Festivals

There are plenty of big movies and big stars at year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM). Last week, I previewed the fest with Getting Ready for the 2026 SFFILM Festival. Don’t overlook these three lower profile films – movies like these are the reason we go to film festivals.

• Those Who Whistle After Dark: Newly retired museum director Mehli (Mufit Kayacan) is just settling into his retirement, with nothing to do except to get the apartment of his late sister ready for sale. Meanwhile, his social climbing wife Suzan (Hulya Gulsen Irmak) a surgical nurse, is aching for even more social status. His daughter Toprak (Inci Cefa Cingoz), after a breakup, has dropped out of her PhD program to write a novel, but now spends her time on-line gaming with her ex. Mehli is unsettled when ghosts appear in the sister’s apartment, but his retirement is going to be rocked by the secret schemes of his living wife and daughter. In her first feature, writer-director Pinar Yorgancioglu, brilliantly uses the device of the ghosts to skewer family dysfunction and social competitiveness in Istanbul’s professional class.
• Sender: In this absurdist psychological thriller, Julia (Emmy-winner Britt Lower of Severance) receives a daily avalanche of deliveries from a thinly disguised e-commerce giant. Trouble is, she hasn’t ordered them. And the products are incoherently random. The delivery guy (David Dastmalchian) offers help, but there’s something unsettling about him. Who is placing the orders and why? As the cardboard packaging piles up everywhere in her home, Julia’s slow burning paranoia becomes more intense. Not much is more banal in post-pandemic America than getting an Amazon delivery, but writer-director Russell Goldman, in his feature debut, has turned it into something ominous and laden with menace. Also features Rhea Seehorn and Jamie Lee Curtis.

• Two Pianos: In the latest from French director Arnaud Desplechin (My Golden Days, Ismael’s Ghosts), concert pianist Matthias (three-time César nominee Francois Civil) returns to his hometown of Lyon after a decade abroad. Matthias is already in a mid-career malaise, but things get more complicated when he re-encounters his formidable mentor Elena (Charlotte Rampling) and his best friend’s wife Claude (Nadia Tereszkiewicz of Only the Animals, The Crime Is Mine). Matthias is further rocked when he sees that the ten-year-old son of Claude, who Matthias had dated, looks exactly like Matthias. A well-crafted melodrama ensues, one with unconventional turns.

And here is one that I haven’t yet seen yet, but I think it’s a pretty good bet. The closing night film will be Power Ballad, the latest from John Carney, writer-director of Once, Sing Street and Flora and Son. Those three Feel Good movies all feature penniless Dubliners who discover themselves by harnessing their songwriting talents. The premise of Power Ballad is that a wedding singer (Paul Rudd) finds himself in an all-night jam with a no-longer-popular boy band star (Nick Jonas). Afterwards the wash-out revives his career with a monster hit. Did he steal the song from the wedding singer? The story resembles a real-life controversy.

The menu at the 2026 SFFILM Festival includes 150 films from 40 countries. Peruse the program and buy tickets at SFFILM. Here’s the trailer for Power Ballad.

The 2026 SLO Film Fest opens on Thursday. I’ve screened over a dozen of the features, and here are three Must See indies:

