GHOST SCHOOL(2025) NYICFF 2026

A young girl in Pakistan finds that her school is closed. Rumor is that it is haunted and the ghosts have scared away the adminstrators. Knowing that isn't the case she goes to investigate.

This is a good little drama that is going to work better for some people than others. I say this because the film is mostly the girl going from person to person in her village asking them what is really going on. It's an eye opening portrait of life in a small village in Pakistan where officials take advantage of their constituants by either stealing money or forcing them to pay bribes. While not a cynical as this could have been had this been aimed squarely at adults, the film still paints a portrait that shows life isn't always a bowl of cherries.

I liked it but at the same time I know it isn't for everyone.

At Work (2025) Rendezvous with French Cinema 2026

"This is your fourth book, I'm waiting for your great novel"
"This isn't it?"
"No" 
An exchange between a writer and his editor (Or a make believe exchange between a critic and the director of this film)

A former photographer turned writer works a variety of jobs to make ends meet while trying to write the next great novel. In the mean time he can't understand while everyone thinks he's crazy.

Bastien Bouillon gives a solid performance as a man who is similar to several of my friends who are struggling to create their art which the rest of the world isn't fully connecting to. Its a good performance in a well made film.

Sadly it isn't a compelling film. Frankly their isn't much going on here. Too far removed in styule to be a slice of life, the film never builds to any sort of resolution of conclusion. The film never gives us a reason to know why it was telling us this story.

More simply put the film is kind of dull. 

Meteors (2025) Rendezvous With French Cinema 2026

Two slackers end a night by trying to steal a Maine Coon and up arrested in trouble. They end up working at a nuclear waste facility with one of their friends.

This off beat and off kilter dramedy doesn't do what you expect. This is a film that doesn't have characters we've see a dozen times before, nor does it do what we think it will.  Yes, it begins in a kind of stereotypical way but once the guys get in trouble the film begins to take it's own trajectory.  It's a move that ends up being very affecting.

I really liked this film. I liked that it mirrors it's characters and changes over the course of the film. If you told me as I was starting the film that some of the final images would make me misty I would have told you you were crazy.

 If you want off the beaten path film, and since you are reading Unseen Films I assume you do, METEORS is worth tracking down. While you may not find it to be your next great thing, you will like it and love that people are still making films that exceed expectations.

Landscapes of Memory (2026) True False 2026

if memories don't change us-what is the point of remembering?

Filmmaker Leah Galant moves to Germany to study how the Holocaust is remembered and ends up pondering notions of memory both personal and shared.

This is a film you will need to see multiple times because if you are like me, the journey through the film is going to kick up things you need to re-experience.

The film begins as a family portrait as Galant is talking to her dad with ALS. She is talking about her family which survived the Holocaust and how they remembered. She then goes to Germany to see how the Germans remember the tragedy. Things then become complicated when Pro-Palestine protests erupt and the specter of the war and what done is raised in a new and seemingly unexpected context.

You will forgive me if I don't do a deep discussion on the film. I only received the film few days ago and I need a second or third viewing to do it justice. There is way too much information and way too many questions for me to hope to properly pull a piece together. Seriously this film raises enough issues that it could have companion volumes.

That is a rave ladies and gentlemen. Seriously, this is certainly one of the great finds of 2026. I'm working on where it belongs on the best of the year list as well.

The reason the film works is that it goes its own way. Galant is reporting on what is in front of her and isn't trying to shape things. It's a great move because I've seen way too many films recently that feel like the filmmakers are moving pieces around.

This film is going to make you sit in silence for a long time when it ends.

Chase this film down

Hola Cine! only plays this Sunday at NYICFF 2026

THE APRICOT
A boy works on his families apricot farm for the summer.
This is a lovely little film. While I never picked peaches I did try to work with my family and I could relate to the issue of trying to get up to speed. It's a film that made me laugh and brought a tear to my eye in the end

FAMILY HARMONY
The story of how a man ended up with a trombone instead of the sax.
This is a brief story taken from Story Corps which collects people's stories. Its a nice little tale

THE GREAT FEAT
A boy needs to rescue his friend, a hen, kidnapped by a shop owner.
This a great and unexpected film. Its a tale that has way more tension then we nbormally get in a NYICFF short. Credit the filmmakers who have made a complete film instead of a film that works from start to finish. It's a great film you need to track down.

