NYFF 2025 preview: 14 films you’ll want to see for yourself (and how)

The 63rd New York Film Festival kicks off Sept. 26, and with it comes a thrilling flood of premieres of some of the most-anticipated movies of the year.

At NYFF, new movies from Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Rose Byrne, Ben Stiller, Bradley Cooper, Park Chan-wook, and many more will play before an audience eager and yet hard to impress. But even if you won’t be able to make to Manhattan for the premieres, you can keep an eye out for Mashable’s coverage, which will include reviews and interviews, so you know what’s a must-see and what’s totally missable.

Before things kick off with the polarizing new film from Luca Guadagnino, Mashable’s selected some of the most anticipated debuts of NYFF, and where you can see them soon.

1. After The Hunt

Opening night of NYFF offers the North American premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s latest drama. The provocative filmmaker behind Queer and Challengers returns with a twisted new tale of sex, desire, and betrayal.

Julia Roberts headlines as Alma Imhoff, a Yale professor of philosophy whose loyalties are called into questions when her protege (Ayo Edebiri) accuses Alma’s colleague (Andrew Garfield) of sexual misconduct. This ambition drama goes beyond a he-said-she-said drama, probing societal influences of gender, race, sexual orientation, and generational divides to flesh out its trio of characters and their perspectives. Essentially, After the Hunt becomes a war of words and ideology, thought-provoking and unsettling.

Out of its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last month, Guadagnino’s latest was jeered by critics. Will his challenging drama fare better with NYFF’s audience? Based on early buzz, Mashable suspects so. — Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor

Starring: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny

How to watch: After the Hunt opens in select theaters Oct. 10 before expanding nationwide Oct. 17.

2. Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Bruce Springsteen gets the movie biopic treatment with Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Writer/director Scott Cooper adapts Warren Zanes’ book on Springsteen, Deliver Me From Nowhere, to focus on the story of when this American icon was on the brink of stardom, working on his seminal album Nebraska.

Stepping into the Boss’ big shoes is The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White. Teamed with Crazy Heart‘s helmer, White could deliver the performance of an already award-winning career. And in a time when art is in a battle for the soul of America, a movie about the blue-collar American rock star could not be better timed. By pouring out his heart and pain and politics, he created anthems that have carried us for decades. Can Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere capture that magic and that struggle? We can’t wait to find out. — K.P.

Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young, Gaby Hoffmann, Marc Maron, and David Krumholtz

How to watch: Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere opens in theaters Oct. 24.

3. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Writer/director Mary Bronstein’s daring dramedy first made waves out of Sundance 2025, where critics cheered and A24 bought the distribution rights. Now, it’s gaining momentum through TIFF and NYFF.

Starring Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You follows a middle-aged wife and mother who is at her wit’s end thanks to the pressures of caring for her sick child, juggling the duties of an absentee husband as well as her job, and dealing with a house that is literally falling apart. In his review for Mashable, Siddhant Adlakha praised Byrne’s performance, writing, “There isn’t a single moment during which the torment driving Byrne’s character to lash out isn’t visible behind her eyes, begging to be recognized. It’s a plea made all the more urgent by the fact that If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You feels in a constant state of hair-raising climax. And so, it grabs you by the collar and pulls you along for its harrowing plunge, forcing you to witness — and to understand — the worst yet most deeply human impulses a mother can have.”* —K.P.

Starring: Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brien, Danielle Macdonald, Christian Slater, and A$AP Rocky

How to watch: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You opens in theaters on Oct. 10.

4. Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost

Before Ben Stiller was headlining comedy blockbusters like Meet the Parents, his parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara were a comedy duo defining humor in 1960s and ’70s American culture.

As director and documentarian, their son looks back on Stiller and Meara, their highs and lows, and where the lines between their professional and personal lives blurred. Already, this is being called the most personal film of Ben Stiller’s career. And it’s easy to see why. — K.P.

How to watch: Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost opens in select theaters Oct. 17 before premiering on Apple TV+ on Oct. 24.

5. Nouvelle Vague

If you love the French New Wave, you need to watch Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater’s love letter to Jean-Luc Godard and his debut feature, Breathless. 

Linklater reimagines Breathless‘s 20-day shoot, highlighting Godard’s (Guillaume Marbeck) unconventional directing style and his relationship with actors Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin) and Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch). He also loops in other key figures of the French New Wave, including François Truffaut (Adrien Rouyard) and Suzanne Schiffman (Jodie Ruth-Forest). In addition to paying tribute to the pioneers of the French New Wave, Linklater pays homage to the movement’s style, shooting Nouvelle Vague in black and white on 35mm film.

