Houston Cinema Arts Festival (HCAF) 2026 presents Polish film Fatherland, directed by Paweł Pawlikowski (Cold War, Ida).
WHERE: Museum of Fine Arts Houston – Lynn Wyatt Theater, The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, Parking lot, 5500 Main St, Houston, TX 77004
Director: Paweł Pawlikowski
‘As the First World War drags on, Pierre, a soldier newly arrived at the front, is eager to prove himself. Behind the lines, he meets Francis, who decides to lift the spirits of his comrades by putting together a theatre show where he stars and the prima donna. While the violence continues, both men try to find ways to escape the brutality of war, even if only for a moment. Winner of the Best Actor prize at Cannes, which both leads shared, Coward is a profoundly moving examination at toxicity of “courage” and forging life on one’s own terms.’
For more information, contact:
Asia A. | Guest Artist and Community Engagement
Houston Cinema Arts Society
asia@cinemahtx.org | cinemahtx.org
Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS) celebrates and illuminates the vitality of one of America’s most diverse cities by connecting audiences and artists with public, educational, and career-advancing film and arts programming.
VISION
Houston Cinema Arts Society envisions a future where filmmaking, production, and public programming thrive and grow, in step with the city’s ever-evolving fine arts and media sector. In turn, by fostering global filmmakers and promoting local film, television and media production, HCAS helps realize and celebrate our city’s diversity and cultural riches.
WHO WE ARE HCAS engages, enriches, and empowers Houston’s diverse cultures and communities by programming and supporting filmmaking and the arts. Our goal is to uplift the importance of film as an accessible device for storytelling and raising awareness; we work to empower regional and underrepresented filmmakers, and to showcase Houston’s diversity and cultural riches via community programs that highlight the intersection of film with other art forms and global issues.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS) presents the 18th annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival! Under this year’s theme, My Eyes Are Playing Tricks on Me, the festival examines an increasingly complicated relationship between image and truth; from artificial intelligence, surveillance and political manipulation to memory, identity, performance and communities reclaiming the ability to author their own stories.
Across more than 35 feature films, six short-film blocks, filmmaker conversations, workshops, live performances, experimental cinema and multidisciplinary events, the 2026 festival brings acclaimed international work from Cannes and Venice into conversation with films and artists whose stories are inseparable from Houston.
Director Bassam Tariq returns to open the festival with Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, the Houston-set action film starring two-time Academy-Award winner Mahershala Ali, Emmy winner Tramell Tillman, Emmy-nominated actor Giancarlo Esposito, and former Houstonian John Cho. Bassam will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.
The festival’s Houston connections run throughout the programme, including The Brittney Griner Story, with director Alexandria Stapleton in attendance; Give Me the Ball!, preceded by the short film ZINA and followed by a conversation with Houston tennis legend Zina Garrison, filmmaker Vicky Wight, and sports legends Clyde Drexler and Carl Lewis; and a rare big-screen presentation of a piece of Houston music history that was originally made to live far outside a movie theatre.615-944-0208 (cell)