Jesse Eisenberg’s “The Debut,” Mike Leigh’s “Tender Loving Care” and Andrew Haigh’s “A Long Winter” are among the films that will be playing this year’s Telluride Film Festival, which begins on Friday in the Colorado mountain town.
As usual, the festival lineup was kept under wraps until the day before the event begins, requiring audience members to buy festival passes without knowing what movies they’ll be seeing.
“The Debut” stars Julianne Moore and is Eisenberg’s first film since his Oscar-winning “A Real Pain” two years ago. “Tender Loving Care” is reported to be Leigh’s last film, and stars recent Emmy nominee Kate O’Flynn from “Widow’s Bay.” “A Long Winter” is a family drama starring Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Fred Hechinger and set, appropriately for a Telluride premiere, in t(he mountains of Colorado.
Also coming to Telluride for the second year in a row: A film in which a production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” echoes events in the lives of its characters. Last year it was Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet,” which made its debut in Telluride before going on to receive multiple Oscar nominations; this year it’s Simon Stone’s “Elsinore,” starring Andrew Scott in the real-life story of British actor Ian Charleson playing Hamlet onstage while battling AIDS in 1989.
Special tributes will be presented to Andrew Haigh, actress Sandra Huller (appearing at the festival in “Rose”) and actor John Malkovich (starring in Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine”).
Other films in the lineup include David and Nathan Zellner’s “Alpha Gang,” Werner Herzog’s “Bucking Fastard,” Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert’s “The Idiot(s),” Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” Guy Nattiv’s “The Liberation” and Jennifer Peedom’s “Tenzing.”
Telluride will also present a number of films that premiered in Cannes and are now making awards pushes, including Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s “La Bola Negra,” Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland,” Ryusyke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden,” Marie Kreutzer’s “Gentle Monster,” Ira Sachs’ “The Man I Love,” Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid” and the Palme d’Or winner, Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord.”
It will also screen a substantial group of documentaries, among them Frank Marshall and Nigel Sinclair’s “Pete Townshend: Behind Blue Eyes,” Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Everest: The Other Side,” Eleanor Coppola’s “Making Marie Antoinette,” Pegah Ahangarani’s “Rehearsals for a Revolution,” Mark Cousins “The Story of Documentary Film” and Nanette Burstein’s “Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff.”
The festival has also hinted at a special surprise booking that will not be announced in advance.
Actress, writer and director Rebecca Hall will serve as the festival’s guest director this year. She has selected six films, including Kenneth Lonergan’s “Margaret,” Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” and her father Peter Hall’s “Akenfield.”
The festival begins on Friday, Sept. 4 and runs through Labor Day weekend, ending on Sept. 7.
Here is the main lineup, known in Telluride as “The Show”:
- A LONG WINTER (d. Andrew Haigh, U.K., 2026)
- ACT 3 (d. Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor, Ireland/U.K., 2026)
- ALPHA GANG (d. David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, U.S., 2026)
- AVEDON (d. Ron Howard, U.S., 2026)
- BUCKING FASTARD (d. Werner Herzog, Ireland/U.S., 2026)
- BURGUNDY (d. Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw, France, 2026)
- CARL SAGAN: WE ARE MADE OF STAR STUFF (d. Nanette Burstein, U.S., 2026)
- CLUB KID (d. Jordan Firstman, U.S., 2026)
- THE DEBUT (d. Jesse Eisenberg, U.S., 2026)
- THE DISCIPLE (d. Joanna Natasegara, U.K./U.S./Morocco, 2026)
- ELSINORE (d. Simon Stone, U.K., 2026)
- EVEREST: THE OTHER SIDE (d. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, U.S./China/Nepal, 2026)
- FATHERLAND (d. Paweł Pawlikowski, Poland/France/Germany/Italy, 2026)
- FJORD (d. Cristian Mungiu, Romania/France/Norway/Sweden/Denmark, 2026)
- GENTLE MONSTER (d. Marie Kreutzer, Austria/Germany/France, 2026)
