In Review: The 2026 Virginia Film Festival
After five jam-packed days of screenings from October 21-25, the 39th annual Virginia Film Festival has finally come to a close, with Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky announced as this year’s Audience Award winner. Check out what we thought about all the new titles we screened at this year’s VAFF.
‘Once Upon a Time in Harlem’ Review: The Greaves Family Mines the Archives to Showcase the Party of a Lifetime
50 years in the making, Once Upon a Time in Harlem captures an afternoon with some of the Harlem Renaissance’s most prominent figures as they reflect on one of America’s most significant cultural movements.
‘Barrio Triste’ Review: Bad Bunny Collaborator STILLZ Shifts From Music Videos to Experimental Cinema
After shooting music videos for the likes of Rosalía and serving as Bad Bunny’s creative director, multidisciplinary artist STILLZ has ventured into feature filmmaking for the first time with Barrio Triste, which hits digital streaming outlets on Friday, October 9.
TIFF Review: ‘The Diary of a Chambermaid’ Delivers Radu Jude’s Idiosyncratic Satire With a Surprising Dash of Tenderness
Loosely reworked from the 1900 French novel of the same name, Jude’s latest cinematic provocation features all of the cutting criticisms of the multifaceted powers at play in modern Romania we have come to appreciate in his work, albeit with a refreshingly gentler process that makes The Diary of a Chambermaid his most approachable movie to date.
TIFF Review: ‘Krux’ Explores the Darkest Corners of Wartime Germany
Brimming with palpable paranoia and channeling a deeply unsettling atmosphere to match, German filmmaker Tony Vahl’s feature debut examines one of her homeland’s most disturbing junctures: the final days of the Second World War.
TIFF Review: ‘Everything Else Is Noise’ Is a Comedy of Errors That Investigates the Contemporary Struggles of Female Artists
Built around a simple premise and a single filming location, Nicholás Pereda’s newest work makes way for furtive (and funny) social criticism that never feels didactic, instead inviting viewers to focus on the existential plight of its female characters and the poignant nuances they offer.
‘Chronovisor’ Review: Conspiracy Theories and Art Cinema Merge to Deliver One of the Year’s Most Bewitching Debut Features
Simultaneously an atmospheric tribute to dark academia and an unsettling Vatican conspiracy thriller, Chronovisor is a wholly distinctive work that will spice up end-of-summer watchlists and likely become one of 2026’s most bewitching movies.
‘The Marching Band’ Review: A French Crowd-Pleaser That Never Misses a Beat
The Marching Band exists as a fully formed commercial hit that stands out as a luminous beacon of hope within a mainstream cinematic landscape that increasingly feels more akin to “content” than creativity.
‘Gypsy 83: The Director’s Cut’ Review: A Queer Cult Classic Brimming With Style But Bereft of Poignancy
Just in time to celebrate 25 years since its original release, writer/director Todd Stephens has re-cut and restored his sophomore feature Gypsy 83, incorporating an additional 40 minutes of footage and even more of the 1980s goth bangers that aided the film in becoming a cult queer classic in the first place.
‘The Samurai and the Prisoner’ Review: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Delivers a Throwback to Classic Japanese Period Dramas Injected With His Idiosyncratic Ability
Although a far cry from the horror films that have distinguished his career, Kurosawa’s handsome latest feature flaunts an evocative period setting and clever narrative construction that pinpoints a formative moment in Japan’s history.
KVIFF Review: Crystal Globe Winner ‘Fruit Gathering’ Is a Beguiling Portrait of Femininity in Contemporary Myanmar
The feature debut from Burmese writer/director Aung Phyoe, Fruit Gathering threads an intricate combination of characterization and cultural insight that culminates in a work wholly mesmerizing in its delicate subtleties.
KVIFF 2026 Review: ‘The Guest’ Is an Arresting Debut Feature About the Queasy Crossroads of Family Life
Danish filmmaker Mads Mengel’s directorial debut is in deep communication with many familiar chamberpiece family dramas that have come before it, while also confronting unexplored and emotional facets of family life that feel fresh and pertinent within the contemporary.
KVIFF 2026 Review: ‘Only Beautiful Things to Look At’ Reflects on the Challenges of Female Autonomy During the Socialist Era
Ivan Ostrochovský’s newest movie concentrates on the methods with which Roma women were coerced into sterilization procedures during the country’s Communist era and features an impressive acting debut from Simona Boledovičová.
KVIFF 2026 Review: ‘3 Weeks After’ Is a Hypnotic, Merciless Examination of Contemporary Youth Culture
The third feature from Serbian filmmaker Miroslav Terzić, which just debuted in the Crystal Globe competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 3 Weeks After takes a piercing look at today’s youth culture and the forces that have allowed it to become so… Hopeless for what is to come.
KVIFF 2026 Review: ‘Chica Checa’ Is a Commercial Crowd-pleaser About Letting Go of the Past
Overly sentimental yet at times uproarious, Czech writer/director Šimon Holý’s Crystal Globe contender might feel a bit too lighthearted throughout its runtime, but it successfully delivers an unambiguous statement about the freedom that comes with beginning a new chapter in life.
‘Romería’ Review: Carla Simón Delivers a Remarkable and Sun-Soaked Work of Autofiction
As captivating and nuanced as the Galician coastline where it takes place, Simón’s latest offers thoughtful insight into her complicated relationship with her distant relatives after losing both parents at an early age, culminating with a resonant coming-of-age movie that stands out among the best of the year so far.
‘The Most Precious of Cargoes’ Review: Michel Hazanavicius’ Personal, at Times Profound Animated Feature Debut
Constructed under the guise of a familiar fairy-tale framework, 'The Most Precious of Cargoes' gradually reveals itself as a bleak yet ultimately optimistic portrait of an unlikely group forever altered by the benevolence they exhibit despite the tragic state of the crumbling world around them.
DC/DOX Review: ‘Time and Water’ Is a Multifaceted Exploration of Memory and Climate Change
Combining archival footage and photography with spectacular contemporary documentation, the latest feature from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sara Dosa poetically explores themes of interconnectedness and environmentalism through the eyes of Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason, the first person tasked with eulogizing a glacier.
DC/DOX Review: ‘Jaripeo’ Is a Kaleidoscopic Portrait of Queerness on the Fringes of Mexican Rodeo Culture
Having already impressed on the festival circuit with stops at Sundance and the Berlinale earlier this year, Jaripeo is an alluring exploration of masculinity that delivers crucial visibility for queerness within a seemingly unlikely space.
‘Matador Bolero’ Review: An Auteurist Vision That Oozes Style But Lacks… Everything Else
Jonathan Rosado’s homage to 1970s exploitation movies is an punishing endurance test that lacks compelling tension or emotion.