Out of its premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Nouvelle Vague received a largely positive reaction from critics, who highlighted the earnestness and detailed recreations of key scenes from Breathless. For all you Godard heads out there, this one’s for you. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

Starring: Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch, and Aubry Dullin

How to watch: Nouvelle Vague opens in select theaters on Oct. 31 before debuting on Netflix on Nov. 14.

6. Sentimental Value

Director Joachim Trier and star Renate Reinsve’s 2021 film The Worst Person in the World was a critical darling, earning Academy Award nominations for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay. Now, the pair look to run it back with the family drama Sentimental Value, co-written by Trier and The Worst Person in the World co-writer Eskil Vogt.

Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas star as estranged sisters Nora and Agnes Borg, who reconnect with their distant father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård) following their mother’s passing. A once-prominent film director, Gustav has written a script about his mother’s life, and he wants Nora to play the lead. When she turns it down, he turns to an American actress named Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) instead, further complicating the Borgs’ already fraught family dynamic. Brace yourself for a heart-wrenching peek into a dysfunctional family, one that earned raves out of 2025’s Cannes Film Festival and picked up the prestigious Cannes Grand Prix. — B.E.

Starring: Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Elle Fanning

How to watch: Sentimental Value opens in theaters Nov. 7.

7. No Other Choice

Park Chan-wook has brought audiences such mind-bending, heart-wrenching cinema as Oldboy, The Handmaiden, and Decision to Leave. His latest, No Other Choice,has already been gathering buzz out of film festivals in Venice, Toronto, and Busan.

Making its U.S. premiere at NYFF, No Other Choice stars Lee Byung-hun as a family man who seems to have it all figured out. He has a loving wife, two children, two dogs, a lovely home, and a job where he feels important. But once his factory begins favoring machinery over human workers, he’s pushed into a job market that’s a real killer. And by that I mean, he’s tempted to kill the competition so he can secure a new job and keep his house.

A dark comedy about the bleeding evils of capitalism, No Other Choice should play well to audiences who embraced the Park-produced Snowpiercer and Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite. However, this NEON release will deliver some twists that’ll have your stomach churning. —K.P.

Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, and Cha Seung-won

How to watch: No Other Choice opens in limited release on Dec. 25.

8. FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER

Indie director Jim Jarmusch has forged his reputations on intimate and immaculately cool character-driven dramas like Dead Man, Broken Flowers, Only Lovers Left Alive, and the unconventional zombie dramedy The Dead Don’t Die. He has a way of taking famous actors and transforming them in ways we’ve never seen before. So frankly, we’re giddy about this combination of ensemble cast and Jarmusch before we even get to the plot.

As teased in the film’s trailer, FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER is a tale of a family told over three chapters, a cinematic triptych if you will. The settings range from Northeast U.S., Dublin, and Paris. And within that a cast of former Jarmusch collaborators like Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Indya Moore, and Tom Waits and new addition Vicky Krieps are sure to create a family drama, unique, poignant, and achingly cool. — K.P.

Starring: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore, and Luka Sabbat

How to watch: FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER opens in limited release on Dec. 24.

9. Jay Kelly

George Clooney and Adam Sandler team up with director Noah Baumbach for Hollywood satire Jay Kelly, about a suave movie star on the verge of a midlife crisis. Clooney plays the titular role, while Sandler stars as Jay’s longtime manager Ron. The two embark on a trip across Europe to accept an award at a film festival, and along the way, they reminisce on their careers and relationships. Get ready for deep conversations, movie star ennui, and, if the trailer is anything to go by, some truly scenic landscapes.

Jay Kelly had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, where it earned mostly positive reviews. Critics heaped praise on Clooney and Sandler’s work, noting that the film’s satire is softer than Baumbach’s other work. Will Jay Kelly find a similarly positive response at NYFF? — B.E.

Starring: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, and Billy Crudup

How to watch: Jay Kelly opens in select theaters Nov. 14 before debuting on Netflix on Dec. 5.

10. Pillion

Craving something kinky and surprisingly sweet? Then you’ll be excited for Pillion. In his directorial debut, writer/helmer Harry Lighton hits hard with his sensitive adaptation of Adam Mars-Jones’Adam Mars-Jone 2020 novel Box Hill.

