ABOUT OUR FESTIVAL
The Red Hook Brooklyn Film Festival grew from the neighborhood’s creative heartbeat — a community of filmmakers, artists, and neighbors who believe stories can shape a city. What began as a local weekend celebration quickly evolved into a ten-day festival showcasing films made in, about, and inspired by Red Hook’s spirit of resilience and collaboration.
Now in its third iteration, with a new name and expanded vision, the festival honors that heritage while amplifying voices across South Brooklyn and beyond. It’s a reflection of the neighborhood itself — bold, diverse, and unafraid to say something true.
The 2026 Red Hook Brooklyn Film Festival marks a bold new chapter—introducing outdoor screenings on a 32-foot screen, award categories, and multiple screening sites that transform the neighborhood into an immersive Red Hook style multiplex. This year expands our reach and ambition, shaping Red Hook into a true destination for filmmakers across New York City—a festival that champions the neighborhood’s creative grit and celebrates its voice on a larger stage.
All screenings are $10. Eventbrite’s fee is $2.51. The total at checkout is $12.51 per screening. If you are a Red Hook resident and this ticket price is a barrier for you at this time please use code RHBACOMMUNITY at check out to be added to Red Hook resident free admission list. To ensure space for the Red Hook community, we may ask demonstration of residency.
Funds from ticket purchases goes to Red Hook Community Business Alliance, a 501c3 organization, for use at their discretion, but are not tax deductible for the purchaser. Fair market value in NYC for film festival screening is $20.00 so your full ticket price is considered a service fee.
2026 Full Schedule
MAY 8th, 2026
May 8 7:30 PM Red Hook Distillery
185 Van dyke Street
The Secrets of Barnacle
dir: Charles Gay rt: 60 min
On October 29,2012, Superstorm Sandy made landfall in New York. At 4pm, the East River started to flood Red Hook streets, homes, and businesses, with more than 10 feet of water. Every year since then, a group of Red Hook residents has gathered to organize the Barnacle Parade, celebrating the neighborhood's collective resilience, and raising funds for grassroots organizations.
This event includes the opening party with live music & a food buffet. You don’t want. to miss this party on the Red Hook Waterfront!
May 9th, 2026
May 9 12:30 PM Green Lung Studio
22 commerce street TRAILER
shorts block A
rt: 65 min FOLLOWED BY A Q&A WITH ALL DIRECTORS.
May 9 2:10 PM Green Lung Studio
22 Commerce street
The book of ahmad
dir: Ian Phillips rt: 60 min trailer
For decades, Adhemar Ahmad has scraped by on the streets of New York as his artistic aspirations go unnoticed. But then his luck begins to change. A Documentary by Ian Phillips.
Followed by a Q&A with Director Ian Phillips.
May 9 4:30 PM Green Lung Studio
22 Commerce street
about face
dir: Jennifer Rita Lin rt: 60 min trailer
Two Asian American dancers try to persuade the world’s leading ballet companies to jettison Asian stereotypes, including dancing in yellowface. Georgina Pazcoguin and Phil Chan battle entrenched tradition and political pushback as they shine a critical spotlight on The Nutcracker and other beloved classics in this vivid account of cultural missteps and creative evolution.
Followed By a Q&A with Director
May 9 7:30 PM Hook Studios
76 Verona street, 2nd floor
secret mall apartment
dir: Jeremy workman rt: 1 hr 35 min trailer
In 2003, eight Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment inside a busy mall and lived there for four years, filming everything along the way. Far more than a prank, the secret apartment became a deeply meaningful place for all involved.
Followed by a Q&A with Director Jeremy Workman.
May 10th, 2026
May 10 4:00 PM Green Lung Studio
22 Commerce street
The book of ahmad
dir: Ian Phillips rt: 60 min trailer
For decades, Adhemar Ahmad has scraped by on the streets of New York as his artistic aspirations go unnoticed. But then his luck begins to change. A Documentary by Ian Phillips.