• How to Date Again: In this touching and funny romance, it’s been over a year since the death of his wife, and Michael (Rob Mor) is socially isolated, locked down by grief. His well-meaning dolt of a best friend gets him on a dating app, and after two very funny misses, he meets Leigh (Natasha Loring), whose tastes and sensibilities astonishingly dovetail with his. Michael, whose dating skills have become stale, awkwardly follows Leigh’s lead. A date morphs into an idyllic road trip to Morro Rock and the Madonna Inn. Haley Joel Osment is hilarious as an off-putting desk clerk, and will appear personally at the SLO Film Fest to receive an award. Sweet and poignant, this is an uncommonly truthful film. First feature for writer-director Matt Flanders, and the screenplay is very personal; (stick around for the closing credits). World premiere.
• Adult Children: In this smart and insightful comedy, a couple is heading off on a European vacation just as the troubled adult son from the wife’s first marriage is wait-listed for a drug rehab bed. He needs supervision to prevent relapse, so his mom enlists his two sisters to fly in and babysit him. The couple’s 17-year-old daughter, twenty years younger than her half-siblings, opts out of the trip so she can finally get to know her brother and sisters. The three adult children fled the nest early after growing up free-ranging in the alcoholic chaos of their late father. The high-achieving, somewhat anxious, teen daughter comes from much more stable parenting. As the four settle in together, they find that maturity, direction and responsibility don’t automatically accompany chronological adulthood. It’s even revealed that the older daughters are posing as altruists to mask their own neediness. By turns funny and poignant, the story benefits from an excellent ensemble cast: Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad), Thomas Sadowski (The Newsroom, Life in Pieces), Aya Cash (You’re the Worst) and Ella Rubin (Ani’s roommate/sister Vera in Anora). The real star here is the screenplay by seasoned actress Annika Marks; she is married to director Rich Newey, and this is their second narrative feature as a filmmaking team.
• Sender: In this absurdist psychological thriller, Julia (Emmy-winner Britt Lower of Severance) receives a daily avalanche of deliveries from a thinly disguised e-commerce giant. Trouble is, she hasn’t ordered them. And the products are incoherently random. The delivery guy (David Dastmalchian) offers help, but there’s something unsettling about him. Who is placing the orders and why? As the cardboard packaging piles up everywhere in her home, Julia’s slow burning paranoia becomes more intense. Not much is more banal in post-pandemic America than getting an Amazon delivery, but writer-director Russell Goldman, in his feature debut, has turned it into something ominous and laden with menace. Also features Rhea Seehorn and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Here are some more recommendations:

• The Fisherman: You haven’t seen anything like this delightful comedy from Ghana. The aging fisherman Atta’s (Ricky Adelayitar) only aspiration is to finally reach the status of boat chief in his seaside village. Just when it looks like his dream is unjustly denied him, he gets the help of a sassy talking fish. Carrying around an emotional support fish that only he can hear, he gets the help of three young villagers and the crew heads off for the bustling modernity of big city Accra, where Atta is the fish out of water. Can they hustle the funds to purchase of Atta’s own fishing boat? Atta’s relationships with his longtime partner and his daughter are explored in this playful peek into both traditional and modern Ghanaian society. And there’s a talking fish.
• This Tempting Madness: In this briskly-paced thriller, Mia (Simone Ashley of Bridgerton) emerges from a coma, and can’t remember the fall that caused her critical injuries. She learns that her husband has been jailed for trying to kill her, but she can’t accept that explanation. She embarks on an investigation to find out what really happened, and begins to unspool the mystery, uncovering ever darker discoveries. Inspired (surprisingly) by a true story. First feature for director and co-writer Jennifer E. Montgomery.
• The Musical: In this dark comedy, Doug (Will Brill of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) is an aspiring playwright, making ends meet as a middle school drama teacher. He and his girlfriend Abigail (Gillian Jacobs of Community), another teacher, are “taking a break”, and he’s oblivious to the clues that she intends for it to be permanent. Hoping that their relationship will resume, he’s stunned to learn that she’s now dating their smarmy boss (a deliciously repulsive Rob Lowe). Stewing in bitterness, Doug plots an epic revenge. First feature for director Giselle Bonilla and writer Alexander Heller. West Coast premiere.
• The Strawberry: Inspired by a true story, this moving drama explores end-of-life issues with clear-eyed authenticity. Recent widower Herb (Mike Farrell of M*A*S*H) receives a terminal diagnosis and resolves to maintain his dignity and resolve family relationships. This one’s a weeper. Farrell, himself 86, is excellent. The Strawberry was filmed in Cambria, and locals will recognize a popular ocean overlook and glimpses of the main drag. First feature for writer-directors Carlos and Kyle Plummer. West Coast premiere.
• Valentina: Gregarious and fun-loving Valentina (Keyla Monterroso Mejia) is epically irresponsible with parking tickets. To recover her impounded car, she must raise some cash, despite being job-averse. What she has going for her is wily charm, a network of friends and family and the ability to expertly navigate her hometown of El Paso. Valentina is a showcase for the bubbly charisma of Mejia (Ashley in Abbott Elementary and Petra in The Studio). In her first feature, director and co-writer Tatti Ribeiro surrounds Mejia with a cast of non-actors and embeds political-awareness and remarkable verisimilitude in a comedy.

