Baltimore's Charles Theatre is gearing up for its fourth run of the New/Next Film Festival, with the five-screen movie house set to host four days of features, shorts and premieres starting this week. The festival opens Oct. 1 and runs through Oct. 4, filling the historic theater with a lineup that includes world premieres, Maryland premieres and a closing-night party featuring one of Baltimore's own.
Baltimore Public Media Behind the Fourth Edition
The 2026 New/Next Film Festival is presented by Baltimore Public Media, according to the festival's official site, and is taking place October 1-4, 2026 in Baltimore's historic 5-screen Charles Theatre, as reported by WYPR. It's the fourth edition of the event, per the same station's reporting. CBS News Baltimore reported that the festival would bring 300 filmmakers to the Charles Theatre. Tickets are already available.
Exactly how many films will screen depends on which announcement you read. WYPR describes the full lineup as topping 160 films, including more than 30 emerging titles, six world premieres and five U.S. or North American premieres. The festival's own website, meanwhile, describes its 2026 lineup as more than 125 features and shorts, while a ticketing listing on tickethive.com puts the figure at more than 130 films featuring Maryland premieres. The exact count varies by source, but the scope is unmistakably large for a festival still just four years old.
Opening With a Hometown Documentary, Closing With a Hollywood Homecoming
New/Next opens Thursday, October 1st with the Baltimore-made Eternity One, a documentary directed by Marnie Ellen Hertzler, per WYPR's reporting. The festival closes Sunday, October 4 with The Projectionist, the latest film from director Alexandre Rockwell — and the closing night is shaping up to be a homecoming of sorts, with cast members Vondie Curtis-Hall, Kasi Lemmons and Karyn Parsons expected to join Rockwell in Baltimore for the screening, the station reports.
The Charles will again be New/Next's home base, with all five screens showing the Maryland premieres, according to a listing on tickethive.com. But the festival isn't confining itself to one building. Activations are planned for independently run venues in the surrounding blocks including Baltimore Improv Group, Metro Gallery and others, per the same listing.
A Dance Party With a Local DJ Legend
One of those off-site events doubles as the festival's social centerpiece: on Oct. 3, New/Next Dance Party feat. DJ Dan Deacon at Baltimore Improv Group, according to WTMD. Deacon, a fixture of Baltimore's experimental music scene, gives the festival's midpoint a distinctly local flavor between screenings.
From Scrappy Response to Fourth-Year Fixture
New/Next has an origin story rooted in loss. The festival began as a scrappy response to the Maryland Film Festival cancelling its edition in 2023, according to Filmmaker Magazine.
The festival has grown steadily since. Its third Baltimore run, held from October 2 to 5, brought in over 300 filmmakers to The Charles Theater, according to Filmmaker Magazine's coverage of that edition — a scale that gives some sense of how far the event has come from its improvised beginnings, even as the 2026 edition's own filmmaker turnout has not been separately confirmed. The festival's 2025 edition also included the premiere of the short film Chilmark, according to a filmmaker's post on FilmFreeway, underscoring New/Next's role as a launching pad for smaller, independently produced work alongside its bigger closing-night names.
