Beyond Fest Returns to Los Angeles with Guests Including M. Night Shyamalan, Michael Mann, Robert Eggers, and Many More

The latest incarnation of the film festival is bigger than ever, with 10 world premieres and retrospective screenings dedicated to fan favorites by David Lynch, Ken Russell, and others.

Last week, Los Angeles film festival Beyond Fest enticed genre fans with the early announcement that director M. Night Shyamalan would be appearing at this year’s event for a 12-film retrospective (including a triple feature of his “Eastrail 177” trilogy). But the programmers at Beyond Fest were just getting started — today it unveiled its full 2026 slate, and it’s the most exciting and star-studded incarnation of the festival since it first began in 2013.

Back then, Beyond Fest — which has always been presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque — was a scrappy upstart genre festival, though it had already begun its tradition of buzzy in-person guests with its presentation of “The Omen” that featured a Richard Donner post-screening Q&A.

13 years later, Beyond Fest has broadened its scope to become Los Angeles’ premier film festival regardless of genre, with a combination of highly anticipated world premieres, acclaimed new releases straight from Cannes and other fests, and restorations and retrospectives that will have cinephiles salivating.

One such revival pick, Ken Russell’s “The Devils,” has long been a holy grail for auteurists and horror fans. Beyond Fest will present two simultaneous 35mm screenings (one at the Egyptian and one at the Aero) of the new version restored and recut to Russell’s specifications that was announced earlier this year. Other retrospective picks include a day-long in-person tribute to Bruce Dern (featuring two of his best films, Joe Dante’s “The ‘burbs” and Walter Hill’s “The Driver”), special screenings of David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” and “Mulholland Drive,” and a 70mm screening of Danny DeVito’s “Hoffa” with DeVito on hand for a Q&A.

DeVito will also appear with director Martin Brest for a rare screening of Brest’s “Hot Dogs for Gaugin,” and Brest will also be there for “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Scent of a Woman,” with star Al Pacino joining for the latter film. Dolph Lundgren will return to the Cinematheque for a double bill of Andrew Holmes’ new documentary “Dolph: Unbreakable” and the Roland Emmerich sci-fi classic “Universal Soldier,” and another Cinematheque favorite, Michael Mann, will be back with a new cut of “Miami Vice” restored in 4K for its 20th anniversary.

There will also be 10th-anniversary celebrations of “Don’t Breathe,” “Green Room,” “Too Late,” and “Under the Shadow,” all with special guests, and 4K restorations of Jackie Chan’s “Rumble in the Bronx” and E. Elias Merhige’s “Begotten,” along with the world premiere of a “VHS edition” of Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” which sounds awfully intriguing. And then there’s Robert Eggers, who will take command of the Egyptian Theatre for a day-long marathon of his work that will chronologically screen his entire filmography, capped off with a first look at exclusive material from his upcoming film “Werwulf.”

As if the retrospective options weren’t abundant and satisfying enough, this year’s Beyond Fest is stacked with exciting new releases, starting with opening night film “Primetime,” making its West Coast premiere. James Gray will appear with his latest and best film, “Paper Tiger,” showing on a double bill with his riveting directorial debut “Little Odessa.” Other recent festival favorites that will screen at Beyond Fest include Alex Gibney’s “Musk,” Zachary Wigon’s “Victorian Psycho,” and the SXSW hit “Drag.”

There will also be chances to see some great horror television on the big screen; Mike Flanagan will return to Beyond Fest to screen two episodes of his Stephen King adaptation “Carrie,” and Brad Caleb Kane is presenting the early days of Jason Voorhees with “Crystal Lake.” Then there are the West Coast premieres of “Wicker,” “Sender” (with Jamie Lee Curtis, David Dastmalchian, and Rhea Seehorn in person), Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “The Samurai and the Prisoner – Black and White Edition.”

And this is all just scratching the surface — between features and shorts there are dozens of other films slated to screen at Beyond Fest, which is often characterized as much by its discoveries as the tributes to established masters like Mann, Lynch, and Shyamalan. (Your best bet for finding a great horror flick you never heard of is to take a trip to the festival’s MUBI Theatre at the Los Feliz 3, where some of the festival’s edgier and more radical films will be playing.) With around 100 films on the schedule, this year’s “Beyond Fest” promises the festival’s most varied and satisfying slate yet.

Beyond Fest will run at the American Cinematheque’s Village, Aero, Egyptian, and Los Feliz 3 theaters from September 23 to October 6. For more information, visit the American Cinematheque’s website, where tickets will go on sale at 10am PT on September 10.