The New Media Film Festival has announced its first official selections for the 2026 season, offering an early glimpse into the creative and technological frontiers that will define storytelling in the coming year. This initial lineup spans world premieres, U.S. debuts, and works from creators pushing narrative and technology into new territory, reflecting the festival's fifteen-year legacy as a bellwether for where storytelling is headed next.
The festival's hybrid structure continues with two equally weighted pathways: a global online program launching June 3 and an in-person showcase at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles on June 4. This dual approach ensures fairness in judging while expanding access for international talent and providing audiences multiple ways to engage with groundbreaking work. Festival founder and director Susan Johnston emphasized the organization's forward-looking mission, stating the festival exists to celebrate innovation, elevate new voices, and create opportunities for artists working at the edge of what's possible.
The online program features globally accessible content highlighting inventive storytelling and fresh international perspectives. Selections include world premieres like "Sunflowers" by YongJik Lee and "Soul" by Leeorah Hursky, along with the U.S. premiere of "A Dream My Sister Had" by Fabio Thieme. The in-person program at the Culver Theater offers a curated night of premieres and conversations, featuring world premieres such as "Reach the Sky" by Lori Moilov, "Is Ai Gonna Get Better, or Nah?" by Nick Roth, and "A Day (HARU)" by Da Eun Kim.
This lineup signals the festival's ongoing commitment to championing work that challenges convention and expands the vocabulary of modern storytelling. From intimate personal narratives to AI-driven inquiry, from global perspectives to format-bending experiments, these selections represent the depth and diversity of the full 2026 slate still to come. Additional categories, premieres, and special events will be revealed in the months leading up to June through the festival's official website at https://www.newmediafilmfestival.com.
The importance of this announcement extends beyond mere programming details. 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. Its commitment to emerging formats has made it one of the few spaces where boundary-pushing creators and industry powerhouses collide, often leading to real-world opportunities in funding, distribution, casting, and book deals.
With jurors from Marvel, HBO, the Emmys, the Grammys, PBS, and the BBC, and past honorees including Jeff Bridges, Ray Bradbury, and Roger Corman, the festival represents a rare crossroads where established innovators and rising creators converge. 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. As storytelling continues to evolve through technological innovation and global collaboration, events like the New Media Film Festival provide essential platforms for the creators who will shape the next wave of narrative expression.
