{"id":496265,"date":"2026-10-14T22:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T22:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496265\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T22:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T22:28:10","slug":"coronado-island-film-festival-announces-2026-film-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496265\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronado Island Film Festival announces 2026 film lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Coronado Island Film Festival<\/a> returns Nov. 4\u20138 with more than 140 films, including award-season contenders, premieres, independent films, documentaries, and shorts. Now in its 11th year, the festival also features special programming, industry panels, and tributes celebrating the art of filmmaking.<\/p>\n

The Leonard Maltin Industry Tribute Gala<\/a> will kick off the festival on Wednesday evening, Nov. 4, at the Hotel del Coronado. A hosted champagne reception and red carpet will be followed by dinner and the awards presentation, and dancing at the after-party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year reflects everything CIFF stands for: San Diego premieres of the season\u2019s biggest awards contenders, bold work from independent filmmakers, a slate that puts women\u2019s voices front and center, and panels that bring the industry\u2019s best into direct conversation with our audience,\u201d said Merridee Book, CEO & Artistic Director of the Coronado Island Film Festival. \u201cCIFF is where the conversations that matter to this industry begin, and where the films we share become the conversation. We build a bridge between the magic of classic Hollywood and the future of storytelling. The way we watch movies may evolve, but the feeling of discovering them together in a theater never will. That\u2019s why festivals like ours matter more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival opens Thursday, Nov. 5, with I Play Rocky, directed by Peter Farrelly, about Sylvester Stallone\u2019s determination to play the lead role in the film he wrote. The closing-night selection on Sunday, Nov. 8, is Paper Tiger, a crime thriller directed by James Gray and starring Miles Teller, Adam Driver, and Scarlett Johansson.<\/p>\n

Centerpiece screenings include Ink (Netflix), directed by Danny Boyle, and The Debut (A24), directed by Jesse Eisenberg. Spotlight selections include Behemoth! (Searchlight Pictures), Clarissa (NEON), Killing Castro (Lionsgate), Minotaur (Mubi), Ray Gunn (Netflix), Jimmy (Fathom), Josephine (Sumerian Pictures) and Tangles (Independent Film Company). Several films will make their San Diego premieres, while Williston, directed by Adam Seidel and Jonathan Lipniki, will have its world premiere.<\/p>\n

Female filmmakers also have a strong presence, with the annual Women on the Move panel and networking reception, the premiere of Womanhood: The Series Season 2<\/a> (STEM: Part II), and selections produced and directed by women, including All That Glisters, All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane and Kenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart.<\/p>\n

Festival events include HAROLD!<\/a>, a tribute to silent-film star Harold Lloyd featuring his granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd, film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, and a fully restored Lloyd masterpiece. The Conservation & Science of Possibilities program, presented with the Salk Institute and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Wild Hope series, includes The Right Whale: Tales of Resilience and Hope. The Culinary Cinema Series features Top of the World, about Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the World Trade Center, alongside short films exploring food, wine, and culture.<\/p>\n

An extensive panel series covers a wide range of film industry topics including AI and streaming, screenwriting, casting, women in entertainment, film financing, and SAG-AFTRA. The annual Jury Awards presentation takes place Saturday, Nov. 7, with $20,000 in cash prizes for filmmakers and screenwriters.<\/p>\n

Additional festival programming includes ShortsFest<\/a>, featuring 15 curated short-film tracks spanning animation, documentary, emerging filmmakers and more.<\/p>\n

The festival\u2019s full schedule, screening information, and tickets are on sale at\u00a0festival.coronadofilmfest.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

Visit the website for the full schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

OPENING NIGHT FILM \u2014 Thursday, Nov. 5<\/p>\n

\u201cI Play Rocky\u201d \u2014 Directed by Peter Farrelly | Amazon MGM<\/p>\n

CENTERPIECE & SPOTLIGHT SCREENINGS<\/p>\n

\u201cAll My Friends Are Back in Brisbane,\u201d dir. Louise Alston\u201cAll That Glisters,\u201d dir. Trilby Glover\u201cBehemoth!\u201d (Searchlight Pictures), dir. Tony Gilroy \u2014 San Diego Premiere\u201cClarissa\u201d (NEON), dir. Arie Esiri & Chuko Esiri \u2014 San Diego Premiere\u201cThe Debut\u201d (A24), dir. Jesse Eisenberg\u201cHustler,\u201d dirs. Fedor Kravchuk, Nikita Kravchuk\u201cInk\u201d (Netflix), dir. Danny Boyle \u2014 San Diego Premiere\u201cIn Waves\u201d (Netflix), dir. Phuong Mai Nguyen\u201cJimmy\u201d (Fathom), dir. Aaron Burns\u201cJosephine\u201d (Sumerian Pictures), dir. Beth de Ara\u00fajo \u2014 San Diego Premiere\u201cKilling Castro\u201d (Lionsgate), dir. Eif Rivera \u2014 San Diego Premiere\u201cLine Cooks,\u201d dir. John Mossman \u2014 San Diego Premiere\u201cMinotaur\u201d (Mubi), dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev \u2014 San Diego Premiere\u201cMouse\u201d (Independent Film Company), dirs. Kelly O\u2019Sullivan, Alex Thompson\u201cRay Gunn\u201d (Netflix), dir. Brad Bird \u2014 San Diego Premiere\u201cTangles\u201d (Independent Film Company), dir. Leah Nelson \u2014 San Diego Premiere\u201cWilliston,\u201d dirs. Adam Seidel, Jonathan Lipniki\u2014 World Premiere<\/p>\n

ADDITIONAL OFFICIAL SELECTIONS (in alphabetical order):<\/p>\n

\u201cArthur Elgort: Models & Muses\u201d (dir. Warren Elgort)\u201cCarl Sagan\u201d (dir. Nanette Burstein)\u201cThe Choice\u201d (dir. John Coles)\u201cClass of Her Own\u201d (dir. Boaz Dvir)\u201cThe Cosmic Trigger\u201d (dirs. Larry L. Sheffield, Trent J. Di Giulio)\u201cDream Touch Believe\u201d (dir. Jenna Naranjo Winters)\u201cKenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart\u201d (dir. Dori Berinstein)\u201cThe Last Spy\u201d (dir. Katharina Otto-Bernstein)\u201cPoverty Trap\u201d (dir. Michael Matheson Miller)\u201cRadioheart: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole\u201d (dirs. Peter Hilgendorf, Andrew Franks)\u201cThe Right Whale: Tales of Resilience and Hope\u201d (dirs. Nick Dean, Cheryl Holmen Dean)\u201cThe Gymnast of Fisherman Colony\u201d (dir. Habiba Nosheen)\u201cTransforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story\u201d (dir. Dan Egan)\u201cThe Via Francigena\u201d (dir. Robert David Nelson)<\/p>\n

CLOSING NIGHT FILM \u2014 Sunday, Nov. 8<\/p>\n

\u201cPaper Tiger\u201d \u2014 Directed by James Gray | NEON<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Coronado Island Film Festival returns Nov. 4\u20138 with more than 140 films, including award-season contenders, premieres, independent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[94311,5943,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-496265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-ciff-2026","tag-coronado-island-film-festival","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}