The New Media Film Festival has unveiled its first wave of official selections for the 2026 season, continuing its fifteen-year legacy as a bellwether for where storytelling is headed next. The festival, which has built a reputation since 2009 as a home for breakthrough formats and future-facing talent, maintains its hybrid structure with both online and in-person programs. This dual approach ensures fairness in judging while expanding access for international talent and audiences.
Founder and Director Susan Johnston emphasized the festival's forward-looking mission. "Every year, we challenge ourselves to look further ahead — to champion the creators who are shaping the future before the world even knows it's coming," she said. "This early lineup reflects exactly why the New Media Film Festival exists: to celebrate innovation, elevate new voices, and create real opportunities for artists working at the edge of what's possible." Johnston's profile and festival information can be found at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426856/.
The first wave selections showcase the festival's commitment to bold storytelling, global voices, and emerging formats. The online program, launching June 3, features globally accessible content including world premieres like "Sunflowers" by YongJik Lee and "Soul" by Leeorah Hursky, along with U.S. debuts such as "A Dream My Sister Had" by Fabio Thieme. The in-person program on June 4 at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles includes world premieres like "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 creative and technological frontiers shaping the year ahead, from intimate personal narratives to AI-driven inquiry and format-bending experiments. The festival has served as a launchpad for emerging categories including AI-generated cinema, holographic comics, VR funding pitches, and NFT-driven storytelling. Its commitment to these formats has made it one of the few spaces where boundary-pushing creators and industry powerhouses from organizations like Marvel, HBO, the Emmys, the Grammys, PBS, and the BBC converge, often leading to real-world opportunities in funding, distribution, casting, and book deals.
The importance of this announcement lies in the festival's role as an indicator of where the entertainment and media industries are heading. By championing creators who experiment with emerging technologies and narrative forms early, the festival provides early visibility to trends that may later become mainstream. For audiences and industry professionals, this offers insight into future storytelling methods and content consumption patterns. For creators, it represents a critical platform for recognition and career advancement in competitive creative fields.
The 2026 edition will feature red-carpet premieres, filmmaker Q&As, immersive tech-driven experiences, and global art showcases. Additional categories, premieres, and special events will be revealed in the coming months. Festival details are available at https://www.NewMediaFilmFestival.com, where creators and audiences can access programming information and submission guidelines.
