The New Media Film Festival has unveiled the first wave of official selections for its 2026 season, continuing its fifteen-year tradition of spotlighting creators who experiment with emerging technologies and redefine narrative engagement. The festival, which has served as a bellwether for storytelling trends since 2009, maintains its acclaimed hybrid structure with both global online programming and an in-person showcase at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles. This dual approach ensures fairness in judging while expanding access for international talent and providing audiences multiple ways to engage with groundbreaking work.
Founder and Director Susan Johnston emphasized the festival's forward-looking mission, stating that each year challenges the organization to look further ahead and champion creators shaping the future before the world recognizes their impact. The early lineup reflects the festival's purpose to celebrate innovation, elevate new voices, and create opportunities for artists working at the edge of what's possible. Johnston's perspective underscores why the New Media Film Festival has become an essential destination for creators and industry decision-makers seeking the cutting edge of film, immersive formats, and tech-driven content.
The first wave of 2026 selections demonstrates the festival's commitment to bold storytelling, global voices, and emerging formats. The online program, accessible globally beginning June 3, features inventive storytelling and fresh international perspectives with works including world premieres of "Sunflowers" by YongJik Lee and "Soul" by Leeorah Hursky, along with the USA premiere of "A Dream My Sister Had" by Fabio Thieme. The in-person program on June 4 at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles offers a curated night of premieres and conversations featuring world premieres of "Reach the Sky" by Lori Moilov, "Is Ai Gonna Get Better, or Nah?" by Nick Roth, and "A Day (HARU)" by Da Eun Kim.
Together, these selections provide an early snapshot of the creative and technological frontiers shaping the year ahead, ranging from intimate personal narratives to AI-driven inquiry and format-bending experiments. The lineup signals the depth and diversity of the full 2026 slate still to come, with additional categories, premieres, and special events to be revealed in the months leading up to June. For more than a decade, the festival has served as a launchpad for what's next, championing bold new categories such as AI-generated cinema, holographic comics, VR funding pitches, and NFT-driven storytelling.
The festival's commitment to emerging formats has established it as one of the few spaces where boundary-pushing creators and industry powerhouses converge, often leading to real-world opportunities in funding, distribution, casting, and book deals. With jurors from influential organizations including Marvel, HBO, the Emmys, the Grammys, PBS, and the BBC, and past honorees such as Jeff Bridges, Ray Bradbury, and Roger Corman, the festival maintains its status as a premier launchpad where breakthrough talent and future-defining ideas meet. The 2026 edition continues this tradition with red-carpet premieres, filmmaker Q&As, immersive tech-driven experiences, and global art showcases that push the festival's mission further in championing creators shaping the next wave of storytelling. Details on programming are available at https://www.newmediafilmfestival.com.
