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2026 AFI Fest Full Lineup Revealed

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The stage is nearly set for AFI Fest 2026.

The American Film Institute unveiled the full lineup of films that make up the 40th edition of the Canva-presented festival at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre from Oct. 21 to 25. In all, 157 films will screen including five red carpet premieres, 12 special screenings, 13 luminaries titles, 18 discovery titles, 16 from world cinema, 17 documentaries, three after-dark films, four guest artistic director presentations, 45 shorts and 24 films from the AFI Conservatory showcase presented by AMC Global Media.

Among the selections are a number of films that got a boost from fall festival premieres like Lee Chang-dong’s Venice Film Festival Silver Lion grand jury prize winner Possible Love; Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Cannes Film Festival prize-winning All of a Sudden starring Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto; Werner Herzog’s Venice selection Bucking Fastard starring Kate Mara and Rooney Mara; Andrew Haigh’s A Long Winter starring Fred Hechinger, Kit Connor, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Caitríona Balfe; Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert’s The Idiot(s), starring Johnny Flynn and Aimee Lou Wood; Mike Leigh’s San Sebastián Golden Shell winner Tender Loving Care; and the North American premieres of Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales starring Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Cassel and Virginie Efira; and Céline Sciamma’s Tutti Fruitti.

Rooney and Kate Mara in Bucking Fastard

Gateway to Orkney

Other titles include Ilker Çatak’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Yellow Letters; Markus Schleinzer’s Rose, starring Sandra Hüller, who won the Berlinale Silver Bear for best lead performance for her work in the black-and-white film; Sandra Wollner’s Everytime which won an Un Certain Regard prize; Marine Atlan’s Cannes’ Critics’ Week grand prize winner La Gradiva; Louis Clichy’s Iron Boy, winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard special jury prize; Stephanie Ahn’s Bedford Park, which snagged a Sundance U.S. dramatic special jury award for debut feature; and Lance Hammer’s Queen at Sea starring Juliette Binoche alongside Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall, who shared the Berlinale Silver Bear for best supporting performance.

Rose

The Match Factory/Courtesy Everett Collection

As previously announced, the roster of films includes Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky starring Anthony Ippolito; Netflix’s animated Ray Gunn from Brad Bird featuring the voices of Scarlett Johansson and Sam Rockwell; Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine starring Rockwell and John Malkovich; Ava DuVernay’s documentary 14th; Diego Luna’s Ashes; Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! starring Pedro Pascal as a gifted cellist; Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas; Florian Zeller’s Bunker starring couple Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz; Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa with David Oyelowo, Sophie Okonedo and Ayo Edebiri; Simon Stone’s Elsinore starring Andrew Scott as Ian Charleson; Beth de Araújo’s Josephine starring Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan and Mason Reeves; Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love starring Rami Malek, Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Tom Sturridge and Maisy Stella; Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s Mouse starring Okonedo and Katherine Mallen Kupferer; and Leah Nelson’s animated pic about Alzheimer’s, Tangles, featuring an all-star voice cast that includes Seth Rogen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Pedro Pascal and Will Arnett in Behemoth!

Justin Lubin/Searchlight Pictures

The fest opens with the U.S. premiere of Travis Knight’s animated Wildwood, and will feature showings of Sian Heder’s Being Heumann and Netflix’s The Mosquito Bowl from filmmaker Peter Berg and starring Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgard, Ray Nicholson and Berg. Project Hail Mary helmers Phil Lord and Chris Miller are serving as guest artistic directors. They’ll sit for a Q&A following by a screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and they’ve hand-picked Harold and Maude, The Muppet Movie and Rififi to screen.

“Our 40th edition of AFI Fest celebrates the cinematic artistry of bold, inspiring filmmakers from around the world,” said Todd Hitchcock, who serves as director of AFI Fest and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. “With more than 80 features and nearly 70 shorts, AFI Fest 2026 will once again light up the screen of the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre with a wide-ranging slate of films that includes highly anticipated awards favorites and a few surprises as well.”

“We’re thrilled to share some of the year’s most compelling films with the film lovers of Los Angeles at the 40th edition of AFI Fest — from red carpet premieres and major works by established auteurs to exciting debuts from emerging talents, this year’s lineup invites audiences to spend five days experiencing worlds beyond their own and making the connections that great art can spark,” said Abbie Algar, director of programming for AFI Fest and AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center.

Canva is the exclusive presenting sponsor while FIJI Water serves as the official water sponsor and American Airlines as the official airline. Passes to AFI Fest are now available for purchase, with individual tickets available Oct. 3.

The full lineup can be found here.

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‘Icebreaker’ TV Show Adaptation News & Updates: Everything We Know

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Another hockey book adaptation has entered the chat.

Netflix is currently building out its cast for the series adaptation of Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book that kicks off the Maple Hill series. This in addition to their show The Sticks that is also currently in the works.

For everything we know about Netflix’s Icebreaker book adaptation so far, read on.

When will Netflix’s Icebreaker series adaptation come out?

A release date has not yet been set. The show has begun to assemble its cast.

Who will lead the Icebreaker show at Netflix?

Daisy Jelley (Poser, How To Have Sex) will portray Anastasia “Stassie” Allen, and Connor Simos (Subversion) will portray Nate Hawkins in the college hockey drama series.

Who else is in the cast of Netflix’s Icebreaker adaptation?

Gabriel Tierney (Rivals, Enola Holmes 2), Auliʻi Cravalho (Moana), newcomer and professional athlete Peter Berry, Chaneil Kular (Best of the Best, Sex Education), Devin Craig (Sex Lives of College Girls, Maize) and Aidan Shaw (We Were Liars, Heated Rivalry, Finding Her Edge) have joined the ensemble cast.

