The Loft Film Fest is marking its sixteenth year in Tucson this week, running through its renovated five-screen cinema with a slate that includes awards for Gus Van Sant, Susan Seidelman and the late screenwriter Larry McMurtry's namesake honor going to Joan Tewkesbury. The festival runs from Wednesday through November 19, offering roughly 50 film programs over nine calendar days, according to AZPM.
New Leadership, Familiar Mission
Elise Lopez took over as executive director of the Loft Cinema in June 2026, stepping into the role after Peggy Johnson's departure, as previously reported by Tucson Sentinel. Lopez told AZPM she brings years of festival-attendance experience to now managing the event herself, and she said the festival seeks films in multiple languages and about varied walks of life that help audiences see themselves on screen. Programmer Jeff Yanc described the festival's guiding spirit simply as eclectic cinema, telling the outlet that organizers deliberately avoid settling on a theme in advance so they don't end up preselecting films to fit it.
The venue itself has changed dramatically over the years. The Loft expanded from two screens to three and eventually to five, the AZPM report notes, a transformation Yanc said has made film selection easier because added screens give programmers more room to work with. Capacity concerns are not abstract for this festival: longer runtimes, Yanc said, limit how many films can be shown overall, a tension visible in this year's unusually long slate of features.
Renovation Brought Outdoor Screen, New Lobby
The expansion that delivered those extra screens was years in the making. KGUN9 reported in earlier coverage that the Loft Cinema announced a $4.2 million transformation adding two new screens to its existing three-screen theater, including a permanent outdoor theater, along with a new indoor lobby, box office, concession stand and an elevator intended to make the building wheelchair accessible. Tucson.com previously reported a different figure, with Johnson saying at the time that the estimated price tag for the upgrades was over $5 million.
University of Arizona architecture faculty described the project's physical footprint in detail: a two-story, 9,000-square-foot structure connecting the Loft's existing buildings, with a new enclosed Screen 4 built north of Screen 3 to bring the venue to a full five movie screens, according to University of Arizona's College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. Separate reporting from Tucson Local Media said the open-air cinema area seats 72, and that the Loft regularly draws crowds of around 200 for its Mondo Monday series, a sign of the demand the expansion was designed to meet.
A New Screenwriting Honor Tied to Tucson
This year's festival introduces its inaugural Larry McMurtry Screenwriting Award, named for the novelist and screenwriter who lived later in life in Tucson. McMurtry befriended screenwriter Diana Ossana, and the pair worked together on Brokeback Mountain and co-authored Zeke and Ned, according to AZPM's reporting. The first recipient is Joan Tewkesbury, known for her work on Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville, which screens at the festival on November 15 with Tewkesbury attending over Zoom. Ossana is set to present the award to Tewkesbury during that event.
The festival's existing Lofty Achievement Awards continue in 2026 as well, with Gus Van Sant and Susan Seidelman both set to receive the honor, according to the Loft Cinema’s official festival listing.
Long Runtimes and Bilingual Stories Anchor the Lineup
Festival films carry an unusually long average runtime this year, per AZPM's reporting. Ryusuke Hamaguchi's All of a Sudden and Alain Gomis' Dao both highlight bilingual communities, with Dao running 185 minutes. All of a Sudden's runtime is listed differently across sources: the Loft Cinema's own film page puts it at 195 minutes, while AZPM's reporting cites 205 minutes. The Loft is also showing A24's You Can See Everything, a documentary running 2 hours and 54 minutes.
Every film at the festival screens at least twice, with at least one later screening offered after a title's first showing — part of what organizers say helps the festival stand out for its guests. Festival badges are sold out this year, but individual tickets remain available through the Loft Cinema box office and website. The venue will hold tickets for in-person purchase until 20 minutes before each film.
