Premiering in Arthouse Film Festival: Late Fame, The Stranger, Underworld, Late Shift, Mad Bills to Pay, Amrum, Maddie's Secret, Carolina Caroline, Time and Water and more!
(CHATHAM, NJ) -- Featuring some of the best soon-to-be-released movies from around the world, Arthouse Film Festival will unspool for ten weeks beginning March 16, 2026 at Chatham Hickory Cinema. The selected films comprise award winners from Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, Telluride, Venice and SXSW film festivals, along with prestige studio films, screened in Chatham before their New York theatrical release dates.
Arthouse Film Festival has hosted 2,088 movie premieres with 1,323 guest appearances over the past 35 years. Oscar winners and nominees Ethan Hawke, Viggo Mortensen, Alan Arkin, Lee Daniels, Frank Darabont, Jesse Eisenberg, Melissa Leo, Chazz Palminteri, John Sayles, Aaron Sorkin, Fisher Stevens and David Strathairn have joined Dylan Baker, Famke Janssen, Danai Gurira, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Derek Luke, Mary Stuart Masterson, David Morse, Connie Nielsen, Joe Pantoliano and Kevin Smith as guest speakers who have come to share their insights with festival participants.
"The program will always be flexible in order to take advantage of opportunities as they arise," said festival director Chuck Rose. "Wonderful surprises and fantastic celebrities can pop up out of nowhere, so we try to keep the schedule as fluid as possible.
Tickets are available for purchase online. Session One runs March 16,23,30, April 6,13 (discounted rates are available until March 9th). Session Two runs April 20,27, May 4,11, 18 (discounted rates are available until April 13th). Chatham Hickory Cinema is located at 641 Shunpike Road in Chatham, New Jersey.
Highlights from last year's Arthouse Film Festival included a special pre-release premiere of Train Dreams, followed by a fascinating Q&A with writer/director Clint Bentley. In February, Train Dreams won Best Feature, Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Independent Spirit Awards. Currently, it's nominated for 4 Oscars, and streaming on Netflix.
Here is a look at confirmed films for the upcoming festival as of February 25th:
Late Fame with Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee, directed by Kent Jones. Adapted from a novel by Arthur Schnitzler (who is best known as Stanley Kubrick's source for Eyes Wide Shut). Stars Willem Dafoe in one of his greatest performances as legendary poet Ed Saxberger, whose forgotten works ignite an eccentric group of young NYC creatives and the passion of a mesmerizing actress played by Greta Lee.
The Stranger with Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder, directed by Francois Ozon. Albert Camu's landmark novel is opened up and expanded by Ozon's creative energy and magnificent black and white cinematography. Rising star Benjamin Voison and Rebecca Marder are captivating in a meticulously rendered Algeria, heated to a boiling point under the pressure of French colonialism.
Underland, directed by Rob Petit, produced by Darren Aronofsky. Based on the bestselling book by Robert Macfarlane, a eye-popping, cinematic journey into the Earth below the surface, revealing ancient sacred caves, melting glaciers, underwater burial chambers, and a deep, underground, massive laboratory built to solve the mysteries of the Universe. We experience a groundbreaking vision for rethinking our lives on the fragile surface we occupy.
Late Shift with Leonie Benesch, directed Petra Volpe. Nominated for the European Film Award for Best Actress, Leonie Benesch is spectacular as a night shift nurse in an understaffed, overcrowded urban hospital, racing to stabilize, comfort and save lives. Dynamic cinematography, precision direction, and one of the best performances of the year highlight this gripping drama.
Mad Bills To Pay with Juan Collado, Destiny Checo, directed by Joel Alfonso Vargas. Set in the current, culturally, politically and economically challenging fringes of New York City, director Vargas and his energetic, passionate cast revive and rejuvenate the urban dramatic storytelling styles and techniques evoked in the works of Elia Kazan, John Cassavetes and Martin Scorsese, with hustle, humor and heartbreak.
Amrun with Jasper Billerback, Diane Kruger, directed by Fatih Akin. A Cannes favorite, coming-of-age drama based on the life of prolific writer/director/actor Hark Bohm, and the memories of his youth in the waning days of World War II, on the island of Amrum in the North Sea. As Nazi Germany crumbles, the microcosm of Amrum evokes the conflicts and challenges that rip apart its fabric, and illuminate its inhabitants past, present and future.
Maddie's Secret with John Early, Kate Berlant, Kristen Johnston, directed by John Early. Writer/director/actor John Early, conducts a large and terrific cast in a madcap and often hilarious scenario with his character leaping from viral superstardom, to the pressures of success, to reawakening a hidden secret from a troubled past. An incredible blend of satire, drama, and daring tonal shifts pulled off in a bold, directorial debut.
Carolina Caroline with Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, Kyra Sedgwick, directed by Adam Rehmeier. Two charismatic, desperate souls go on a joyride that is by turns, thrilling and tragic. In the traditions of Bonnie and Clyde, The Grifters and The Killing, director Adam Rehmeier evokes a 20th Century romantic crime thriller that weaves a path of cons, heists and passion across the American South.
Time and Water with Andri Magnason, directed by Sara Dosa. The story of how Iceland was formed by a collision of fire and ice, and the ventures of Magnason's grandparents, early explorers of Iceland's many glaciers, evoked in a montage of volcanoes, waterfalls, wild ponies, birds, northern lights, and purple sunsets. Framed as a time capsule, it is a unique mix of nature in flux and autobiography that reveals the shocking acceleration of glacier death, and compels us to ponder what kind of planet we want to leave behind.
Chuck Rose can also be seen discussing the movies screened in Arthouse Film Festival on the NYC Life TV series, Cinema Q&A With Chuck Rose. The Thursday night series features in-depth discussions with filmmakers and actors from here and abroad. NYC Life is available in 18 million cable homes, and is carried by Comcast, Optimum, Spectrum, Astound, FiOS, DIRECTV and Dish. Cinema Q&A can also be viewed on the NYC Media website or app.