JUANA PELOS
Juana wants to shave her legs so the girls don't pick on her.
This is quite wonderful and funny, and I absolutely love that it contains the admonishment that even if you do shave your legs people are going to be jerks. Its something that needs to be said to anyone who desperately want to fit in.
See this.

¡Que Suene La Banda!
A classical musician has to contend with his musical Mexican roots.
It took me a a little bit to connect with this film, I thought it was going to be run of the mill, but it's far from the that. The mix of great characters  and great music pulled me in and resulted in being deeply moved at the soul performance that ends the film.

For give me but this film kicks ass.
Another one you will want to see.

Nino (2025) Rendez-Vous With French Cinema 2026

 

A young man discovers he has cancer on his brithday.

Theodore Pellerin is the reason to see this sweet little film. Taking the frequently stereotypical story of someone discovering they have an illness and cutting away all of the false drama, NINO shines because Pellerin gives us a real central character we instantly fall in love with. Behaving more like the people in our lives,  Pellerin makes us feel as though we  are going thrugh with a friend.

This is a lovely little film and is worth your time.

Whitest Guys U Know Go to MARS (2024) hits VOD Tuesday

 

Final project from The Whitest Kids You Know is a crowd funded animated film that ended up stalled for several years when Trevor Moore, the driving force to do the film, died not long after they recorded a radio show version of the story.  The film was to be the group's final project and a tribute to their fallen friend. 

The film is the story of a Richard Branson like billionaire who runs a Willie Wonka like contest to pick the people who are to go with him to Mars. Things don't go as planned and the group ends up trapped on the red planet.

This is a mixed bag film. While the basic plot is excellent the film frequently rambles into low brow humor that while funny, distracts from the main story. Not that the Whitest Kids care, they don't, this was a gift for their fans and they aren't looking to do more than please them. At the press screening I attended some of the audience was convulsed with laughter all the way through, while the rest of us smiled and wished it was tighter.

While it doesn't work completely there is still enough here that non-fans who aren't easily offended  may want to try the film.

How To Clean A House in Ten Easy Steps, (2026) True False 2026

This is a portrait of Beatriz Valencia, a Colombian-born domestic worker as profiled by her daughter Carolina. Merging fact and fiction the film looks to reveal the the life of an immigrant in America who works in blue collar jobs.

This is a film I like more than I love. I admire what its doing more than anything else. The problem is not the story, rather there is an artificility to the presentation that is distancing. I never full trusted what I was being told. The result was I was never fully engaed.

This isn't to say that the film is bad, it's not. It's more that I think the great things this film has to say isn't presented as well as it could have been. 

And yet despite my reservations this film is worth a look. Its a film that looks at what its really like to be an immigrant and in today's world its something we need to hear.

HEEBIE JEEBIES at NYICFF 2026

This year the programmers have make a truly disturbing collection that left me feeling uneasy for days. That’s a rave.

TURBULANCE
the story of a man frightened by flying hits the expected notes but still manages to make us laugh.

MINE!
Dark black and white tale of miners who find something down there and what happens. This is like a dark dream.

DORMILON
Dream logic is in full force in the tale of a man who records his dreams and plays them back…and what happens when the film comes to life. Another dream to keep you up at night.

MURMURATION
Not sure how this kids will take this but as an adult this story of a senior turning into a bird made me want to leave the theater. Rarely has a tale of aging and approaching death been so deeply troubling.

REST
Black and white stream of consciousness nightmare.

9MILLION EYES
One of the blackest films I’ve seen in nears , nermind at the festival. This is the story of a serial killer sea creature who hacks everyone up who falls for a blind  fish who he gives eyes… Oh this is f-ed up. I love that NYICFF trusts its audience but this is the sort of thing that will have a long life in horror festival. This is the heebie jeebie champion

BREAD WILL WALK
I’ve seen this for other fests. (My review is here) but it was even more disturbing seeing it on a big screen in the dark.

INKWO FOR WHEN THE STARVING RETURN
A warrior  must protect their community from starving creatures. It’s a grand adventure with a Darkside that was a mice way to end the collection

The Centerpiece of NYICFF 2026: Native Stories plays Saturday

The centerpiece presentation at this year's NYICFF is a collection of films highlighting indigenious populations before and behind the camera.

