It Was Just an Accident
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Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and nominated for four Golden Globes, the latest film from Jafar Panahi (No Bears, Offside) is a nail-biting thriller that also raises profound moral questions.
Vahid is a former political prisoner working in a service station. When a man named Eghbal comes in to have his car repaired, Vahid believes Eghbal is the officer who tortured him in prison. Vahid teams up with other former victims to kidnap their erstwhile tormentor. But do they have the right man? And if so, what punishment does he deserve? These issues are debated both among themselves and with Eghbal in a mounting succession of ferocious arguments about the nature of justice and vengeance.
Another of Panahi’s withering condemnations of the Iranian regime, It Was Just an Accident suggests that authoritarianism and political violence only result in vicious circles of oppression and revenge.
Director: Jafar Panahi. Countries: Iran, France, Luxembourg. Released: 2025.…
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://ffi2026.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. After Five. Accessibility: Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, January 9, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:45 PM.
KPop Demon Hunters
Celebrate our blockbuster exhibition Korean Treasures by belting along with the surprise hit of the year (which just happens to feature one of the artworks in the exhibition).
In the film’s universe, girl groups have been secretly trapping hordes of demons underground through their singing. Huntrix, a K-pop girl band, are close to completing the “Golden Hongmoon,” which will trap the evil Gwi-ma and his demon minions forever. But before they can complete their task, they face their toughest opponents yet: an evil boy band! Full of eye-popping animated action and irresistibly catchy tunes, KPop Demon Hunters is a world of musical fun.
Directors: Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans. Country: United States. Released: 2025. Length: 100 min. Format: DCP. Language: English. Image courtesy of Netflix.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://nmaanimation.eventive.org/films/6949be6a8f29f15eb59d1ce2. Categories: Films. After Five. Kids & Families. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, January 10, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:45 PM.
Black Rabbit, White Rabbit
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Longtime attendees of this festival still vividly remember Shahram Mokri’s 2013 film Fish & Cat, a horror movie filmed entirely in one take (including a flashback!). Mokri and his inventive imagination are back on full display in his latest film.
in Black Rabbit, White Rabbit, Escher-like intertwined storylines unfold on and around the set of a film being made by an Iranian director in Tajikistan: A car accident victim comes to believe she is the target of a conspiracy. A crew member is convinced that a prop gun is actually real. An actor arrives on set demanding an audition. These are just a few of the elements of this “wildly ambitious, wryly comic puzzle film” (Lee Marshall, Screen Daily) comprised of spellbinding tracking shots up to 20 minutes long, building up to a spectacular conclusion.
Director: Shahram Mokri. Countries: Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates. Released: 2025. Length: 139 min. Format: DCP. Language: Tajik and Russian with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Deaf…
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://ffi2026.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, January 11, 2026, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM.
The Wandering Princess
This epic historical drama adapts the memoirs of the Japanese woman who became the princess of occupied Manchuria during World War II. As a Japanese noblewoman, she is forced to marry the younger brother of the soon-to-be disposed Chinese emperor. The personal events of her life in Manchuria brings the political dimensions of this history to new light. In her first film in both color and CinemaScope, director Kinuyo Tanaka realizes with startling depth her ambition to relate a historical saga from a critical woman’s perspective. Description adapted from Janus Films.
Director: Kinuyo Tanaka. Country: Japan. Released: 1960. Length: 102 min. Format: DCP. Language: Japanese with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Janus Films.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://nmaamatinees.eventive.org/schedule/69373a6be70197aee1522e6f. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Captioning. Assisted listening devices.
Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
The Crowd
In Sahand Kabiri’s bold debut feature, twenty-something Raman is preparing to leave Iran, so his friends decide to throw him a goodbye party. His friend Hamed and his siblings have inherited an abandoned warehouse, and the group sets about cleaning it up for the event. As they clean, they reminisce about parties past and a close friend who recently died. But when Hamed’s conservative brother—who is offended by Hamed’s lifestyle—discovers the plan, he tries to put a stop to it.
Surprisingly frank in its depictions of same-sex relationships, illegal alcohol use, and the forbidden mixing of the sexes in public, Kabiri’s film is a rousing portrait of a younger generation of Iranians determined to live on their own terms.
Director: Sahand Kabiri. Country: Iran. Released: 2025. Length: 70 min. Format: DCP. Language: Persian with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Fanoos Films.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://ffi2026.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. After Five. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, January 23, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM.
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk
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When exiled Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi set out to make a documentary about the war in the Gaza Strip, she was denied entry. But she was introduced to young photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who had been documenting the war from the inside. Though they never met in person, their videocalls make up the bulk of Farsi’s remarkable film.
Interspersed with news footage and Hassouna’s own photographs, these calls paint a harrowing portrait of life during wartime. Hassouna keeps up a brave face even as her relatives are killed, electricity is scarce, and food and water hard to come by. The bond between Hassouna and Farsi—who was imprisoned in Iran for her political activism—is evident in every frame.
As Jordan Mintzer put it in the Hollywood Reporter, the film “is ultimately less a documentary exposé than a piece of raw unfiltered evidence, bearing witness to a tragedy that continues to unfold.” Hassouna and ten of her relatives were killed in their sleep by an airstrike one day after it was…
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://ffi2026.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, January 25, 2026, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
The Great Yawn of History
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Beitollah, a devout middle-aged man, becomes convinced that a recurring dream about a box of gold hidden deep inside a cave is a divine message meant for him. Bound by his strict religious interpretation—which forbids him from touching the treasure—he hires Shoja, a young non-believer, to retrieve it on his behalf. Their journey across Iran, from misty northern forests to vast southern deserts, becomes far more than a search for treasure. It draws in strangers, awakens hidden desires, and blurs the line between faith and illusion.
As the men travel, the promise of gold begins to shift in meaning, revealing their opposing worldviews and the personal longings they try to hide. Their quest turns into an allegorical exploration of belief, greed, and the fragile hope that something extraordinary might redeem an ordinary life. When they finally reach the cave, what awaits them is not simply a discovery but a reckoning—one that forces both men to confront the cost of chasing miracles and the trut…
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://ffi2026.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. After Five. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, January 30, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:40 PM.
Singing Wings
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A heartwarming documentary that feels like a fairy tale, this film follows a seventy-eight-year-old woman in a Kurdish village where storks spend the winter. Khadijeh is a full-time caregiver for both her disabled husband and a stork with a broken wing that was left behind by its flock. When not involved in these activities, she spends her time trying to convince her daughter not to emigrate to the United Kingdom.
Director Hemen Khaledi, who grew up in the area, is attuned to the rhythms of village life. He emphasizes not only Khadijeh’s caregiving but also her hearty sense of humor. And he is not unaware of the irony of Khadijeh helping a bird to fly away while keeping her daughter from doing the same.
Directed by: Hemen Khaledi. Countries: Iran, Georgia, Belgium. Released: 2025. Length: 73 min. Format: DCP. Language: Kurdish with English subtitles. Image courtesy of CAT&Docs.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://ffi2026.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible. Captioning.
Sunday, February 1, 2026, 1:30 PM – 2:45 PM.
Maydegol
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The feisty heroine of this documentary by Sarvnaz Alambeigi is a teenaged immigrant from Afghanistan who dreams of becoming a professional Muay Thai boxer. Training in secret because of her conservative family’s disapproval, Maydegol battles not only her opponents but also the prejudicial attitudes of many Iranians toward foreigners living among them, physical abuse from her father, and the hopelessness of being unable to leave. Yet she finds joy and fellowship with fellow athletes and immigrants. Like The Crowd, Maydegol shows the resilience of Iranian Generation Z youths in the face of overwhelming societal pressure.
Director: Sarvnaz Alamgeigi. Countries: Iran, Germany, France. Released: 2024. Length: 73 min. Format: DCP. Language: Persian and Dari with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Tavskovski Films.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://ffi2026.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible. Captioning.
Sunday, February 1, 2026, 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
Mortician
Blending dark humor and slow-burning drama, Canadian-Iranian filmmaker Abdolreza Kahani’s Mortician stars Nima Sadr as Mojtaba, a sad-sack Iranian mortician living in exile in a snowy Canadian city. His job is to wash bodies according to Muslim tradition, but the company he works for is going out of business.
But then an exiled singer approaches him with a mysterious offer. Jana (Iran-born pop star Gola) is on the run from the Iranian authorities and plans to commit suicide as a political statement. And she wants to retain Mojtaba’s services. As she works to convince him, an odd-couple friendship evolves, and Mojtaba must wrestle with his faith. Variety’s Guy Lodge calls it “a trenchant, witty and penetratingly sad black comedy on the difficulty of escaping the Iranian regime—even halfway across the world.”
Director: Abdolreza Kahani. Country: Canada. Released: 2025. Length: 94 min. Format: DCP. Language: Persian with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Visit Films.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://ffi2026.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. After Five. Accessibility: Captioning. Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Friday, February 6, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:40 PM.
Cutting through Rocks
In Person: Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki, directors.
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Directed by the Bethesda-based team of Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki, this documentary is a portrait of a very determined woman named Sara Shahverdi. The first woman elected to her village council, Shahverdi is a motorcycle-riding midwife who wants to use her platform to empower young women and end child marriages, among other causes. But she faces resistance at every turn from her deeply conservative fellow villagers. Described by Phuong Lee (The Guardian) as “a thought-provoking portrait of an extraordinary spirit.”
Director: Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki. Countries: Iran, Qatar, Chile, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, United States. Released: 2025. Length: 95 min. Format: DCP. Language: Azerbaijani, Turkish, Persian, English with English subtitles. Image courtesy of RXR Media.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://ffi2026.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible. Captioning.
Sunday, February 8, 2026, 2:00 PM – 4:45 PM.
Street of Shame
In this heartbreaking drama, five women toil in Tokyo’s red-light district as sex workers, all reaching toward different dreams and hopes. Yet, each find those dreams shattered by the socioeconomic realities surrounding them. Street of Shame was so cutting and popular that some said it brought about the antiprostitution law passed in Japan just a few months later. For his final film, Kenji Mizoguchi brought a lifetime of experience to bear.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi. Country: Japan. Released: 1956. Length: 85 min. Format: DCP. Language: Japanese with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Janus Films.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://nmaamatinees.eventive.org/schedule/69373fe6139ea1a7f5d743d7. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, February 11, 2026, 2:00 PM – 3:45 PM.