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SIFF 2026 rolls into Seattle next month with its usual sprawling, borderline-unruly lineup — hundreds of films from dozens of countries crammed into twenty-five days of screenings. It remains, by attendance, the largest film festival in the United States, and one of the last festivals in the country that still programs with the kind of generous, maximalist spirit that treats “a good movie is a good movie” as a legitimate curatorial philosophy. You will find Cannes competition titles stacked on the same schedule as regional documentaries, archival restorations next to midnight genre oddities, and more first-time filmmakers than any human could reasonably keep up with.
I’ve been covering SIFF since the early days of this site, and every year the festival rewards the critics and cinephiles willing to gamble on the unknown. This is where I usually catch up on the Sundance, SXSW, and Cannes titles I missed earlier in the year. In other words: SIFF is part victory lap, part treasure hunt, and this year’s slate leans hard into both.
Below are the films I’m most excited about from the 2026 edition. A handful of these I’ve already caught at Sundance earlier this year (I’ve flagged those and linked to my original reviews). The rest are the ones that, based on pedigree, premiere buzz, or pure director-driven enthusiasm, shot straight to the top of my must-watch list.
Already Seen (and Strongly Recommended)
The Invite
Olivia Wilde directs and co-stars with Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton in a dinner-party comedy where a couple on thin ice hosts their upstairs neighbors and watches the evening steadily collapse. My favorite film of Sundance ’26 and probably the best swinger comedy you’ll see this year or any year. Wilde’s sharpest work to date, powered by a Rashida Jones–Cesc Gay–Will McCormack script that’s violently funny and bracingly sincere in equal measure. Read my full Sundance ’26 review.
If I Go Will They Miss Me
Walter Thompson-Hernández’s Moonlight-coded debut about a father and son (J. Alphonse Nicholson and Bodhi Dell) circling each other under the flight path of LAX. Lyrical, ghostly, and quietly devastating, with a thunderstorm of a lead performance from Nicholson and strong support from Danielle Brooks. A filmmaker of real promise announcing himself. Read my full Sundance ’26 review.
American Doctor
Three American doctors — Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian — enter Gaza to provide medical relief and run up against the political realities shaping their work, in a documentary from Poh Si Teng. Essential, unflinching, and openly political in a way that refuses to sane-wash anything. Not easy to watch, and shouldn’t be. Read my full Sundance ’26 review.
Hold Onto Me
Myrsini Aristidou’s quietly devastating Greek feature debut about an 11-year-old girl (Maria Petrova) who wedges herself into her absentee, grifting father’s (Christos Passalis) life when he returns to their sleepy fishing village. Restrained, emotionally potent, and anchored by a two-hander of remarkable subtlety. Read my full Sundance ’26 review.
See You When I See You
Cooper Raiff, David Duchovny, Kaitlyn Dever, Hope Davis, and Lucy Boynton headline Jay Duplass’ tragicomedy about a comedy writer working through PTSD and grief with the help of his family. A PTSD-suicide-cancer comedy that is, somehow, still funny, and one of Duplass’ best as a solo director. Read my full Sundance ’26 review.
Nuisance Bear
Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden’s feature expansion of their 2021 short, set in Churchill, Manitoba — the polar bear capital of the world — where climate change has pushed apex predators into uncomfortably close contact with tourists, trappers, and the local Inuit community. Winner of both the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at Sundance ’26, and a beautifully-mounted tone poem about the collision of human and animal interests. Read my full Sundance ’26 review.
Most Anticipated
I Love Boosters
Boots Riley’s follow-up to Sorry to Bother You lands as SIFF’s opening night film, and that alone should tell you how much the festival is banking on it. Expect the same anarchic, anti-capitalist energy that made his debut a word-of-mouth sensation. One of the year’s most anticipated American independents, and the kind of big-swing opener that SIFF really needs.
I Want Your Sex
Gregg Araki returns to feature filmmaking with his biggest ensemble in decades: Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, and Charli XCX in a story about a young assistant pulled into the erotic and psychological orbit of a provocative artist. A peak-brand Araki resurrection that already feels like one of SIFF’s must-see tickets.
Power Ballad
John Carney (Once, Begin Again, Sing Street) returns to his musical-romantic comedy wheelhouse with Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas in the leads. Carney’s track record with the music-movie subgenre is basically untouchable, and the pairing of Rudd with a pop star lead feels engineered in a lab to produce crowd-pleaser catnip. Expect tears, earworms, and at least one acoustic rendition that sneaks up on you.
Obsession
Curry Barker’s midnight horror pickup out of Sundance ’26, where it built a strong genre-circuit word-of-mouth. Details remain pleasantly scarce, which is usually the right way to walk into a midnight premiere anyway. If you were looking for a late-night SIFF entry to circle, this is the one.
Lucky Lu
Lloyd Lee Choi’s feature expansion of his acclaimed short, which premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. A working-class New York drama about a Chinese immigrant delivery worker whose bike gets stolen on what’s already the worst day of his life. Choi is one of the most promising debut voices of the year, and the short that spawned this was a genuine knockout.
Case 137
Dominik Moll returns with another procedural drama after The Night of the 12th, the quietly devastating police film that swept the Césars. Premiering in Cannes competition in 2025, Case 137 follows an internal affairs investigator digging into a police shooting during France’s Yellow Vest protests. Moll is one of the most interesting European filmmakers working in the genre right now, and any new film from him is essential.
Mārama
Taratoa Stappard’s Māori gothic, set in 19th-century New Zealand and England, pulls from Aotearoa folklore and colonial-era dread in equal measure. One of the more distinctive genre entries on this year’s slate and exactly the kind of regional cinema SIFF makes a point of platforming. Indigenous horror is having a real moment, and Mārama looks poised to slot right into that conversation.
Late Fame
Kent Jones adapts Arthur Schnitzler’s late-career novella with Willem Dafoe as an obscure poet suddenly rediscovered by a younger generation of admirers. Jones is one of our most thoughtful critic-filmmakers, and a Schnitzler adaptation starring Dafoe at peak-Dafoe powers is exactly the kind of literary-adjacent cinema SIFF programs better than most.
Soul Patrol
J.M. Harper’s American feature that’s been building quiet buzz out of the early festival circuit. A stylish, music-forward piece of genre cinema with the kind of first-feature energy that usually rewards getting in early. The sort of wildcard that SIFF programs better than anyone.
A Few More Worth Circling
SIFF being SIFF, there are a dozen more titles worth flagging even in a focused list like this. Keep an eye on Amrum, Fatih Akin’s WWII-era German island drama co-written with Hark Bohm – based on Bohm’s own childhood on the North Sea island in the final days of the war; Renoir, Chie Hayakawa’s Cannes competition follow-up to Plan 75; Franz, Agnieszka Holland’s Kafka biopic; Silent Friend from Ildikó Enyedi; and Promised Sky from Erige Sehiri. And if you’re in the mood for something archival, SIFF is also screening Erich von Stroheim’s 1929 Queen Kelly and Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street with a live DJ NicFit score – a reminder that this festival knows how to throw a party that our local Seattleites will appreciate.
Full coverage, capsule reviews, and interviews from SIFF 2026 coming throughout May and June.
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