grit and dedication of community theatre productions and the lifeline they can be for the people who make them.

In The Debut, Julianne Moore plays Mona Friedman, a wife and mother who decides to audition for a community musical in her local New Jersey theatre. What begins as a flight of fancy becomes a serious means for Mona to channel her inner rage and joy, as local legend and demanding director Jerry (Paul Giamatti) pushes her to unlock a part of herself she’s long suppressed.* — Shannon Connellan, Senior Editor

Starring: Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Halle Bailey, Jesse Eisenberg, Cara Buono, Craig Bierko, Eldar Isgandarov, and Bernadette Peters

How to watch: The Debut opens in theaters Dec. 11.