Americas Film Festival New York Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

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Jazz musician Paquito D'Rivera will headline opening night at Instituto Cervantes, while filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk's WRONG HUSBAND closes the festival.

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The Americas Film Festival New York (TAFFNY) returns September 30 through October 9, 2026, for its 13th annual edition, bringing together filmmakers, artists, scholars, students, and audiences for ten days of cinema and conversation exploring the experiences that connect—and sometimes divide—the societies of the Americas. All TAFFNY screenings and events are free and open to the public, and all foreign-language films are presented with English subtitles. The complete festival schedule and additional selections will be available at TAFFNY.com .

TAFFNY brings together filmmakers, artists, and audiences through stories that reflect the diversity and complexity of the Americas. Its 2026 edition invites New Yorkers to discover bold new voices and compelling perspectives through feature films, documentaries, short films, filmmaker conversations, and educational programs presented at cultural and academic venues across New York City.

'The festival looks at historical memory as a key to making sense of our present; at children learning to navigate a world filled with secrets and possibilities; at migration as both a place of struggle and new beginnings; and at iconic artists such as Paquito D'Rivera , who honors us with his presence. Through this program, we want to remind audiences that these are not isolated experiences—they are universal human issues,' says Diana Vargas, Artistic Director of TAFFNY.

This year's program looks at the Americas through stories of historical memory, migration and new beginnings, childhood and coming of age, identity, music, and the complicated ways individuals and societies reckon with the past in order to understand the present.

'The Americas, more than ever, must be a space for respect, dialogue, and the search for good stories that bring us closer to one another,' says Juan Carlos Mercado, dean of CWE City College Downtown (CUNY) and TAFFNY's co-funder, and adds: 'Cinema gives us an extraordinary opportunity to discuss them, to listen, and, especially, to understand perspectives that may be very different from our own.'

Wednesday, September 30 | 6:00 PM

In partnership with Instituto Cervantes New York

211 E 49th Street, New York City

*By Invitation Only

TAFFNY opens with the New York premiere of Paquito D'Rivera : From Carne y Frijol to Carnegie Hall , director Juan Mandelbaum's portrait of the extraordinary life and career of Cuban-born musician Paquito D'Rivera , the virtuoso musician, composer, entertainer, and 18-time GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY Award winner. After defecting from Cuba in 1980 at considerable personal cost, D'Rivera built an extraordinary international career, becoming an immigrant success story whose musical curiosity has crossed genres, cultures, borders, and generations.

Director Juan Mandelbaum and Paquito D'Rivera will be present for a Q&A following the screening. The film sets the tone for a festival in which music, memory, displacement, and identity emerge not as separate subjects but as interconnected parts of the experience of the Americas.

Across its 2026 feature-film program, TAFFNY examines some of the most urgent cultural and social questions shaping the Americas today. Historical memory takes a central role in films such as Bajo las Banderas, el Sol (Juanjo Pereira, Paraguay-Argentina) and La Hija del Volcán (Jenifer de la Rosa, Spain) which approach the past from very different perspectives while asking what happens when individuals and societies confront histories that have been buried, forgotten, or deliberately obscured.

Migration and displacement emerge as experiences of uncertainty, loss, reinvention, and possibility in Si Vas Para Chile ( Sebastian Gonzalez , Amilcar Infante, Chile); while Hijo Mayor (Cecilia Kang, Argentina) and Adiós, Amor (Indra Villaseñor, Mexico) examine LGBTQ+ identities, childhood, family, belonging, and the ways younger generations learn to navigate worlds shaped by secrets, contradictions, and hope.

Music is another thread running through the festival, from the extraordinary career of Paquito D'Rivera to Herencia de la Tierra (Ivan Acosta Rojas, Colombia), celebrating the sounds, traditions, and cultural memory of the Colombian Andes.

As is tradition at TAFFNY, the festival will once again celebrate the MFA and BFA film programs at The City College of New York, home to one of the oldest film schools in the nation. A special showcase will highlight work by City College students and emerging filmmakers, reinforcing the festival's commitment to creating a bridge between film education and the professional filmmaking community.