Followed by a Q&A with Director Ian Phillips and artist Ademar Ahmad and an open gallery of Ahmad’s work. This is an intimate deep dive into the artists’ portfolio.
May 10 7:30 PM Green Lung Studio
22 Commerce street
Mo Momma
dir: Eeva Mägi rt: 73 min trailer
Mother Karin and daughter Mari are facing the demise of Mamma, Karin's mother and Mari's grandmother. They both release their pain on each other, but in unconditional love, everything is allowed.
May 11th, 2026
May 10 7:00 PM Good Fork Pub
22 Commerce street
TRIVIA @ GOOD FORK PUB
Hosted by the legendary John Chaneski, the wiz-kid you've heard on NPR and who wrote all the best questions on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.
MAY 12TH, 2026
May 12 7:30 PM ANDREW LOGAN PROJECTS
352 VAN BRUNT STREET
Mo PApa
dir: Eeva Mägi rt: 73 min trailer
Eugen, 28, is released from prison after serving ten years for accidentally causing his younger brother's death, a tragic act driven by his own unresolved trauma from being abandoned by his parents. Now, with only his estranged father and childhood friends, Stina and Riko, from the orphanage left in his life, Eugen hopes for reconciliation. But the scars of abandonment pull him back into destructive patterns. Mo Papa explores a devastating cycle of trauma, where love blurs with self-hate, and forgiveness is blocked by the weight of blame. In this raw, unscripted drama, life unfolds as the characters confront the unpredictable consequences of their actions, struggling to bridge the gap between longing and the love they cannot share.
MAY 13TH, 2026
May 13 7:30 PM Strong Rope Brewery
185 Van Dyke Street Trailer
Dance shorts block
RT: 70 MIN FOLLOWED BY A Q&A WITH ALL DIRECTORS.
May 14th, 2026
May 14 7:30 PM Green Lung Studio
22 Commerce street Trailer
Shorts block b
RT: 67 MIN FOLLOWED BY A Q&A WITH ALL DIRECTORS.
May 14 10:00 PM Green Lung Studio
22 Commerce Street
Pressure Point: Live Band Dance party
Noah Lexi Band
Pressure Point is a NYC-based "dance party by original artists" curated by musician and producer Noah Lexi. It features a multi-medium experience, including underground music, dance, live aerial pole performances, tattoos, and visual art.
Noah Lexi is a Brooklyn-based musician and producer, leading a seven-piece electro-pop project that blends analogue textures with digital means. In an effort to provide an alternative space for sensory experiences in NYC, he launched Pressure Point, a multimedia warehouse series that features artists of varying formats. Bringing together the worlds of live music and nightlife dancefloors, Lexi's mission in this venture is to at once uplift original artists and give the community a reason to move.
$25 at the door. Filmmakers Enter Free.
May 15th, 2026
May 15 7:30 PM Green Lung Studio
22 Commerce Street
Hank’s Saloon
dir: Leon Chase rt: 1 hr 47 min trailer
For over 100 years, Hank’s Saloon existed, under various names and owners, as a beloved local Brooklyn dive bar. In 2018, after nearly a decade of speculation and financial uncertainty, the rickety little building on the corner of Third Avenue and Atlantic announced that they would finally be closing their doors for good. This feature documentary follows Hank’s—along with its colorful staff and rotating cast of oddball patrons—through its stressful and celebratory final months. It also takes a deep-dive into the fascinating history of the building, from its roots as a working-class Irish bar, through its various roles as Prohibition-era speakeasy, Indigenous ironworker hangout, and safe haven in an era of danger and decay, up to its final state as a quintessential “old man bar” turned legendary indie music venue, all pitted against the backdrop of a rapidly changing New York.
May 16th, 2026
May 16 2:00 PM Swan Club
185 Van Dyke St, #213
Rooted
dir: Bridget Besaw, Par Parekh rt: 1 hr 35 min trailer
"Faced with the lack of fresh produce in a Charleston, South Carolina food desert, Germaine Jenkins creates an urban farm on an empty city lot.