And here is one that I haven’t yet seen yet, but I think it’s a pretty good bet. The closing night film will be Power Ballad, the latest from John Carney, writer-director of Once, Sing Street and Flora and Son. Those three Feel Good movies all feature penniless Dubliners who discover themselves by harnessing their songwriting talents. The premise of Power Ballad is that a wedding singer (Paul Rudd) finds himself in an all-night jam with a no-longer-popular boy band star (Nick Jonas). Afterwards the wash-out revives his career with a monstrous hit. Did he steal the song from the wedding singer? Story resembles a real-life controversy. California premiere.

There are plenty more experiences at the fest, including features, workshops, six programs of shorts and, for the first time, episodics. Peruse the program and get your tickets at SLO Film Fest.

This year’s SLO Film Fest, opening April 24, once again presents the richest Surf/Skate program that I’ve ever seen at a mainstream film festival. In fact, the SLO Film Festival dedicates its Friday night and Saturday night showcase screenings to Surf/Skate events – that’s respect. Here are the highlights.

• The always popular Surf Night features the documentary The Blind Sea, about Australian surfer Matt Formston, who has become a 3-time World Champion with only 3% vision. If competitive surfing while blind weren’t enough, he takes on the monumental break at Nazaré. Expect the Fremont to be packed again with surfers enjoying drinks in the lobby and the Riff Tide surf band before the screening.

• This year, the festival’s Community of Skate will be hosted by the Bay Theater in Morro Bay. The feature film is the documentary N-Men: The Untold Story, which takes us to a freeway underpass in 1975 with the story of a seminal skateboarding crew; N-Men stars Tony Hawk and Tony Alva. There’s also the world premiere of a short film about skater Pat Ngoho, a post-screening panel and an exhibition of the custom skateboard designs and live-screen printing by the SLO High School Advanced Graphic Design class..

Check out the program and get your tickets at SLO Film Fest. Here’s the trailer for N-Men: The Untold Story.

This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) opens April 24, and runs through May 4. SFFILM Festival is the longest-running film festival in the Americas, and this year’s fest is the 69th.

The Opening and Closing nights will return to the Castro Theatre, and Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre will host the Centerpiece night. Other venues include the Premier Theater at One Letterman, the JCCSF, SFMOMA, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Marina in San Francisco and the Berkeley Art Museum and BAMPFA in Berkeley.

The menu at SFFILM Festival includes150 films from 40 countries. Peruse the program and buy tickets at SFFILM.

Here are some of the more special elements of this year’s SFFILM Festival :

• A double feature at the Castro on Opening Night, kicking off with with Late Fame, staring Greta Lee and Willem Dafoe.
• The other Opening Night film will be Olivia Wilde’s Invite, with a SF-based story, and starring Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton, Seth Rogen and Wilde herself. Personal appearance by Olivia Wilde.
• The already sold out Closing Night program is a screening of Star Wars™: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back, including an onstage conversation between C-3PO himself, Anthony Daniels and Lucasfilm veteran, Howard Roffman.
• A special screening of Power Ballad, the latest from John Carney, writer-director of Once, Sing Street and Flora and Son.
• The absurdist psychological thriller Sender, fresh from SXSW, starring Britt Lower (Severance), Rhea Seehorn and Jamie Lee Curtis.
• A performance by Grammy-winning guitarist Gabriela Quintero of Rodrigo y Gabriela will follow the documentary about her, Mysterious Bird.
• Movies starring Tilda Swinton, Dustin Hoffman, Chris Pine, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Jamie Lee Curtis, Paul Rudd, Danielle Brooks, Peter Mullan, Dale Dickey, Léa Seydoux, Don Cheadle, Rhea Seehorn, Britt Lower, Charlotte Rampling, Demi Moore, Keke Palmer and Nick Jonas.

As usual, I’ll be looking for under-the-radar gems and posting my recommendations just before the fest’s opening. Here’s the festival trailer.

Cinequest is winding up its in-person program today, and transitioning to its virtual festival, which I will cover tomorrow. Here are the Cinequest 2026 films that I hadn’t written about yet. The first two would have made my Best of Cinequest had I been able to screen them earlier:

• Dead or Dying: This acidly droll comedy satirizes modern self-absorption in a near future LA where, absurdly, there’s an epidemic of youngish people falling over dead. The film is a series of vignettes that are all pretty good, but the opener with a stunningly self-centered TV star (Alyssa Lemperis) is especially hilarious, as is one with two guys pitching a new app with a target market of bosses. First film for writer-directors John Purcell and Malin von Euler-Hogan. World premiere.
• American Muscle: n this taut, 80-minute neo-noir, Ray (David Thompson) is the mechanic at an isolated auto shop in rural Kern County. Ray is in serious debt to a very serious man, but he has a scheme for raising the payoff. Trouble is, his lender’s two very scary enforcers arrive to collect the money now, and Ray doesn’t have it. Just then, Ray’s long-estranged sister Maggie (Liana Wright-Mark) shows up unexpectedly. Ray’s financial deadline is accelerated, and he is plunged into a desperate and apparently hopeless race against the clock. In his first feature, writer-director Joel Veach creates a vivid milieu and delivers a perfect ending. Veach understands a great truth that is also a tenet of film noir: if you’re a loser, you can always find a way to make yourself a bigger loser. The dry emptiness of American Muscle’s Kern County makes the Bakersfield of Honey Don’t look like Mumbai. The intellectual curiosity of the bantering enforcers is a very funny homage to the characters of Vincent and Jules in Pulp Fiction. Very entertaining and a first-class neo-noir. World premiere.

Here are the others that I’m catching up writing about, in the order in which I liked them:

• Victoria: A young beautician faces an urgent decision – whether to elope with the boyfriend her parents have rejected for her. Pressure mounts as she must orchestrate her escape by the end of the work day, all while minding the beauty shop by herself. Absurdly, she is also babysitting a rooster destined for a religious festival at night. Excellent lead performance by Meenakshi Jayan and a very human, relatable story. First film for writer-director Siviranjini J. US Premiere.
• The Vanishing of Dolores Wulff: The elements that distinguish this true crime doc are 1) a murder solved after over forty years; 2) the impact of decades-long unresolved loss upon the victim’s children; 3) the family discomfort of the primary suspect being the father of the victim’s children; and 4) an appallingly funny Greek Chorus of hot-tempered knuckleheads in the extended family. Exceptionally resourced – we meet the family, the idiot would-be vigilantes and law enforcement. First feature for Paul Sadowski. World premiere.
• Lady D: A teen sister and brother find themselves homeless, on the unforgiving streets of Tirana, Albania. They fall into a seamy scene filled with dangers for them to escape or survive; their fortunes turn when they meet a mysterious, hard-ass woman who knows how to navigate the underworld. Writer-director Fatmir Koçi embues the film with verisimilitude, and nobody in Tirana is getting the Parent of the Year award. US premiere.
• 98 lbs of Dynamite: A disability from birth has left a man very physically tiny, and confined to a wheelchair. Nevertheless, he is relentlessly upbeat and funny, and aggressively embracing life. We meet his mom and learn her impact on his attitude. Feel Good. First film for writer-director Loren Goldfarb. World premiere.
• The Mechanics of Borders: A 19-year-old French Canadian guy, just out of foster care, has been establishing his own adult life, with an unpleasant first job and grubby first apartment; he has friends and a woman who wants to be his girlfriend. Suddenly, he gets a distress call from his long-estranged older sister who begs him to retrieve her from a bad situation in Arizona. Against his better judgment, he drives the two days to pick her up, and they embark on a road trip back to Quebec. Impulsive, volatile and unreliable, she is a hot mess. He is more functional, and she is more worldly, but both are emotionally scarred from their chaotic childhoods. On the road trip, they start to come to grips with the impact of their shared experience and to rebuild their relationship. Well-acted, with an especially powerful interlude while they wait for their van to be repaired, but the ending didn’t pay off for me. US Premiere.
• The Mainland: In this enigmatic Russian tale, a woman brings her son to a remote island to await something that we will eventually discover. Superb lead performance by Anastasiya Kuimova as her character undergoes a wide palette of emotions: moodiness, determination, lust, fatigue, ennui and longing. The stark island landscape is visually stunning. But there’s also a mysterious whale on her side – some magical realism that didn’t work for me. US premiere.
• Dancing on the Elephant: In this Canadian dramedy, an elderly woman (an excellent Sheila McCarthy) is moved from her home to an independent living facility. There she meets another female resident who is outrageously subversive. Not bad, but it mines the same material as much better geezer comedies like Cloudburst and Thelma. First narrative feature for directors Julia Neill and Jacob Z. Smith. US premiere.
• Lonely Nights: In this Mexican coming of age drama, an almost-college-age kid flounders socially. His parents and friends are rich, but he is directionless and socially awkward. He hires a hooker and then becomes infatuated with her – which everyone but him knows cannot last. It’s a well-crafted and sweet film, but I’ve just lost all patience with the patient with angst of the very privileged. First feature for director and co-writer Julian Acosta Vera. World premiere.
• Give It Up: A failing comic tries to restart his life by going on the road with yet another tour of one-night stands. Trouble is, this loser is too unlovable, so we just don’t care. World premiere.
• After Love: A decades-long marriage between two aging Iranian immigrants has long ago sank into bitter co-existence. The husband finally snaps, launching a series of misadventures for the two. This is supposed to be a comedy, but the two are so unlikable and some moments so transgressive, that it’s not watchable. World premiere.