The program will also feature the second annual Roger Ross Williams Award, recognizing an outstanding City College student filmmaker. The award is presented by Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams , honoring a new generation of storytellers and encouraging emerging filmmakers as they develop their voices and begin their professional journeys.

Together with The Americas Short Film Competition, this annual City College showcase reflects one of TAFFNY's central missions: not only to present accomplished filmmakers from across the Americas, but also to create meaningful opportunities for the filmmakers who will shape its cinematic future.

Friday, October 9 | 6:00 PM

National Museum of the American Indian

1 Bowling Green, New York City

*Registration is required (Screening Only)

TAFFNY concludes at the National Museum of the American Indian with The Americas Award ceremony, honoring the winning short films in competition, followed by the New York premiere of Wrong Husband by acclaimed Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk, who will be present to introduce the film.

Set in Igloolik, Nunavut, in 2000 BCE, Wrong Husband follows Kaujak and Sapa, who were promised to each other at birth. After the sudden death of Kaujak's father, her mother marries a man from another camp, separating the young lovers. What initially promises to be a better life becomes increasingly dangerous as aggressive suitors, supported by an evil shaman, compete for Kaujak's hand. Refusing to surrender her future to others, Kaujak holds on to the hope that Sapa will one day return.

Kunuk's film brings TAFFNY 2026 full circle: from the life of a Cuban-born musician who crossed borders and cultures to build a new life, to an Inuit story rooted in an ancient world but confronting timeless questions of love, power, family, choice, and survival.

An essential component of TAFFNY is The Americas Short Film Competition, dedicated exclusively to promoting and exhibiting short-form audiovisual works by emerging filmmakers from across the Americas. This year, 69 short films will compete for The Americas Award, bringing an extraordinary range of voices, perspectives, cinematic languages, and stories to New York audiences.

The competition is open to films with a maximum running time of 20 minutes, giving emerging filmmakers an opportunity to present their work in New York while participating in the festival's competitive and non-competitive programs. Awards are presented in four categories: Best Fiction, Best Documentary, Best Animation, and Best Experimental Film. Winners will be announced during TAFFNY's Closing Night ceremony on October 9 at the National Museum of the American Indian.

TAFFNY 2026 takes place at cultural, academic, and community institutions throughout New York City, extending the festival beyond the traditional movie theater and creating opportunities for conversations among filmmakers, scholars, students, and audiences. Festival venues include:

Instituto Cervantes New York - 211-215 E 49th St, New York, NY 10017

NYU Cantor Film Center - 36 E 8th St, New York, NY 10003

CUNY's Center for Worker Education (CWE) - 25 Broadway 7th floor, New York, NY 1000

MNN at 38th - 509 W 38th St, New York, NY 10018

CUNY's GC at Martin E. Segal Theatre Center - 365 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016

Consulate General of Colombia in New York - 10 E 46th St, New York, NY 10017

National Museum of the American Indian - 1 Bowling Green, New York, NY 10004

The Americas Film Festival New York was conceived by the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education (CWE) of The City College of New York (CUNY) and film programmer Diana Vargas as a space for cinematic appreciation centered on multiculturalism, diversity, and the evolving societies of the Americas, while expanding visibility and opportunities for emerging filmmakers.

The festival is an initiative of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education of The City College of New York (CUNY), with the support of CCNY President Vincent Boudreau and Vice President Dee Dee Mozeleski, CUNY-CCNY Quest: A Lifelong Learning Community, and in collaboration with cultural and academic institutions including Instituto Cervantes New York, the National Museum of the American Indian, NYU's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), the Bildner Center at the CUNY Graduate Center, Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), the Latin America Film Center (LAFC), and the Consulate General of Colombia in New York.

Dates: September 30–October 9, 2026

Edition: 13th Annual Festival

Admission: FREE and open to the public

Languages: Foreign-language films presented with English subtitles

Program: Feature films, documentaries, 35 short films in competition, new media, filmmaker Q&As, educational programs, and special events

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/THE-AMERICAS-FILM-FESTIVAL-NEW-YORK-to-Run-During-Hispanic-Heritage-Month-20260914)._