Houston Cinema Arts Festival 2026

The Houston Cinema Arts Festival is back for its 18th year, running from Thursday, October 1 through Sunday, October 11. It's an 11-day stretch with more than 40 screenings and programs spread across the city, and this edition is being billed as the most 'Houston' one yet. The festival is created and programmed by the Houston Cinema Arts Society.

Opening night belongs to Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, written and directed by Houston-raised filmmaker Bassam Tariq and starring Mahershala Ali, John Cho, and Giancarlo Esposito. The film was partly shot right here in the city and draws from Tariq's own life, following a devout Muslim father and widower trying to hold his family together after his wife's death. Beyond that, the lineup includes The Body Is Water by local filmmaker Vicky Wight, the documentary short Zina about tennis great Zina Garrison, and a 30th-anniversary screening of Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket. International features Possible Love (Lee Chang-dong) and Fatherland (Paweł Pawlikowski) round out the bill.

The festival is leaning hard into its local roots this year with two dedicated programs, 'Spotlight on Texas' and 'Texas Icons.' There are ten more feature films than last year, six short-film blocks, and live performances mixed in. There's also a program titled 'My Eyes Are Playing Tricks on Me' that asks about image and truth in the age of AI. The whole thing is held together by parties, panels, and other events scattered across the city.

Screenings take place at venues all over Houston, with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston hosting in the Brown Auditorium Theater and the Lynn Wyatt Theater. Other screenings are at Rice Cinema, the River Oaks Theatre, and the DeLUXE Theater. The festival runs through Sunday, October 11.