Tomorrow, I’ll be posting about which of these films, along with others I’ve already written about will become available to watch in Cinequest’s virtual festival, Cinejoy.

Cinequest, Silicon Valley’s own major film festival, returns March 10-22 to the California Theatre and the Hammer Theater in downtown San Jose and to the Alamo Drafthouse in Mountain View. Selected films from the program will move to to Cinequest’s virtual platform, Cinejoy, March 24-31.

I’m covering Cinequest for the fifteenth straight year. I’ve included some tips for making the most of the Cinequest experience under “Hacking Cinequest” below.

I’ve already screened almost thirty Cinequest 2026 films, and here are my initial recommendations. As usual, I focus on the world and US premieres. Follow the links for full reviews, images and trailers. Thrillers and feel good documentaries are especially strong in this year’s program; I’m leading off with a sci fi thinkpiece.

SCI FI

• Heartworm: Set in a near future where humans can connect to an AI-generated world indistinguishable from reality, a couple grapples with the heartbreaking death of their daughter. The mom is bravely working through her grief, trying to harness her resilience; the dad, equally shattered, has emotionally shut down. When we see the daughter, is it a flashback or a reappearance? The mom must figure out whether she has experienced a trauma-induced hallucination or a psychotic break – or whether the dad has stepped into an insidious AI pseudo-reality where their trauma didn’t happen? The distinguished Broadway actress Amber Gray, most recently Tony-nominated for Hadestown, soars as the mom, fighting fiercely for her sanity at the moment of her greatest vulnerability. This brilliantly constructed film is a striking debut feature for writer-directors Miriam Louise Arens and Mitchell Arens. World premiere. (Scroll down for the trailer.)

DRAMEDY

• Therapy: A husband and wife team of therapists have over-invested in a spacious seaside manor, where they are about to host a five-day couples retreat. Trouble is, the splendid but decaying estate has tapped out their finances, and their own marriage is on the rocks. What could possibly go wrong? This very funny Finnish dramedy sends up psychobabble while exploring the topics of grief, loyalty, betrayal, jealousy, disappointment and relationship fatigue. Therapy’s screenplay brims with insight, wit and humanity. Second narrative feature for writer-director Paavo Westerberg. US premiere.

THRILLERS

• Plan C: This hyper-kinetic thriller is one pressure cooker of a movie. Criminals often lack impulse control, and a brother-and-sister team of small-timers exacerbate a bad situation with a sequence of ever-worse bad choices. As they careen into into life-and-death desperation, the accelerant is the sister Clare, whose lethal combination of determination and logical unsoundness is vividly played by Claire Cavalheiro. There’s a ticking clock, and the countdown stems from a most unusual hijacking. The acclaimed Viveca A. Fox has a key supporting role. First feature for writer-director Scott Anthony Cavalheiro. World premiere.
• Wardriver: In this pulsating and highly original thriller, Cole (Dane DeHaan) is a hacker, who drives around Salt Lake City logging on to other people’s wireless networks, locating business payrolls and draining them into his own secret accounts. He conveniently says that he doesn’t rob people, but only steals from banks. Cole may be geeky for a professional criminal, but he finds himself entangled with a sequence of extremely dangerous bad guys, each scarier than the last. When he meets a beautiful woman who may or may not be who she says she is, his compulsion to save her puts him at even more risk. DeHaan’s performance carries this well-acted film. Sasha Calle, so good in In the Summers, and William Belleau (Killers of the Flower Moon) stand out in supporting roles. In a complete departure from her brilliant debut film Electrick Children, director Rebecca Thomas keeps the pace sizzling. This highly original techie noir screenplay was written by Daniel Casey. If you’re not paranoid about the security of your home router, you will be. World premiere.