Tierney will play Aaron; Cravalho will portray Lola; Berry is Robbie; Kular will play JJ; Craig will portray Henry and Shaw is Russ.

What is Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book about?

Stassie is a transfer athlete gunning for Olympic gold. Nate is the campus star chasing the NHL. When an accident forces their teams to share one rink, Anastasia Allen and Nate Hawkins collide—and discipline gives way to obsession, because the only thing more dangerous than wanting to win is wanting each other.

Who else is behind Netflix’s Icebreaker series?

Jade Halley Bartlett (Road House, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Miller’s Girl) created and executive produced the series. Amanda Lasher (Gossip Girl, The Bold Type, Togetherness) serves as showrunner, writer and excutive producer. Grace also executive produces along with Alex Cooper, Matt Kaplan and Mina Lefevre for Cooper’s Unwell Productions.

RELATED: ‘The Sticks’: Scott Bakula, Logan Marshall-Green & More Cast Confirmed; First Look At Netflix YA Hockey Drama Starring Michelle Monaghan

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Cindy Holland Leaving Paramount Ahead Of WBD Merger

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One of the biggest executive questions about Paramount following its pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery — who will lead streaming — may have been answered.

Cindy Holland is leaving Paramount where she was Chairman of Direct-To-Consumer since the Skydance-Paramount merger having served as an advisor to Skydance CEO David Ellison prior to that. She announced her departure in a company memo, which you can read below.

The move leaves HBO’s Casey Bloys as the likely streaming head of the combined Paramount-WBD.

“Cindy is one of the most exceptional executives in our industry — a force of nature whose impact on Paramount over the past year has been significant,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said. “Under her leadership, P+ reached new heights, Pluto TV underwent its most significant transformation in a decade, and we strengthened our content and sports portfolio – all while the business exceeded the ambitious goals we set. Just as importantly, she built an exceptional team and a strong foundation for the future. Cindy has been a trusted partner to me and so many others, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her leadership, her relentless drive and everything she’s done for our company.”

Here is Holland’s memo:

When I joined David’s team in January 2025, we proceeded to set three goals: i) advise on the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, ii) integrate and transform Paramount+ & revive Pluto TV, and iii) build an unparalleled team in this industry. In just over 12 months, I’m proud to say we accomplished all three and it’s been a joy to work closely with all of you.
Together with the Product team, we drove significant strategic and organizational change across DTC — building a new foundation for growth on both services, while investing in greater depth and breadth of programming and delivering strong revenue, profit, and subscriber growth for the division.
As David readies for the next phase of his vision, we’ve discussed my role and the future of the combined businesses. David is optimizing for HBO stability as we move into this next chapter, and I fully support that. I know this team has the leadership and expertise to manage through the transition and the next phase of the company, and to this end today will mark my last day here.
As I reflect on my time here and all that we’ve built together in this short time, what stands out most to me is this team. I have never been more proud of a group of people. What we’ve accomplished together is remarkable — landing quarter after quarter while navigating extraordinary uncertainty and change with resilience, focus and ambition. We grew Paramount+ to an all-time subscriber high, delivered the best retention in the service’s history, and drove double-digit growth in both engagement and revenue. We built an extraordinary content pipeline, greenlighting more than 40 new and returning series and setting all-time records with Landman, the most-watched series in Paramount+ history, and Dutton Ranch, the service’s biggest original series debut ever. We transformed live sports into a powerful streaming growth engine, securing landmark agreements with UFC and Zuffa Boxing and expanding our WNBA and UEFA Champions League rights – with UFC Freedom 250 becoming the largest-ever audience for an exclusive live event on Paramount+ and UFC 329 setting a new platform record for peak concurrent streams for an exclusive live event. And we undertook Pluto TV’s biggest product transformation in a decade, dramatically increasing registered viewing and VOD consumption while delivering strong financial performance across the business. These are extraordinary accomplishments – but what makes me proudest is how we achieved them: together, with an unwavering commitment to our audiences, our creative partners and one another.
I joined Paramount because I believe in these businesses, and because I believe wholeheartedly that the combination of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery serves the best interests of artists and audiences worldwide. I’m looking forward to seeing what you all accomplish together in this next, momentous chapter.
Cindy

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New ‘South Park’ Takes On Data Centers And The Billionaires Who Build Them

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While President Trump was holding a press conference at the White House this morning and extolling the AI-related work of Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, a promo for tomorrow night’s South Park episode dropped. It was less salutary.

Here’s the logline for Episode 6 of Season 29: “Butters is unhappy with the data centers that the billionaires are building in our backyards.”

The clip opens with an X-Pest exterminator guy ringing the doorbell at Butters’ home.

“I understand you’ve got some billionaires in your back yard,” he says.

“Yeah, there’s more of these stupid billionaires every day!” replies Butters.

The first image from the episode (see it above) shows Butters in what appears to be his back yard with the X-Pest exterminator guy, who has strapped on his tank of poison and has his sprayer wand at the ready.

The topic of data centers is a hot one across the country and especially in Hollywood, where unions and workers worry about job displacement and writers and directors express concern over what it might do to their art.

Among the biggest players in the data center land rush is, of course, Oracle CEO and Paramount-WBD deal financier Larry Ellison. South Park airs on Comedy Central, which is owned by Paramount. As in the past, the show’s creators are seemingly not afraid to bite the hand that feeds them.

Mark Ruffalo and others have decried the introduction of “really profoundly scary technology” into Hollywood and how AI might impact media outlets soon to be owned by Ellison and his son David.

“Larry is a classic Oligarch,” wrote Ruffalo. “They are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.”

Paramount, for its part, responded by accusing Ruffalo of using “antisemitic tropes” in his argument, especially when linking the Ellisons’ studio acquisition to Oracle’s work with the Israeli military.

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