Nantucket Film Festival to Open With Olivia Wildes The Invite and Close With Special Presentation of The Five Star Weekend (Exclusive)
The 2026 Nantucket Film Festival has set its opening, centerpiece and closing screenings and revealed this year’s honorees. The 31st edition of the festival will open with Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, starring Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, which A24 acquired out of Sundance. The festival will close with a special advance presentation…
The 2026 Nantucket Film Festival has set its opening, centerpiece and closing screenings and revealed this year’s honorees.
The 31st edition of the festival will open with Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, starring Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, which A24 acquired out of Sundance.
The festival will close with a special advance presentation of Peacock’s upcoming The Five Star Weekend limited series, based on the Elin Hilderbrand novel, starring Jennifer Garner, Gemma Chan, Regina Hall and NFF honoree Chloë Sevigny. The show, which hits Peacock on July 16, was filmed on the island of Nantucket and was created, written and executive produced by Bekah Brunstetter.
This year’s honorees are Paul Feig, with the prolific writer-director receiving the Screenwriters Tribute; Sevigny, who will receive the Compass Rose Award for Career Achievement; and Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, who will be honored with the Special Achievement in Screenwriting Award.
Feig will receive the Visionary Storyteller Tribute, recognizing his career and storytelling across film and TV through such projects as Freaks and Geeks, Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters, Spy and The Housemaid. He’s currently in pre-production on the Housemaid sequel, The Housemaid’s Secret.
Jones and McCormack, whose screenwriting credits include The Invite, Toy Story 4 and Jesse and Celeste Forever, also scripted NFF Centerpiece screening selection ESPN’s upcoming 30 for 30 Billie Jean King documentary Give Me the Ball! directed by Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff.
Sevigny also produced the Grateful Dead fan-community documentary Summer Tour, which will screen at this year’s festival followed by a post-screening conversation with Sevigny. She’ll also participate in a post-screening conversation with Brunstetter and Hilderbrand after the Five Star Weekend first episode screening.
“As we celebrate our 31st edition, we are honored to recognize storytellers who continue to push the boundaries of their craft,” Nantucket Film Festival executive director Mystelle Brabbée said in a statement. “Paul Feig’s distinctive vision has reshaped modern comedy, while Rashida Jones and Will McCormack bring depth and authenticity to their screenwriting. Chloë Sevigny’s fearless, enduring career makes her a true embodiment of the Compass Rose Award. We’re proud to celebrate their achievements with our festival community.”
Senior programmer Basil Tsiokos and lead programmer Anita Raswant added in their own statement. “This year’s slate of films continues to celebrate bold and independent voices close to home and across the world. We invite our audiences to explore a wide range of work that honors the power of storytelling — and, in turn, our shared humanity over the course of our six-day, highly curated festival.”
Highlights from this year’s narrative features lineup include Josephine Decker’s Chasing Summer, written by and starring Iliza Shlesinger; David Wain’s Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, written by Ken Marino; Kent Jones’ Late Fame, written by Samy Burch and Arthur Schnitzler; and Jay Duplass’ See You When I See You, written by Adam Cayton-Holland.
Documentary highlights include Ivy Meeropol’s Ask E. Jean and Alex Gibney’s Salman Rushdie doc Knife.
The festival will also celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary with Ken Burns’ six-part docuseries The American Revolution.
The 31st edition of the Nantucket Film Festival will run from June 17-22 and is presented by Bank of America.
