AFI Fest brought 157 films from 50 countries to Hollywood from 21 to 25 October. Its programme put established filmmakers beside discoveries, shorts, documentaries and late-night curiosities. The American Film Institute said 45 percent of the official selections were directed by women and 32 percent by filmmakers of colour.
The familiar names were there, including Lee Chang-dong, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Céline Sciamma. But a festival this broad is also an invitation to walk into a screening with very little idea of what waits inside. That is one of cinema’s loveliest risks. Sometimes the film you had circled for weeks stays with you; sometimes it is the one you chose because there was an empty seat.
AFI’s lineup also carried ten official submissions for the next Best International Feature Oscar, among them films from Japan, Nepal, South Korea and Thailand. Those titles now have a longer journey ahead of them than five days in Los Angeles.
Sources: American Film Institute’s 2026 lineup announcement.
Leave a Reply