AFI Fest returns to Hollywood starting Wednesday, October 22. The American Film Institute\u2019s annual film celebration<\/a> runs through Sunday, October 26, giving Los Angeles public audiences the chance to see the best of this year\u2019s festivals as well as a handful of world premieres, like the Kate Hudson-Hugh Jackman Neil Diamond tribute movie \u201cSong Sung Blue.\u201d<\/p>\n Buzz-building gala screenings include \u201cChristy,\u201d \u201cJay Kelly,\u201d \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,\u201d \u201cNuremberg,\u201d and more. Other acclaimed standouts from the season screening at AFI Fest include \u201cBugonia,\u201d \u201cThe Chronology of Water,\u201d \u201cIs This Thing On?,\u201d \u201cThe Testament of Ann Lee,\u201d and \u201cTrain Dreams,\u201d with many screenings accompanied by a live talent Q&A. The festival has always made accessibility its key mission, with all screenings now taking place at the TCL Chinese Theatres (OK, so parking at the Hollywood and Highland mall isn\u2019t exactly the picture of accessibility, but show up early!).<\/p>\n More from IndieWire<\/strong><\/p>\n IndieWire polled the AFI Fest programming team for 10 must-see (and in more than a few cases under-the-radar) films for Los Angeles movie audiences to explore this week. From \u201cH Is for Hawk\u201d to \u201cSelena y Los Dinos\u201d and more, check them out below.<\/p>\n The blurbs below come courtesy of the AFI Fest team.<\/p>\n \u2018H Is for Hawk\u2019Zillah Bowes, courtesy of Plan B Entertainment<\/p>\n I\u2019m a bit of a bird nerd, so the hawk part is what first piqued my interest in this adaptation of Helen Macdonald\u2019s award-winning memoir<\/a> about keeping a goshawk during the grieving process following the loss of her father. What surprised me was how much I responded to this sensitive and artful examination of grief, and how the work of training, caring for, and controlling the bird, seemingly a 24\/7 undertaking, works as both a method-to-the-madness therapy and a poetic metaphor. Claire Foy gives a quietly impressive performance, while director Philippa Lowthorpe, whose 2020 film \u201cMisbehaviour\u201d I also quite like, really shows off her directorial vision. \u2014Todd Hitchcock, Director, AFI Fest<\/p>\n October 26, 9:20 p.m., Chinese 6<\/p>\n Josh O\u2019Connor and Lily LaTorre in \u2018Rebuilding\u2019<\/p>\n One of the privileges of AFI Fest\u2019s October positioning is the ability to look across the cinematic year \u2014 celebrating not only the biggest titles of the fall season but also bringing earlier standouts to the film-loving audiences of Los Angeles. One such title is Max Walker-Silverman\u2019s Sundance-debuted gem \u201cRebuilding<\/a>,\u201d a quietly affecting follow-up to his 2022 breakout \u201cA Love Song,\u201d in which a displaced Colorado rancher (a soulful Josh O\u2019Connor, doing an impressive American accent) seeks to rebuild his life \u2014 and reconnect with his daughter \u2014 following a devastating wildfire. The result is a deeply felt meditation on resilience, the fragile ties between people and place, and the power of community. Intimate, lyrical, and ravishingly shot by Alfonso Herrera Salcedo, \u201cRebuilding\u201d is one that creeps up on you, culminating in one of the most moving and hopeful scenes of the year. \u2014Abbie Algar, Director, Programming, AFI Fest<\/p>\n October 22, 8:45 p.m., Chinese 6; screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Max Walker-Silverman.<\/p>\n In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the city of Pompeii and its residents in layers of lava and ash. Centuries later, the volcano remains an active threat, but life soldiers on in its shadow: Graverobbers dig for ancient artifacts, teachers struggle to connect with their students, and emergency dispatchers field desperate phone calls. Capturing the beauty, anxieties, and quotidian struggles of a community that straddles the past and present, acclaimed documentarian Gianfranco Rosi crafts a sensory experience that deserves to be savored on the big screen with exquisite black and white photography and an experimental soundscape by Oscar-winner Daniel Blumberg. \u2014Josh Gardner, Senior Programmer<\/p>\n October 24, 12:20 p.m., Chinese 5; October 26, 2:00 p.m., Chinese 5; October 26 screening to be followed by a conversation with director, screenwriter, producer, and director of photography Gianfranco Rosi.<\/p>\n \u2018Selena y Los Dinos\u2019Courtesy of Sundance Institute<\/p>\n The 1997 Jennifer Lopez-led biopic of Selena Quintanilla was effectively on repeat in my household as a kid, so it would have been hard for me not to appreciate a documentary about the famed Tejana singer with a tragic story<\/a>. Yet Isabel Castro\u2019s lovingly told portrait of Selena exceeded my expectations because of the skilled filmmaker\u2019s deft utilization of an immense trove of archival footage that achieves as close as possible to the impossible: bringing Selena back to life. Castro\u2019s film is a true celebration of a singular artist that will have you in a stream of tears (bring tissues!) while also singing along to a banger playlist. \u2014Javier Chavez, Programmer<\/p>\n October 23, 6:20 p.m., Chinese 5; screening to be followed by a conversation with director Isabel Castro.<\/p>\n AFI alum Charlie Polinger\u2019s startling feature debut<\/a> centers on the cruel rites of a pubescent clique. Set at a water polo camp in the early 2000s, the film follows awkward 12-year-old Ben as he struggles to navigate the camp\u2019s ruthless social hierarchy. His fragile bid for acceptance \u2014 and his empathy for an ostracized teammate \u2014 spirals into something sinister. With a haunting choral score and unnervingly naturalistic performances from its young cast, \u201cThe Plague\u201d transforms the chlorine-soaked banalities of boyhood into a feverish descent \u2014 part psychological horror, part moral reckoning. \u2014Mimi Brody, Programmer<\/p>\n October 24, 6:15 p.m., Chinese 6; screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Charlie Polinger.