The 64th New York Film Festival opens Friday, September 25, at Film at Lincoln Center with the North American premiere of Paper Tiger, a New York crime thriller from Queens-born director James Gray starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansson. The festival runs through October 12, with screenings in all five boroughs.
Key Takeaways
- Paper Tiger, a 115-minute film presented on 35mm, opens the 64th New York Film Festival on September 25 as a North American premiere.
- James Gray joins Martin Scorsese for an on-stage conversation about his career on Saturday, September 26, at 2:30 p.m.
- Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero, the follow-up to the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, has its world premiere at the festival on September 26.
- Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, starring Pedro Pascal as a cellist, has its world premiere as the Centerpiece selection on October 2.
- Ava DuVernay’s documentary 14th, a follow-up to her 2016 film 13th, has its world premiere as the Closing Night selection.
- Festival screenings run in all five boroughs from October 2 through October 9, including at BAM, the Museum of the Moving Image, Alamo Drafthouse Staten Island, and AMC Bay Plaza Cinema.
Paper Tiger Returns James Gray to New York Crime Territory
James Gray has built much of his career on the outer boroughs. Little Odessa was set in Brighton Beach, The Yards in the rail yards of Queens, We Own the Night among Brooklyn police families, and Armageddon Time in the Queens neighborhood of his own childhood. Paper Tiger continues that thread. Film at Lincoln Center describes it as a New York thriller in which a family man is pulled into a scheme with Russian criminals by his brother, a former police officer, with tragic results.
Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansson lead the cast. Opening night screenings begin at 6:00 p.m. on September 25 across multiple Lincoln Center theaters, with Q&A sessions and introductions scheduled throughout the evening. Film at Lincoln Center is presenting the film on 35mm, which fits Gray’s reputation as a director who favors celluloid.
The next afternoon, James Gray sits down with Martin Scorsese, who has publicly championed Gray’s work, for a talk covering his full filmography. For a Queens native, opening the city’s flagship film festival with a New York story makes this edition feel less like a premiere slot and more like a homecoming.
Opening Weekend Moves From Kaiju Spectacle to Hollywood Satire
The New York Film Festival’s first weekend is not limited to the opening-night film. Godzilla Minus Zero, Takashi Yamazaki’s sequel to Godzilla Minus One, has its world premiere as a Spotlight Gala on Saturday, September 26, at 6:00 p.m. It gives the festival a large-scale Japanese blockbuster alongside its usual art-house programming.
The same night, Chris Rock’s Misty Green has its U.S. premiere. The Hollywood drama stars Rosalind Eleazar as a former actress struggling to make ends meet, with a supporting cast that includes Rock, Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, and Anna Kendrick. That puts Adam Driver on Lincoln Center screens in two different films within about 24 hours.
Behemoth! and 14th Anchor the Festival’s Second Half
Tony Gilroy, the writer-director behind Michael Clayton, brings Behemoth! to the New York Film Festival as its Centerpiece selection on Friday, October 2. Pedro Pascal stars as a cellist rebuilding a fractured life. Film at Lincoln Center lists the film as a drama-musical running 124 minutes. Gilroy will also appear at a free live taping of IndieWire’s Screen Talk podcast on October 6.
Ava DuVernay’s 14th closes the festival. The 100-minute documentary is framed as a sequel of sorts to 13th, her 2016 film about the 13th Amendment, and turns to the 14th Amendment ratified after the Civil War. DuVernay will also hold a free talk on October 8 about her career and her use of film to effect change.
NYFF64 Screenings Reach All Five Boroughs
The New York Film Festival has spent recent years moving beyond the Upper West Side, and the 2026 edition continues that approach. Film at Lincoln Center announced a full screening schedule for venues in all five boroughs from October 2 through October 9, with tickets released September 15. Partner venues include BAM in Brooklyn, the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, Alamo Drafthouse in Staten Island, and AMC Bay Plaza Cinema in the Bronx.
The Bronx programming includes a special October 6 screening of Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard, starring Kate and Rooney Mara. The film marks Herzog’s first time at the festival since Fitzcarraldo in 1982. For residents who rarely make the trip to West 65th Street, the borough screenings put festival-level programming at their own neighborhood theaters. The festival also opens the fall stretch of New York’s arts and culture calendar, which fills with exhibitions, book festivals, and comedy events through November.
New York Stories Run Through the NYFF64 Lineup
Beyond Paper Tiger, the New York Film Festival lineup includes several films rooted in the city. In Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, John Turturro plays an aging petty thief from the Bronx caught in a race across the boroughs. Once Upon a Time in Harlem draws on footage filmmaker William Greaves shot in 1972 with artists and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance. His son David Greaves completed the film more than 50 years later.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall turns a stripped-down set by the Brooklyn musician into a concert film shot on 16mm and 35mm. Ira Sachs’s The Man I Love stars Rami Malek as a cabaret performer and performance artist in 1980s New York. Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid follows a washed-up New York scenester who learns he has a 10-year-old son. The New York Shorts program includes Charlotte Wells’s world premiere, New York Never Let Me Down.
Marcel Dzama’s Poster Frames the 64th Edition
Canadian artist Marcel Dzama designed the official poster for the 64th New York Film Festival. It draws on Georges Méliès’s 1902 film A Trip to the Moon and Loie Fuller’s Serpentine dance from the 1890s, two early landmarks of the moving image. Film at Lincoln Center is giving away smaller versions of the poster to the first 50 ticket holders at select screenings across the city.
For festivalgoers without tickets to sold-out premieres, the calendar includes free events. These include panels on film editing and casting, a Film Comment wrap-up discussion, and recurring trivia nights at the EBM Amphitheater, where winners can earn seats to screenings that are otherwise sold out.
FAQs
When is the 2026 New York Film Festival?
The 64th New York Film Festival runs from September 25 through October 12, 2026. Film at Lincoln Center presents it at Lincoln Center and at partner venues across New York City.
What is the opening night film at NYFF 2026?
James Gray’s Paper Tiger is the opening night film, screening September 25 as a North American premiere. It stars Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansson.
Does the New York Film Festival screen films outside Manhattan?
Yes. Screenings run in all five boroughs from October 2 through October 9, including at BAM in Brooklyn, the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, Alamo Drafthouse in Staten Island, and AMC Bay Plaza Cinema in the Bronx.
What are the Centerpiece and Closing Night films at NYFF 2026?
Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, starring Pedro Pascal, is the Centerpiece selection on October 2. Ava DuVernay’s documentary 14th is the Closing Night selection.
Are there free events at the New York Film Festival?
Yes. The 2026 program includes free talks with filmmakers such as Ava DuVernay and Valeska Grisebach, industry panels, and trivia nights at the EBM Amphitheater.
