The Contending

(September 17, 2026) INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Heartland Film has announced the lineup for the 35th Heartland Film Festival (HFF) presented by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at The Square, taking place October 8-18. The 11-day festival was recently voted the #1 Best Film Festival by USA TODAY’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. For the last three years, the festival has also remained on MovieMaker Magazine’s list of Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals.

Austin, TX (September 16, 2026) – Austin Film Festival (AFF), the premier film festival recognizing writer’s and filmmaker’s contributions to film, television, and new media, today announced its second wave of programming for the 33rd annual Festival, taking place October 29 – November 5, 2026.

The camera glides calmly in the opening moments of Joshua Giuliano’s River, a woodsy, bloody good time of a horror flick that played one of the early Midnight Madness screenings at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. We hear a young man and woman flirting in voiceover but see the remnants of a secluded date: a car’s trunk is ajar, beer cans strewn about. The wind rustles the leaves as the sounds of sex begin before they suspect that someone is watching them.

The 78th Primetime Emmys proved a lot of things: People really love Widow’s Bay, and Apple has a stranglehold on voters, with Pluribus taking home wins as well as the little show that could, Slow Horses. Over the past three Emmy telecasts, voters have awarded Will Smith’s (not THAT one) show with three Emmys, one each year: Drama Writing in 2024 and Drama Directing in 2025 and 2026.

Set in London in the late 1980s, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, David Turpin’s somber, stunning feature debut, Ancestors, unfolds like an evocative elegy to the legion of young gay men who were virtually erased by the disease and by a society that shunned them. This beguiling non-linear cinematic poem centers on the love between two very unlikely people.

“I always heard you say that the ending imposes itself on the development of a story. And that the author has to accept it even if it isn’t the ending that she’d foreseen.” Writing something means you give it a full life. It breathes in front of you to the point where you can see it getting up on its legs and becoming so real that you may forget that you are the one clicking away on your laptop.

In the opening moments of Siân Heder’s Being Heumann, a young woman in a wheelchair rides in the middle of a busy street with an imposing bus honking its horn behind her. She raises her middle finger but doesn’t turn her head back to look as this hulking piece of city transit cannot get around her. That image makes an impression, for sure, as the scene is featured on the first promotional materials for Heder’s follow-up to her Oscar-winning CODA.

The whole Contending team gets together to review and recap the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards. And with that, another Emmy season comes to a close. Last night, Apple broke last year’s The Studio record for wins with Widow’s Bay completely steamrolling over Hacks in all the acting categories (except for Jean Smart, of course). Many predicted The Pitt to dominate, but it only went home with two in the major categories, for Drama Actor and Drama Series.

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! Each week, we’ll rank the top 10 films in a specific category. While we aim to tie these lists to big releases, that won’t always be the case. Our goal? For you to enjoy, share your own lists, and join in on a lively, friendly debate. This is an interactive space to build community here at The Contending. No fancy intros, no long essays – just a category and a list. Sound good?

We will be updating the 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards throughout tonight’s ceremony. Be sure to follow along on X as well. For those who want to watch live, the 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards will air live on NBC and stream on Peacock beginning at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. Emmy winner Mariska Hargitay hosts the festivities. Here are the nominees. Winners are marked in bold.