FREDDY
A little figure makes a break for freedom when a kid leaves the room.
This is a wickedly delightful film that contains one of the biggest belly laughs I've had in a long time (its a beyond prefect double take). This film is absolutely great.

POW
A young kid just wants to play his video game but the battery is dying and there is nowhere to charge it at the tribal powwow.
Perfectly nailing the feeling you get when you have to go somewhere and don't want to, POW is a film that is by turns knowing, funny and then unexpectedly moving. It also has a wickedly funny reoccuring fry joke.

AKABABRU: EXPRESSION OF ASTONISHMENT
A young girl is afraid to laugh, until she meets a woman who tells her about a woman who was punished for laughing at her husband and found the power of laughter.  This is a solid little film about the power of laughter to turn the tables on bad situations

FINDING LIGHT IN THE DARK: A coming of Age Story
A 16 year old girl ponders being on the edge of adulthood, knowing she will no longer be a child.
A moving moment of reflection

TULE
A girl reflects on Clear Lake in Northern California and how it's pollution has altered how she and her tribe look at the world

NI WAPITEN
A boy and friends clean up the land they were raised on and reflect on what the land means to them

EVENING ESCAPADES
An animated tale of the nocturnal craziness of a bunch of rabbits.
This is a lot of fun

Tentsítewahkwe (We Pick It Up Again) 
A woman talks about reconnecting with her tribal past by teaching courses of the skills used by her ancestors.
This is a great film about the need to connect with our past. While the courses cam about when covid changed the world and made people fear needing to fend for themselves, the courses had the added bonus of reconnecting people to the past and each other.
Wonderful

Legend of Fry-Roti: Rise of the Dough

A Navajo/Bengali young woman is unexpectedly forced to deal with her aunties, one from each side of her family, in order to help her cook.
The joy and pain of having relatives who think they know best plays out in a kitchen. Its something almost all of us can relate to, even it its not so much cultural clashy.

CLEANING IS A CAKEWALK
Young Albert is pressed into service cleaning the chapter house.
This is a funny tale about charming kid who gets railroaded into doing hard work. The film works because Kellyn Morris as Albert is so good. He holds the center of the film and our attention. He's got enough charm to become a big star.

CASE 137 (2025) Rendez-Vous With French Cinema 2026

An internal affairs officer investigates an incident during the yellow jacket riots in 2018 France where a young man was hit in the face by a police projectile which stattered his skull.

This is a very good look at how the police are viewed and how they investigate their own. We are hooked early and are dragged along with the investigation. Its a mystery of sort that plays bettwer than many actual cinematic mysteries of recent vintage.

The film is absolutely compelling from start to almost finish. What I mean by that while the film lays out the investigation and the characters beautifuly, the film shifts in the final minutes to become a polemic about the police and society. The wind up becomes a less a conclusion than a lecture. While it isn't bad it takes the edge off the satisfaction.

Wobble at the end aside, this is a solid film and worth your time and money.

SHORTS 2 at NYICFF 2026

 Another super collection of shorts.

LELII’S PHOTO
A sweet tale of a young girl who struggles to get her family together in order to take a photo with a pin hole camera.

THE APRICOT
A boy works on his families apricot farm for the summer.
This is a lovely little film. While I never picked peaches I did try to work with my family and I could relate to the issue of trying to get up to speed. It's a film that made me laugh and brought a tear ro my eye in the end

HELPING HANDS
The story of some people putting on a performance of Beauty and the Beast where we only see their hands. I don’t think this film really worked. If it wasn’t for how it was filmed there wouldn’t be much here. Possibly the weakest short in the festival.(Though understand that NYICFF sets the bar so high every year the mere fact that a film is picked to screen means that it’s weak only compared to the films around it)

SOMETHING GREATER THAN YOU
Two racoons riding out a blizzard take in a frozen bird. Absolutely lovely

THE DAY I LICKED A PEBBLE
Three kids decide to go to the bakery on a sunny afternoon- but the story told about a monster gets out of hand. If you have siblings this story is going to ring true- especially if you've ever tried to scare them and have it go wrong. It a note perfect film.

