October 16, 2026
Making JOSEPHINE A Creative Conversation presented by Canva
Fresh from Sundance, where it won both the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award, JOSEPHINE, starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan, arrives at AFI FEST presented by Canva as one of the year's most acclaimed films. Meet producer Marina Stabile (AFI Class of 2009), editor Anisha Acharya (AFI Class of 2014)...
September 24, 2026
CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 5
BITER USA 25 MIN DIRECTOR Jack Beckett Cohen SCREENWRITER Jack Beckett Cohen PRODUCER Andrea Santander DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Aditya Gosar EDITOR Shiyu Zhao PRODUCTION DESIGNER Khairi Reynolds After being sent to a wilderness therapy program, a troubled teen must confront his aggressive instincts to grow and find some semblance of inner peace. DEGREE OF CERTAINTY...
September 24, 2026
CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 4
YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU USA 14 MIN DIRECTOR Maria Mondragon Gomez Tagle SCREENWRITER Maria del Pilar Castro PRODUCER Julian Nebreda-Bello DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Alejandro Maytorena EDITOR Frida Gonzalez PRODUCTION DESIGNER Purnima Bhutoria Seven-year-old Lucía arrives at her grandparents' house with a baby chick she was told to abandon. While the adults talk, she and...
September 24, 2026
CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 3
RAMBLE MANIA USA 15 MIN DIRECTOR Yash Saraf SCREENWRITER Yash Saraf PRODUCER Xinchen Ella Zhang DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Kuba Zagajewski EDITOR Yifan Lyu PRODUCTION DESIGNER Qiqi Kristin Wang A naïve poet who dreams of glory competes inside a surreal battle royale. The rules are simple: one hundred wrestlers in a ring, last man talking wins....
September 24, 2026
CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 2
NO COWBOYS USA 14 MIN DIRECTOR Piper De Palma SCREENWRITER Ian Geronimo PRODUCER Kenza Berrada Amor DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Adam Birch EDITOR Bo Wen PRODUCTION DESIGNER Hayeon Kim A horse trainer who’s overcome his troubled past by pouring himself into training a wild horse is tested when a fading movie star tries to buy it...
September 24, 2026
CONSERVATORY SHOWCASE 1
EL FRÍO QUE GUÍA LUZ USA 15 MIN DIRECTOR Emily Gularte SCREENWRITER Emily Gularte, Claudio Del Pino Mercado PRODUCER Claudio Del Pino Mercado DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Alexander Hagemann EDITOR Paola Eiris Santana PRODUCTION DESIGNER Anastasiia Glushneva While waiting for the bus, a single mother is suddenly swept into her painful past as she tells her...
September 24, 2026
SHORTS PROGRAM: LIVE ACTION 2
MUTRION 2026 Italy 20 MIN DIRECTOR Marco Cavazzin Marco returns to the lagoon community he once fled and reconnects with his childhood friend. Their encounter stirs old ghosts and memories, revealing how deeply the lagoon still lives inside him. A SHOT AT ART 2025 Netherlands 16 MIN DIRECTOR Ilke Paddenburg When two seasoned volunteers at...
September 24, 2026
SHORTS PROGRAM: LIVE ACTION 1
A FEW THINGS HAPPENING BY A RIVER (ALGUMAS COISAS QUE ACONTECEM AO LADO DE UM RIO) 2026 Portugal | France 14 MIN DIRECTOR Daniel Soares A seemingly lifeless body floats downstream, while a fragmented world occupies itself with other things. NOBODY SAID ANYTHING (NIKO NIŠTA NIJE REKAO) 2026 Croatia | France | Serbia | Slovenia...
September 24, 2026
SHORTS PROGRAM: DOCUMENTARY 2
TERRI & RICHARD 2026 USA 16 MIN DIRECTOR Alex Bijan Zandi In 1960s NYC, Terri was a manager of folk musicians, while Richard was a pioneer in the literary avant-garde. Now, sixty years later, they reflect on their legacy and mortality. CHUURAA 2026 UK 18 MIN DIRECTOR Evgenia Arbugaeva In the wilderness of the Siberian...
September 24, 2026
SHORTS PROGRAM: DOCUMENTARY 1
LISTEN 2026 USA 14 MIN DIRECTOR Taliesin Black-Brown Alaskan sound recordist Hank Lentfer captures the natural world's forgotten sounds while caring for his mother with dementia. This sensory immersion dissolves the boundaries between us and the more-than-human world. A WOMAN'S PLACE IS EVERYWHERE 2026 USA 22 min DIRECTOR Fanny Texier Identical twins Emilija and Ona...
