For more than 25 years, the New York Latino Film Festival (NYLFF) has been the country’s leading platform for Latino and multicultural storytellers. NYLFF brings features, documentaries, and shorts from across the Latin world to screens throughout New York City, pairing world-class cinema with the industry access and audience energy that only NYC can deliver. This is Latino cinema at its most ambitious, and NYC is where it makes its case to the world.
New York Latino Film Festival 2026
September 15-20, 2026
History and Mission
Founded in 1999 by Calixto Chinchilla, NYLFF has grown into the nation’s premier Urban Latino film event. The festival is built to cultivate audiences for Latino cinema, strengthen the film community, and open doors for Latino talent across the entertainment industry.
NYLFF is presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and has expanded into a year-round entertainment and cultural platform spanning premieres, screenings, red carpets, industry panels, concerts, and community programming.
Signature Programming
Each edition of NYLFF is organized around recurring program sections that anchor the festival year to year, including Opening Night, Showcase Screenings, Retrospectives, International Features, U.S. Feature Narrative, Fiction Shorts, Spectrum Shorts, Midnight Shorts, and Long-Form Documentary.
Alongside the film slate, the festival hosts the FUTURO Digital Conference, a program built around creators and innovators in the digital and social video space, and closes out with a community Block Party celebrating Latino culture beyond the screen.
A Global Latin Lineup
NYLFF’s International Features section is what gives the festival its reach well beyond New York. Past editions have brought Latin American and Spanish cinema to the city, spanning countries including Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Spain, alongside the festival’s core U.S. Feature Narrative lineup. Every year, the mix changes, but the mission stays the same, bringing the best of Latin storytelling to New York screens.
The 2026 Edition
NYLFF returns to New York City September 15-20, 2026, timed once again to Hispanic Heritage Month. Past editions have brought festival programming to venues including the Regal Union Square, the Minetta Lane Theatre, and The Center in Manhattan’s West Village, with the Block Party held at Quisqueya Plaza in Inwood.