Dances With Films: LA 2026 Unveils Massive Indie Lineup

Dances With Films: LA returns to Hollywood with 279 films and 36 feature-length world premieres.

Dances With Films: LA 2026 Announces Massive Indie Lineup With 36 Feature World Premieres

Dances With Films: LA is returning this summer with one of the largest independent film lineups in Los Angeles.

The 29th annual festival will run June 18 through June 28 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, bringing 279 films to audiences across narrative features, documentaries, midnight programming, pilots, shorts, music-driven selections and family-friendly titles.

This year’s lineup includes 36 world premieres across narrative and documentary features, along with four North American premieres.

Opening night will feature the world premiere of Jay Silverman’s drama Yale, starring Caitlin McGee, Dominic Leeder, Kevin Dunn and Rachael Harris. The film follows a woman forced to seek help from the father who abandoned her in order to save her son, who needs an emergency kidney transplant.

Closing night will spotlight the world premiere of Adam Hoelzel’s thriller Tender, starring Jesse Garcia, Jess Weixler, David Koechner, Robert Longstreet, Mark St. Cyr, Keli Price, Stephen Ellis, Robert Peters and Sonja O’Hara. The film centers on a couple facing debt and marital collapse after discovering gold hidden inside the walls of their home.

Dances With Films has long positioned itself as a discovery festival for independent filmmakers working outside the studio system. This year’s feature slate continues that focus with world premieres including Angeleno, Fractured, Souvenir, Loves Company, Out of Order, Queen of Shock, Tales From the Crypto, Yellow Broken Road and more.

The festival’s Midnight section will also return with genre-driven titles including Deathkeeper, Jump Scare, Muffled and U A P. Muffled will make its world premiere, while Deathkeeper and U A P will make their North American premieres.

Documentary highlights include Better Call Babs, Frampton, Stan Lee: The Final Chapter, To Kill a Nazi, Peaking: Psychedelics and the Pursuit of Happiness and The Last Place on Earth.

The pilot section will feature projects with broadcast and streaming ambitions, including Fixation, People of the West, Knighted, Pain in the Neck, You Are Here and Witches.

DWF: LA founders Leslee Scallon and Michael Trent said the 2026 lineup continues the festival’s focus on independent voices, discovery titles and filmmakers working without the benefit of studio resources or large budgets.

For HMU audiences, the Midnight lineup remains one of the key sections to watch, especially with horror, thriller, sci-fi and genre projects continuing to find momentum through festival discovery circuits.

Dances With Films: LA 2026 runs June 18 through June 28 at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.