The Museum of Modern Art and Film at Lincoln Center have announced the 55th anniversary edition of New Directors/ New Films.
The annual program will be held April 8 through April 19 with filmmakers scheduled to attend in person.
This year’s focus is on innovative cinema that sets the stage for the future of film, the festival champions filmmakers with distinctive visions and bold new ideas that push the artform into new terrain.
24 features and 10 shorts, including one world premiere, 17 North American premieres, four U.S. premieres, and 12 New York premieres are set to screen during the program.
Adrian Chiarella’s “Leviticus” will open the program with Rosanne Pel’s “Donkey Days” set as the closing night film.
“Leviticus,” which premiered in the Midnight section of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival,” is about a small Australian town haunted by religious fanatics set on “curing” local boys of their queer urges.
“Donkey Days” is a darkly comic, lacerating portrait of two adult women relentlessly competing for their mother’s withheld affection.
“Erupcja” starring Charli XCX and Jeremy O. Harris is also set to screen.
La Frances Hui, Curator, Department of Film, MoMA, and 2026 ND/NF Co-chair, said, “We are thrilled to spotlight two distinctive new directors whose compelling works bookend this year’s festival. In ‘Leviticus,’ Adrian Chiarella harnesses horror’s visceral power to confront homophobia with intelligence and imaginative flair, transforming a story of young love under siege into a gripping, urgent debut. In bold counterpoint, Rosanne Pel’s ‘Donkey Days’ is a darkly comic exploration of family dynamics, ingeniously blending Dogme-inspired naturalism with flashes of surrealism to create a work that is at once caustic and unexpectedly tender. Startlingly different in tone yet united in emotional candor and fearlessness, these two films exemplify the diverse, unflinching, and defiant spirit of this year’s lineup.”
Dan Sullivan, Programmer, Film at Lincoln Center, and 2026 ND/NF Co-Chair, says, “The lineup for this year’s edition of New Directors/New Films is replete with artists who—to paraphrase Jean-Luc Godard—aren’t afraid to make political films nor to make films politically. Their curiosity and courage offer us something like a guiding light in our present darkness. Cinema has borne witness to most of recent history’s worst moments, and there’s something—maybe not comfort, but something like it—in knowing that the filmmakers of today and tomorrow won’t shy away from this immense responsibility.”
Migration and displacement are central issues in Sanju Surendran’s “If on a Winter’s Night”, following a Malayali couple dealing with the economic and linguistic challenges of living in Delhi; and Clemente Castor’s “Cold Metal”, an entrancing modernist narrative of geographic devastation and land extraction. Spirituality and religion animate Ique Langa’s “The Prophet”, a tale of black magic clashing with Christian faith; and Tenzin Phuntsog’s “Next Life”, which follows a Tibetan-American family preparing for the death of its patriarch.Other films screening include “Erupcja,” which follows a party girl facing the impending commitments of her thirties, and stars Charli XCX and Jeremy O. Harris; and Lorenzo Ferro and Lucas A. Vignale’s feature debut “The River Train”, in which a 9-year-old aspiring dancer runs away to Buenos Aires to escape his rigorously controlling, uncompromising father.
Further festival highlights include Irati Gorostidi Agirretxe’s “Aro Berria”, which follows the residents of a Basque commune as it splits in the aftermath of Francisco Franco’s death; “Fantasy”, Isabel Pagliai’s shape-shifting docu-fiction about a young girl’s roiling inner life, which won the First Film Award at FIDMarseille; and John Early’s wry yet tender feature debut “Maddie’s Secre”t, starring Early as Maddie, which balances the trauma of a reemerging eating disorder with a scathing roast of social media.
Pedro Almodóvar, Souleymane Cissé, Luca Guadagnino, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Agnieszka Holland, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Jia Zhangke, Yorgos Lanthimos, Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, Julia Loktev, Kelly Reichardt, Steven Spielberg, Denis Villeneuve, Wong Kar Wai are among the directors who have showcased films with New Directors/New Films.
The complete 2026 New Directors/New Films lineup
Features
Agon dir. Giulio Bertelli
Aro Berria dir. Irati Gorostidi Agirretxe
Brand New Landscape dir. Yuiga Danzuka
Chronovisor dirs. Kevin Walker, Jack Auen
Cold Metal dir. Clemente Castor
Do You Love Me dir. Lana Daher
Donkey Days dir. Rosanne Pel
Erupcja dir. Pete Ohs
Fantasy dir. Isabel Pagliai
Forest High dir. Manon Coubia
If on a Winter’s Night dir. Sanju Surendran
Kika dir. Alexe Poukine
Leviticus dir. Adrian Chiarella
Maddie’s Secret dir. John Early
Memory dir. Vladlena Sandu
Next Life dir. Tenzin Phuntsog
Panda dir. Xinyang Zang
The Prophet dir. Ique Langa
The River Train dirs. Lorenzo Ferro, Lucas A. Vignale
Strange River dir. Jaume Claret Muxart
Trial of Hein dir. Kai Stänicke
Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest dir. Viv Li
Two Seasons, Two Strangers dir. Sho Miyake
Variations on a Theme dirs. Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar
Shorts
Bleat! dir. Ananth Subramaniam
Buckskin dir. Mars Verrone
Division dir. Paul Dallas
The Following Day dir. Conor Fay
Marseille, 14th July dir. El Mahdi L. Youbi
Only Angels dir. Clément Pinteaux
Sabura dir. Falcão Nhaga
Taxi Moto dir. Gaël Kamilindi
Time to Go dir. Renzo Cozza
Unleaded 95 dirs. Emma Hütt, Tina Muffler
English (US) ·