<\/p>\n \u2018A Useful Ghost\u2019Best Friend Forever<\/p>\n Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke\u2019s absurdist, shapeshifting feature debut is perhaps the most delightfully original film I\u2019ve seen all year. A whimsical opening with a self-proclaimed Academic Ladyboy and his possessed vacuum cleaner blossoms into twisting tales of unlikely reincarnations, where lost love and clandestine romance unearth a heartfelt plea for the remembrance of personal history and a biting proclamation for collective labor dissension. In times of increasing cynicism and apathy in the zeitgeist, this phantasm extravaganza \u2014 at once humorously deadpan in its playful tableaus and poignantly sincere at its emotional core \u2014 feels like a breath of fresh air. \u2014Anna Li, Associate Programmer<\/p>\n October 26, 8:30 p.m., Chinese 3; screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke.<\/p>\n Oscar Hudson\u2019s Venice Critics\u2019 Week winner is a boldly original anti-war satire that boggles the mind as its unpredictable and hallucinatory narrative unfolds. Two enemy soldiers are tasked with the farcical mission of guarding a middle-of-nowhere border in the remote desert. Their resentment for one another shifts with growing levels of boredom, hunger, and mental decline\u2026it\u2019s not long before their latent daddy issues and toxic masculinity rise to the surface, forcing their identities to meld together and their designated sides of the border to be forgotten. Striking cinematography, sharp dialogue, and standout performances from twin brothers Luke and Elliott Tittensor make Hudson\u2019s feature debut a riveting journey through the tainted minds of men at war. \u2014Julia Kipnis, Associate Programmer<\/p>\n October 24, 9:30 p.m., Chinese 5<\/p>\n \u2018Yes\u2019Kino Lorber<\/p>\n Arguably the most audacious and visually and psychologically frenetic film in the festival, Israel\u2019s enfant terrible of cinema Nadav Lapid delivers an excoriating screed on his country\u2019s compromised moral condition, pouring his own distraught, disgusted, verging on schizophrenic ambivalence into the character of Y, a court jester and sometimes escort to Israel\u2019s financial and military elite. Set after the attacks of October 7, Y (played with slapstick elasticity by poet and playwright Ariel Bronz) pimps himself out for wild, debaucherous parties while the world burns. The film\u2019s final reveal is one last turning of the knife in Lapid\u2019s incisive, combustible critique of a country ensnared in the delirium of war. \u2014Travis Weedon, Associate Programmer<\/p>\n October 23, 5:45 p.m., Chinese 4; screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Nadav Lapid.<\/p>\n Arturo Arnold, the lifeblood of a North Hollywood film lab, dedicates himself to mastering 8mm and 16mm emulsion. Through a compelling black and white reverie, \u201cLab Man\u201d acts as both an educational exercise on conserving film and personal character study of a man keeping the craft alive. This suave, mesmerizing short will inspire you to finally pick up that film camera and appreciate the art of analog. Arturo\u2019s passion for preserving film is something all cinephiles can relate to! \u2014Nichole Young, Shorts Programmer & Programming Coordinator<\/p>\n October 25, 5:00 p.m., Chinese 2<\/p>\n As someone who distinctly remembers getting the combo *NSYNC\/Britney Spears McDonald\u2019s VHS tape as a child, \u201cPoster Boy\u201d instantly transported me back to the 1990s with its tale of a young teen clamoring to make the cut at a boy band open audition. Oozing with the sheer desperation of that special teenage desire to be liked, this short film is an immaculately composed snapshot of the perils of trying to succeed at all costs. \u2014Eli Prysant, Assistant Programmer<\/p>\n October 23, 8:15 p.m., Chinese 2<\/p>\n Best of IndieWire<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Indiewire’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AFI Fest returns to Hollywood starting Wednesday, October 22. The American Film Institute\u2019s annual film celebration runs through Sunday, October 26, giving Los Angeles public audiences the chance to see the best of this year\u2019s festivals as well as a handful of world premieres, like the Kate Hudson-Hugh Jackman Neil Diamond tribute movie \u201cSong Sung […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2106553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[351756,360424,22693,355633,373329,380241,366977,398679],"class_list":["post-2106552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-afi-fest","tag-josh-oconnor","tag-los-angeles","tag-neil-diamond","tag-selena-quintanilla","tag-selena-y-los-dinos","tag-song-sung-blue","tag-tcl-chinese-theatres"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/10-Must-See-AFI-Fest-Movies-as-Chosen-by-the-Programmers.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2106552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2106554,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106552\/revisions\/2106554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2106553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2106552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2106552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2106552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cH Is for Hawk\u201d<\/h2>\n
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\u201cRebuilding\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cBelow the Clouds\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cSelena y Los Dinos\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Plague\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cA Useful Ghost\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cStraight Circle\u201d<\/h2>\n
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\u201cYes\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cLab Man\u201d (Shorts Program: Documentary 2)<\/h2>\n
\u201cPoster Boy\u201d (Shorts Program: Live Action 1)<\/h2>\n