Films this week 1/9/2026 to 1/15/2026
by Gary Palmucci | 9th January 2026 | Gary's Corner
New Plaza Cinema audiences packed our auditorium for numerous sold-out screenings of The Choral during last month’s 12-day holiday stretch , producing the single biggest box office gross for the film on the US arthouse circuit. We are delighted – if a bit exhausted by the holiday ‘marathon’ – and as always, grateful for your support. The Choral, with its beautifully understated performance by Ralph Fiennes as well as a gifted and diverse supporting cast, will continue here for at least the rest of January, including four shows on this week’s Thursday-Sunday schedule.
On Saturday morning we’ll be doing a very special screening of the epic (5 1/2 hours, with 15 minute intermission) documentary My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, which has swept virtually every ‘best doc’ award from the major critics’ groups –including the NY, LA and National Society of Film Critics — as well scoring a slot on the Oscar shortlist.
Of this gripping saga about a group of young Russian journalists who put their careers (and lives) on the line reporting on the Ukraine invasion, the NY Times’ Alissa Wilkinson wrote:
“Yes, I know that is a substantial commitment of time. Hear me out. I’m trying to avoid hyperbole, but I don’t know how else to say this: It is perhaps the most essential investment of time you can make in a movie theater this year. And yet it is not just ‘important’ or consequential — it is brilliant, riveting, vital, devastating.”
After Saturday’s screening we’ll be joined by Ksenia Mironova, one of the journalists chronicled in the film, in conversation with US film reporter Jeff Reichert.
On this week’s calendar we’ll also be reprising several of our most popular recent holiday films including Nuremberg, Blue Moon, Sentimental Value, Shttl (with another Q&A by its tireless lead actor Moshe Lobel) , and the scintillating US indie Peter Hujar’s Day.
Finally, we’re offering ‘sneak previews’ of two additional Oscar short-listers. On Thursday night, Jordan’s submission for Best International Film — All That’s Left of You, from Palestinian-American director Cherien Dabis and executive producers Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, a sprawling chronicle of multi-generational struggle on the West Bank. Tickets are going fast for this one.
And on Sunday night, Palestine 36, a dramatic recounting of the 1936-39 Arab revolt against British colonial rule during the Mandate period.
Jeremy Irons, Hiam Abbas and Saleh Bakri head the large cast, and director Annemarie Jacir will join us afterwards for a Q&A.