3 Films to See at New/Next 2026

Back for its fourth year, Baltimore’s New/Next Film Fest runs October 1-4, with over 160 films, 37 of them features. Since its debut in 2023, this now-annual event has become an autumn fixture of Charm City’s cinema scene. The 2026 iteration opens with local filmmaker Marnie Ellen Hertzler’s new documentary, Eternity One, and closes with Alexandre Rockwell’s The Projectionist. The stars of the latter—Vondie Curtis-Hall, Kasi Lemmons, and Karyn Parsons—will attend, along with the director. I’ll see them both, and plan to also catch, at a minimum, Sandra Wollner’s Everytime, Alex Karpovsky’s Riptides, and Kogonada’s Zi. I’ve watched three of the films in the program at previous festivals, which I recommend below.

First They Came for My College (Patrick Bresnan) – excerpted from my Hammer to Nail SXSW 2026 review

Most people are familiar with at least some of the lines from German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous 1946 poem “First They Came.” Director Patrick Bresnan (Pahokee) repurposes Niemröller’s signature line in the title of his latest documentary, which tells the sad tale of what happened to the New College of Florida. Founded in 1960, the institution was, until 2023, a respected liberal arts honors college in Sarasota where a diverse student body studied a range of subjects in a safe environment by the sea. No good things last forever, however. Enter Governor Ron DeSantis, who decided to declare war on “woke” (whatever that means) and appoint a conservative majority to the college’s board. The results are not pretty, but the film is a must-see.

The Haunting of Pennhurst (Mike Attie/Katarina Poljak/Nathan R. Stenberg) –excerpted from my Hammer to Nail Tribeca 2026 review

In The Haunting of Pennhurst—a new documentary from Mike Attie, Katarina Poljak, and Nathan R. Stenberg—we visit the Pennhurst State School and Hospital, located in Spring City, Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia. It was bought in 2007 by an investment group with the idea of turning it into a haunted house. About half the movie (give or take) shows us the fun of preparation and then execution of the jump scares that people come to experience. The other half presents the history of Pennhurst, in all its ignominious not-really-glory.

The Lorraine (Sam Pollard) – excerpted from my Tribeca 2026 review for this site

In The Lorraine, director Sam Pollard (Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes) gives us the account of the titular motel, in Memphis, Tennessee. Black-owned, it reached its peak of popularity during the segregated era of the American South, appearing in Victor Hugo Green’s Green Book as a safe place for African Americans to stay. It’s also where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968. Today, the Lorraine is no longer a motel. Instead, it is the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. If it seems odd—and it does, to some, as we learn—that the site of an assassination should be commemorated in this way, well, give the movie a whirl. You’ll come away with a robust understanding of all the facts, and along the journey gain an appreciation of the pride of place Memphis should hold in our memory, too.

Interested in any of the above, or want to see what else is on offer? Visit the festival site to see more in-depth descriptions and the schedule.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Chris Reed is the editor of Film Festival Today. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.