DOCUMENTARY/FEEL GOOD

• Unscripted Lives: A community center for the disabled in a small Vermont village puts on a musical every year, and this doc chronicles the town’s production of Beauty and the Beast.  The intellectually disabled play the the parts with lines of dialogue and make up 25-50% of the cast; the rest of the cast are townspeople up on stage in costume, helping make the disabled successful.  The auditions make you wonder how this could possibly work, but it’s a massive Feel Good. The kid who plays the Beast has a goofy charm, and the kid who plays Belle gets a deserved ovation after her big vocal number. This celebration of the power of community is goodhearted without being saccharine, and should be the biggest Feel Good hit at the 2026 Cinequest. Bay Area premiere.
• Face to Face: Don Bachardy: This is the charming biopic of Don Bachardy, an exceptional artist who draws and paints portraits only from life. Don’s late partner, the famous writer Christopher Isherwood (30 years older), introduced him to scads of other celebrities, and we see perhaps over 100 movie star portraits by Don.  There’s a series of Isherwood portraits, and a clip of Isherwood referring to himself in the third person  – “I like the ones where he is dying”. Bachardy painted the the iconic and jarring official portrait of Jerry Brown in the California Capitol building.  There’s a great scene where the 90-year-old Don himself surprises a tour guide and a class of schoolchildren as they look at the painting.  Bachardy himself is upbeat and very fun to be with. World premiere.

ART FILM

• Remember Me Always: This artsy, atmospheric neo-noir is set during one night in the mustiest, most shadowy hotel in Argentina. The burned-out hotel manager looks unkempt but he cares about one thing – the safety of his guests. There are hardly any guests, but one of them becomes a target of the very criminal organization that the manager once belonged to and has repudiated. He must scurry around the bowels of the hotel as the clock ticks. Shot in a boxy aspect, in black-and-white, Remember Me Always revives the smokiness and visual darkness of classic film noir – and the hotel’s sole television is rerunning Out of the Past. First film for Argentine writer-director Mateo Garimberti. World premiere.

HACKING CINEQUEST

Cinequest resumes its Downtown San Jose vibe, with concurrent screenings at the 1122-seat California and the 550-seat Hammer, within 1600 feet of each other (and the Continental Bar Lounge & Patio, which has historically hosted the festival’s VIP lounge). On Saturday, March 13, screenings start up at the Alamo Drafthouse in Mountain View, 30 minutes away in weekend traffic (and longer on weekdays).

At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $199 (a ten-pack for $110), and you can get individual tickets as well. Take a look at the entire program, the schedule and the passes and tickets.

As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) twenty to thirty films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST 2026 page, with links to all my coverage. 

Here’s the trailer for Heartworm:

Cinequest, Silicon Valley’s own major film festival, returns March 10-23 to the California Theatre and the Hammer Theater in downtown San Jose and the Alamo Drafthouse in Mountain View. Selected films from the program will move to to Cinequest’s virtual platform, Cinejoy, March 24-31.

Highlights of the 2026 Cinequest include:

• 123 world and US premieres and many directorial debuts.
• Films from 44 countries, including from Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Albania, Norway, Hungary, China, Finland, India, and the UK.  
• New movies produced by James Ivory, directed by Steven Soderbergh, Rebecca Morris (Electrik Children) and Ben Wheatley (High-Rise); and starring Bob Odenkirk , Steve Zahn, Ethan Hawke,  Vivica A. Fox, Tamara Weaving, Henry Winkler, Sonequa Martin-Green, Thomas Sadowski, Mimi Rogers, Betsy Brandt, Rosemary DeWitt and Tony-nominee Amber Gray.
• Personal appearances by Steve Zahn and Viveca A. Fox to receive Cinequest awards and to present their upcoming films.
• Cinequest’s Silent Cinema Event will present a major spectacle, the 1926 Ben-Hur, accompanied by master organist Dennis James on the historic California Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer.
• And, at Cinequest, it’s easy to meet the filmmakers.

At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $199 (a ten-pack for $110), and you can get individual tickets as well. The prices have not been raised SINCE 2019!) Take a look at the entire program, the schedule and the passes and tickets

I’ll be rigorously covering Cinequest for the fifteenth straight year, with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) over twenty Cinequest films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST 2026 page, with links to all my coverage (links on the individual movies will start to go live on Sunday, March 8).