From Academy Award® winning writer/director Chloé Zhao, HAMNET tells the powerful love story that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet. Starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.

From Writer/Director Josh Safdie (UNCUT GEMS, GOOD TIME, HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT) comes a table-top dream fit for a Wheaties box. Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness. Starring Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Tyler the Creator, Kevin O'Leary, Fran Drescher, and Sandra Bernhard.

(Park Chan-wook, 2025, 139min, South Korea, R) From director Park Chan-wook and based on Donald E. Westlake's novel THE AX, the story follows Man-su on his desperate hunt for a new job after his abrupt layoff from the paper company he served for 25 years. Directed By: Park Chan-wook Written By: Park Chan-wook, Don McKellar, Lee Kyoung-mi, Lee Ja-hye Starring: Lee Byung Hun, Son Yejin, Park Hee Soon, Lee Sung Min, Yeom Hye Ran, Cha Seung Won

*TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT GO ON SALE DECEMBER 15th* RISING ABOVE HELENE: WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA'S JOURNEY TO RECOVERY (Chris Baucom, 2025, 63min, United States, NR) January, 12th @ 7PM Film Runtime: 63min Program Runtime: 120min Carrboro Film Fest is proud to present Rising Above Helene: Western North Carolina’s Journey to Recovery, a feature documentary film by NC native filmmaker, Chris Baucom. On September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene swept through the mountains of Western North Carolina, unleashing devastating floods that reshaped both the landscape and the lives of those who call it home. Through heartfelt interviews, sweeping visuals, and on-the-ground storytelling, the film captures the quiet determination of neighbors who came together to rebuild what was broken. Across the counties of Western North Carolina, we see the resilience that defines these mountain communities where rivers may rise, but the people rise higher. Join us for a pre-festival kickoff screening at the Chelsea Theater as well as a Q&A with the director. Carrboro Film Fest, celebrating its 20th year, runs January 23-25, 2026 at the new Drakeford Library Complex in downtown Carrboro, NC. Festival tickets go on sale December 15th. For more information and festival tickets visit carrborofilm.org

Amid the raucous revelry of Carnival week, a widower named Marcelo (Wagner Moura) arrives in 1977 in Recife, Brazil, a city as vibrant as it is violent. A technology researcher who suddenly finds himself an unwitting target in the heart of the dictatorship's political maelstrom, Marcelo is a man on the run from mercenary killers, from ghosts of the past and from the ruthless, mischievously militant spirit of Brazil in 1977. In the midst of these mounting threats, Marcelo, with the help of a mysterious woman named Elza and her compatriots in the country's growing underground resistance, remains primarily focused on escaping Brazil with his young son. Master filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho teams up with renowned actor Wagner Moura - giving an extraordinary, career-defining performance - to craft a thrillingly unpredictable, playfully shape shifting epic steeped in history even as it feels remarkably contemporary, paying affectionate tribute to the movies of Filho’s youth while unfolding against the backdrop of political turmoil and palpable danger. Directed By: Kleber Mendonça Filho Written By: Kleber Mendonça Filho Starring: Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leone, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho, Hermila Guedes

From award-winning writer-director Mona Fastvold (The World to Come, The Brutalist) comes the extraordinary true legend of Ann Lee, founder of the devotional sect known as the Shakers. Academy Award nominee Amanda Seyfried stars as the Shaker's irrepressible leader, who preached gender and social equality and was revered by her followers. The Testament of Ann Lee captures the ecstasy and agony of her quest to build a utopia, featuring more than a dozen traditional Shaker hymns reimagined as rapturous movements with choreography by Celia Rowlson-Hall (Vox Lux) and original songs & score by Academy Award winner Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist).