Films this week 11/13/2026 to 11/19/2026
by Gary Palmucci | 13th November 2026 | Gary's Corner
Three diverse new titles are landing on this weekend’s New Plaza Cinema lineup:
Rediscovering Fanon – following up on its sold out summer premiere at Symphony Space, we’ll be doing two screenings of this recent documentary that examines the life and times of revolutionary psychiatrist and philosopher Franz Fanon (1925-61), linking his ideas of race, colonialism and human liberation to contemporary struggles around the globe.
Both Friday and Sunday’s screenings will feature Q&A with filmmaker Rico Speight, moderated by executive producer Ron Ashford; on Friday night they’ll also be joined by the film’s narrator, Lewis Gordon.
Pollock – If you’ve forged your way, as I have, through the current, remarkable Jackson Pollock – Lee Krasner exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you may’ve had the urge to revisit the 2000 film portrait of their turbulent lives, starring and directed by Ed Harris and featuring an Oscar-winning performance by Marcia Gay Harden.
NY Times film reviewer Stephen Holden (now retired but a frequent NPC patron) wrote upon its original release that
“The scenes of Pollock standing over a giant canvas and creating his famous drip paintings….offer a visceral thrill similar to watching a brilliantly choreographed action-adventure sequence….Ms. Harden’s performance is as uncompromisingly tough as Mr. Harris’. And the pleasure of watching these two superb actors play figures of such stature without a trace of sentimentality is enormous. ” We’ll be screening Pollock twice this weekend.
Queen at Sea – Back in 2008 a young filmmaker named Lance Hammer delivered one of the very best movies of that year’s Sundance Film Festival. Ballast spun an unblinking tale of a young boy’s fraught growing-up, deep in the MIssissippi Delta (a state which many Americans are watching hopefully this week). Nearly two decades later, Mr Hammer has delivered a new, no less intense film, Queen At Sea, featuring Juliet Binoche and Tom Courtenay as a daughter and stepfather who struggle with critical decisions around the mother’s advanced dementia.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Leslie Felperin (an underrated critic) wrote that the film’s “commitment to both technical and emotional veracity pays dividends all around, creating a work…that feels sincere, urgent and unflinchingly honest.”
This week’s classic film presentation is the 1983 Local Hero, Scottish director Bill Forsyth’s sylph-like classic, with Peter Riegert, Burt Lancaster and Fulton Mackay. At New Plaza Cinema we’ve witnessed via previous zoomcasts the literally worldwide appeal of this movie- order your tickets accordingly. My colleagues Dan Cahill and Abbe Harris will be on hand to both introduce and discuss afterwards.
Our holdovers include Fjord, the compellingly complex family drama from two-time Cannes-winning director Cristian Mungiu; the zany Hasidic-card-game immersion, Yaniv, with filmmakers’ Q&A; and the scalding documentary NAZA, now in its sixth week.
Next weekend:
The Sea – from Menemsha Films, Israel’s official submission for the 2026 Academy Awards for Best International Feature chronicles a Palestinian schoolboy’s determined efforts to visit the sea for the first time in his life, amidst the turbulence of his home life and the two worlds in constant tension around him. We’ll be providing three screenings over the weekend.
Rebel With a Clause – next Sunday’s screening is Sold Out, but filmmakers Brandt Johnson and Ellen Jovin will be back next month with a ‘special Christmas edition’. Showdate and tickets will be available next week.