Germaine, a Black mother-of-two, embarks on a journey to bring fresh food to her community and own the land she farms -- a critical first step in establishing stability for her community and sowing the seeds of generational wealth for her family.
The specter of sharecropping's legacy looms over Germaine as she navigates Southern government, well-intentioned non-profits, and the realities of becoming a community leader.
Rooted celebrates the power of one woman's unyielding commitment to food justice, and illuminates the path towards societal - and personal - metamorphosis."
May 16 4:00 PM Swan Club
185 Van Dyke St, #213
All My Friends
dir: Spike Kittrell rt: 1 hr 15 min TRAILER
In the weeks leading to Allie moving across the country, her best friend (and bandmate) Jacob considers life without her in this intimate story of leaving and feeling left.
May 16 8:00 PM Valentino Pier
185 Van Dyke St, #213
de lo mio
dir: Diana Peralta rt: 1 hr 14 min TRAILER
Three siblings reunite in the Dominican Republic and face their demons as they let go of their last connection to their motherland.
This is a special outdoor presentation. All Tickets are free. BBQ and DJ begins at 6:30PM before the screening.
May 17th, 2026
May 17 10:30 AM Strong Rope Brewery
185 Van Dyke Street
My Father and Qaddafi
dir. Jihan K RT: 1 hr 28 MIN TRAILER
When Jihan was six years old, her father flew to Cairo and never returned. Mansur Rashid Kikhia was the Foreign Minister of Libya, ambassador to the United Nations, and a human rights lawyer. After serving in Qaddafi's increasingly brutal regime, he defected from the government and became a peaceful opposition leader. Kikhia was obsessively loyal to his country but ultimately, his determination to reason with Qaddafi led to his disappearance from a hotel in Egypt in 1993.
My Father and Qaddafi takes the audience on a raw and reflective journey as Jihan pieces together a father she barely remembers, while discovering the troubled history and politics of Libya. Her journey starts from fading personal memories, leading to encounters with family members, her father’s peers, and historical archive footage.
May 17 12:00 PM Strong Rope Brewery
185 Van Dyke Street
Islands of Dreams
dir. Alvaro Jimenez, Cliff Orloff RT: 60 MIN TRAILER
What makes someone leave everything and everyone they know and love, and forego their familiar culture, to make their way into an unknown future in an unknown land? What makes someone stay where they live despite hardship and deprivation? This documentary follows several Cubans from different walks of life who love their country but struggle with the conflict to stay or leave an increasingly dysfunctional government and rapidly collapsing economy. Their characters are Cuban, but their voices are universal. Orloff and Jimenez bring a human face to the international crisis of migration.
May 17 2:00 PM Strong Rope Brewery
185 Van Dyke Street
All American
dir. Mark Andrew Altschul RT: 1 hr 27 MIN TRAILER
The film follows three teenage girls from diverse, underprivileged New York City neighborhoods as they navigate life and challenge gender norms in the male-dominated sport of high school wrestling. Filmed over five years, it explores themes of resilience, cultural pressure, and the American dream.
May 17 6:00 PM Strong Rope Brewery
185 Van Dyke Street trailer
Red Hook Shorts
RT: 51 MIN FOLLOWED BY A Q&A WITH ALL DIRECTOR followed by awards & reception.
A Huge Thank You To Our Sponsors
Indie Film Screening:
“Wonderful space!! I would definitely book again for my next movie screening. Also the places is equipped with everything. Thank you for the experience ❤️”
— Keshell S. | Filmmaker
Music Video Shoot:
“Everything about the experience of shooting at Green Lung is easy from the moment we arrive - it's always easy to park, making it easy to load in and get set up, and of course to load out as well. It's a very pleasant place to be, the space is warm and unique, it just generally has a very good vibe to it that helps us thrive in what we're doing.”
— Jake Z. | Dreameaters
Short Film Shoot:
“We rented Green Lung Studio for a short film shoot. Steve and Amanda were both consummate professionals throughout, friendly to small production needs, and the space itself was perfect for the shoot. Would absolutely return for future shoots!”
— Brady K. | Producer