- THE IDIOT(S) (d. Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert, Poland/Germany, 2026)
- INK (d. Danny Boyle, U.K./U.S./France, 2026)
- LA BOLA NEGRA (d. Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, Spain/France, 2026)
- THE LIBERATION (d. Guy Nattiv, U.S., 2026)
- MAKING MARIE ANTOINETTE (d. Eleanor Coppola, Italy/U.S., 2026)
- THE MAN I LOVE (d. Ira Sachs, U.S., 2026)
- MINOTAUR (d. Andrey Zvyagintsev, France/Germany/Latvia, 2026)
- MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART II – EXILE (d. Julia Loktev, U.S., 2026)
- ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM (d. David Greaves, Liani Greaves, U.S., 2026)
- THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK (d. Noah Segan, U.S., 2026)
- PETE TOWNSHEND: BEHIND BLUE EYES (d. Frank Marshall, Nigel Sinclair, U.S./U.K., 2026)
- REHEARSALS FOR A REVOLUTION (d. Pegah Ahangarani, Czech Republic/Spain, 2026)
- ROSE (d. Markus Schleinzer, Austria/Germany, 2026)
- THE ROW (d. Bryan Fogel, U.S./Australia/Ireland, 2026)
- THE STORY OF DOCUMENTARY FILM (d. Mark Cousins, Scotland/U.K., 2026)
- SUMO: SPIRIT WEIGHS NOTHING (d. Erik Shirai, U.S./Japan/U.K./Denmark, 2026)
- TENDER LOVING CARE (d. Mike Leigh, U.K., 2026)
- TENZING (d. Jennifer Peedom, U.S./Australia, 2026)
- THE UNKNOWN (d. Arthur Harari, France/Italy, 2026)
- WILD HORSE NINE (d. Martin McDonagh, Chile/U.S., 2026)
- Also playing in the main program are two newly restored features: BEGOTTEN (d. E. Elias Merhige, U.S., 1989/2026) and BEAU GESTE (d. Herbert Brenon, U.S., 1926), with live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin; short films: A SONG FOR THE SNOW LION (d. Pawo Choyning Dorji, Bhutan/U.S., 2026), A DANCE THROUGH TIME (d. Sarah Gavron, U.K., 2026), MAYBE TOMORROW (d. Wafa Mustafa, Waad Al-Kateab, U.K., 2026), SAWYER AVENUE, SUNDAY AFTERNOON (d. Bill Morrison, U.S., 2026), LOVE, RENDERED (d. Liz Garbus, U.S., 2026), THE REVOLUTION AGAINST DEATH (d. Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark/Sweden, 2026), and Ben Proudfoot’s THE BUFFALO MIRACLE (U.S., 2026) and WITT V. AIR FORCE (U.S., 2026).
Guest Director Rebecca Hall’s selections:
- AKENFIELD (d. Peter Hall, U.K., 1974)
- MARGARET (d. Kenneth Lonergan, U.S., 2011)
- PORTRAIT OF JASON (d. Shirley Clarke, U.S., 1967)
- THE SERVANT (d. Joseph Losey, U.K., 1963)
- SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (d. Charlie Kaufman, U.S., 2008)
- WHAT’S UP, DOC? (d. Peter Bogdanovich, U.S., 1972)
The Backlot selection:
- THE GOLDEN AGE (d. Bérenger Thouin, France/Italy, 2026), preceded by THE STARS WATCH FROM LONG AGO (d. Stacey Steers, U.S., 2026)
- HOUSE OF CRITICISM (d. Alison Chernick, U.S., 2026)
- THE ILLUSION OF AN EVERLASTING SUMMER (d. Alessandra Sanguinetti, Argentina/U.S., 2026)
- INTO THE BREACH (d. Freddie Fox, U.K., 2026)
- MAVERICK: THE EPIC ADVENTURES OF DAVID LEAN (d. Barnaby Thompson, U.K., 2026), preceded by TO ESCAPE (d. David C. Roberts, U.S., 2026)
- THE NATURAL STATE (d. Matthew Dougherty, U.S., 2026)
- ONE MORE TIME (d. Cindy Kleine and André Gregory, U.S., 2026)
- ZERO INTENTION OF LIVING QUIETLY (d. Edward Lovelace, U.K., 2026)
The special screenings and festivities:
- 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (d. Stanley Kubrick, U.K./U.S., 1968)
- ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (d. Julie Taymor, U.S./U.K., 2007)
- THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (d. David Lean, U.K./U.S., 1957)
- CHRISTINE (d. Antonio Campos, U.S., 2016)
- MARIE ANTOINETTE (d. Sofia Coppola, U.S., 2006)
- MOONLIGHT (d. Barry Jenkins, U.S., 2016), celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Telluride premiere
- TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA (d. Jane Schoenbrun, U.S./Canada, 2026)
- Filmmaking and Technology With Empathy: AI For Societal Benefit, sponsored by Google
- The Humanity Dilemma, a multi-media presentation
- Marfa Stance Studio: A Groundbreaking Collaboration, including a Roundtable discussion with Women Directors
- Roger Corman at 100 panel followed by THE INTRUDER (U.S., 1962)
- Step Inside The F-Stop, an immersive cinematic traveling Airstream experience celebrating Focus Features films
- WILDWOOD: Inside The Frame, a beautiful exhibition celebrating the handmade artistry behind LAIKA’s upcoming release including a live discussion with its creators
