Jaafar Jackson, Inde Navarrette among the 10 actors making a huge splash on both the big and small screen this year Awards and festival seasons are officially underway. The Newport Beach Film Festival will return for its 27th year, showcasing more than 100 feature films and 250 shorts from 21 countries. The festival, which runs Oct. 15-22 in Newport Beach, will also once again spotlight Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch, a group of breakouts this year defining both film and television.
The festival will open the documentary “Frampton,” looking back at Peter Frampton’s life and career. Closing night will be “Behemoth!,” Searchlight Pictures’ drama about a gifted cellist (Pedro Pascal) who comes from a family of many musicians and returns home to Los Angeles after 20 years of traveling. Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor and Alexa Swinton also star.
Director and writer Tony Gilroy, as well as production designer Jade Healy, will attend the fest. From gripping mysteries to intimate character studies, these films reflect the diversity and depth of vision we’re proud to spotlight.” NBFF’s Centerpiece films include Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine,” starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell; Anton Corbijn’s “A Talent for Murder,” with Helen Mirren, Olivia Cooke and Alden Ehrenreich; James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” toplining Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller; Beth de Araújo’s “Josephine,” starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan; and Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” with Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy. Aaron Burns’ “Jimmy,” a biopic exploring Jimmy Stewart’s life after he won the Oscar for “The Philadelphia Story,” will have its West Coast premiere at the festival, followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew, including star KJ Apa.
Additionally, films from Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Spain and Sweden have been chosen for the fest’s Spotlight section. Among those international titles is Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s “La Bola Negra,” starring Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes, Lola Dueñas, Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close. The generational queer drama is one of the buzziest titles of the year, premiering at Cannes in May to a 16-minute standing ovation and later taking home the 2026 TIFF People’s Choice Award.
The lineup also includes multiple documentaries, including “Avedon,” from director Ron Howard, which tells the story of American photographer Richard Avedon’s life and work. Altman’s “The Sixty-Year Mission: How ‘Star Trek’ Changed Television and the World” will also screen at the festival. Since 1998, Variety has spotlighted breakout performers for our 10 Actors to Watch franchise.
With more than 35 Oscar winners and nominees in the past — last year’s list included last year’s Chase Infiniti, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Miles Caton — this year, we once again tap into some of the biggest film and television stars on the horizon. These 10 honorees will be celebrated on Oct. 18 at the 27th annual Newport Beach Film Festival Honor Brunch. Creed-Miles was drawn to the latest big-screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic “Sense and Sensibility” because of Diana Reid’s writing.
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