Harry Melling, who many remember as spoiled-rotten Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter movies, co-stars with Alexander Skarsgård is an unconventional romance. The former Potter kid plays a timid young gay man who finds himself tumbling into England’s BDSM scene thanks to a domineering and very hot leather daddy, played by Skarsgård. Together, they forge a relationship that’s full of kink, commands, and understanding. Sure, some will gasp at the onscreen sex and flourishing fetishes. But beneath the leather harnesses, Pillionhas a radiant heart. —K.P.

Starring: Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård

How to watch: A24 will be releasing Pillion.

11. A House of Dynamite

Want to feel a deep sense of existential dread? Then make time for A House of Dynamite, the latest from Academy Award–winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty). 

A nail-biting thriller, A House of Dynamite centers on America’s reaction to an incoming nuclear missile strike. No one knows who sent the missile; all they know is that they have 18 minutes to save the country from a devastating disaster. Bigelow brings viewers into the missile crisis in real time, repeating the same 18 minutes from the perspectives of officers in the Situation Room (Rebecca Ferguson and Jason Clarke), security advisors (Gabriel Basso and Greta Lee), and of course, the U.S. president himself (Idris Elba).

If A House of Dynamite‘s harrowing trailer wasn’t enough to get you intrigued, let the response out of the film’s premiere at the Venice International Film Festival sway you. Critics praised its intensity, and Bigelow and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim’s ability to tap into anxieties about nuclear war. — B.E.

Starring: Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Jonah Hauer-King, Greta Lee, and Jason Clarke

How to watch: A House of Dynamite opens in select theaters globally on Oct. 10 beforedebuting on Netflix on Oct. 24.

12. The Mastermind

Josh O’Connor is everywhere this fall! The Challengers star just hit theaters opposite Paul Mescal in the queer romance The History of Sound. In the upcoming Knives Out sequel, Wake Up Dead Man, he joins a star-studded cast for a fresh murder mystery. But in writer/director Kelly Reichardt’s unconventional crime drama The Mastermind, he’s front and center.

Set in the 1970s, this film has O’Connor playing a family man, with a nice house, respected parents, and a good job. But he yearns for something more. So naturally, he plots a heist of the local art museum. Despite the title, he’s not as strategic as one might hope. And when things go sideways, this “mastermind” must scramble to get away with his freedom — even if it means sacrificing all else. A wryly comic tale of self-sabotage, The Mastermind is sure to thrill Reichardt fans and give O’Connor lovers a new side to the talented leading man. —K.P.

Starring: Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim, Hope Davis, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffmann, and Bill Camp

How to watch: The Mastermind opens in theaters in theaters on Oct. 17.

13. Scarlet

Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

The New York Film Festival doesn’t often showcase animated features. While the 2024 slate lacked them entirely, the 2023 slate did include Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. That means the bar is high for this year’s animated entry, Mamoru Hosoda’s (Belle) anime epic Scarlet.

On paper, Scarlet is a gender-bending twist on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In reality, it’s far, far stranger, asking, “What if, after his death, Hamlet found himself in a fantasy afterlife where he would have to fight legions of dead soldiers (and maybe even a dragon) in order to get revenge on his uncle Claudius?” Well, that’s exactly what happens to Hosoda’s heroine, Danish princess Scarlet (voiced by Mana Ashida). It’s as bonkers as it sounds, backed up by stunning visuals to match. — B.E.

Starring: Mana Ashida, Masaki Okada, and Koji Yakusho

How to watch: Scarlet hits theaters Dec. 12.

14. Is This Thing On?

As a filmmaker, Bradley Cooper is entranced by tales of show business. Following his Lady Gaga-headlined remake of A Star is Born and the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, he has co-written and helmed Is This Thing On? — a dramedy in which co-writer Will Arnett plays a stand-up finding his way in the NY comedy club scene. But that’s not all.

After years together, married couple Alex (Arnett) and Tess (Laura Dern) are splitting up. It’s amicable, sure, but it’s still an emotional minefield. So where better to work out his feelings and issues about a failed marriage and co-parenting than in front of an audience with a two drink-minimum?

It’s a concept and setting that should play well to the hometown audience (and critics). So, a fitting film for NYFF’s closing night. — K.P.

Starring: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Christine Ebersole, Ciarán Hinds, and Scott Icenogle

How to watch:Is This Thing On? will open in theaters on Dec. 19.

* denotes that this blurb appeared in a previous Mashable list.