MOM’S PRANK
A son gets his mother an automatic vacuum and things spiral unexpectedly. This is a sweet film that doesn’t go as you expect- with one moment that got a rise out of the people around me.

LOLA AND THE SOUND PIANO
A girl asks her friend to make piano that makes different sounds so she can tak to her little brother. This is not what you expect and deeply moving as a result

SHORTS 1 at NYICFF 2026

This collection is one of the great one of this nears NYICFF. If you want to see a sure fire collection of great films pick this one.

DUET
Two guys delivering a piano end up playing a duet on a piano on a staircase. This is one of the great joys of the festival. Its glorious and lets the audience know how high this collection is shootin.

WE’RE KIND OF DIFFERENT
A wickedly evil and funny song about a gur with his but where his chest should be. It’s wrong in all the right ways. This will make you roar with laughter.

EXPERIENCES AND LEARNING
An okay examination of how kids and parents interact. I ask to be allowed to see this film again outside of this collection because it doesn’t fit.

FULL NEST
One of the LENA’s FARM series playing the festival. It’s a lovely story of a squirrel helping those in need. We need more of these shorts.

THE BIG BAD WOLF
Aardman related film  about the relationship between pigs and wolves, and how they see they don’t need to be enemies. It played before HOPPERS and was a delight both times I saw it.

BATS AND BUGS
What happens when a bat baby makes friends with bugs. Its sweet.

SHANLEY
Beau McCombs wickedly funny short film is about a little boy and the trouble he causes for his parents. You will roar with laughter and get the only line of dialog stuck in your head. I spent two days with Beau and he is a wonderful fellow destined for great things (I should have gotten his autograph when I had a chance). I will have an interview with him posted soon. You need to see this collection for this film.

CARDBOARD
A dad and this kids move into a trailer after the death of their mom. One of the truly great films about the power of imagination making it so a carboard box can take you places. This is a must see. One of the best of 2026.

PROUT
Creatures on a far off world deal with the garbage dumped on them from space. A pointed tale about waste and the people who have to clean it up. It’s funny and thoughtful.

AHOY!
Julian Alvarez  tells the post apocalyptic tale of world with no land, a ship full of seniors and the boy they rescued named Ahoy.  A magical fairy tale, that may end up as a feature the film is a calling card for writer director Alvarez who creates a world you want to disappear into. I want more with these characters and if all goes well we will. (Also coming is an interview with Alvarez.)

WHOEVER STEALS THIS BOOK (2025) NYICFF 2026

Based on a novel WHOEVER STEALS THIS BOOK needs to be expanded beyond the 85 minutes here.  The film is the story of a family who guards a cursed library that requires the caretaker to hunt down the thief in a world refashioned in the style of the stolen book. However, there is a great deal more going on…

Told in a breezy style that shifts genres, WHOEVER… is one hell of a tale. It’s a film that take a while to get a handle on, but once you are into the world it’s a wonderfully suspenseful tale as we jump styles as different books are stolen.

The trouble is that because the film is so short, this could use another 30 to 40 minutes, details are only supplied late in the game when its too late for them to affect how we feel about the outcome or for them to make us realize just how complex the story really is. For example Mifuyu’s past is not fully filled in nor are we told facts about her family such as her father is a writer. In the end we are told everything but its done in such a way that everything feels like  bad murder mystery where all the real clues are found to have been with held until the final moments.

Don’t get me wrong, WHOEVER is a good movie and worth seeing, but it would have been a great one if they had found a way to include the clues earlier.

Worth seeing at NYICFF

Remaining Native (2025) plays NYICFF 2026 Saturday

This is is a portrait of Ku Stevens, a 17 year old young man  living on the Yerington Paiute reservation in Nevada. He is a long distance runner who dreams of going to the University of Oregon. As Stevens trains and tries to get noticed by college recruiters he ponders his great grandfather  who fled one of infamous religious schools designed to make Native American children into good little Christian kids.  His grandfather ran 50 miles into the desert to find his freedom, its a story that haunts him.

This winner at SXSW is a good portrait of a young man trying to come to terms with the present while reclaiming his family's history. It's a good portrait of a good young man trying to make a difference. It's also a film that makes the story of the children much more real than many other documentaries that deal with the stolen childen that keep things at arms length. 

If you are interesteted in the tragedy of Native American children and a want to see a great bio, then this film is for you.