Chelsea Film Festival 2026 returns to lower Manhattan Wednesday 14 October through Sunday 18 October, with screenings centred at Regal Battery Park (102 North End Avenue). Opening Night is Wednesday 14 October at 7:00pm in Auditorium 11: the NYC premiere of SYNC, with doors at 6:00pm for the red-carpet Opening Ceremony and a planned Q&A with director and cast. This ADVANCE Film guide locks venue, opening title, and programme shape before the mid-October spike—without twinning AFI FEST or BAIFF as the primary keyword.
Dates, venue, and headline facts
Festival — Chelsea Film Festival 2026
In-person dates — 14–18 October 2026
Primary venue — Regal Battery Park, 102 N End Ave, New York, NY 10282
Opening Night — Wednesday 14 October, 7:00pm (Auditorium 11); doors 6:00pm
Opening film — SYNC (NYC premiere; Q&A with director & cast; listed runtime 121 min on the 2026 schedule)
Closing Awards — Sunday 18 October, 9:00pm (Auditorium 11)
Online window — festival materials cite continued online access through 31 October 2026 (confirm ticketing on chelseafilm.org)
Industry programming includes the Reel Magic Hour Industry Summit across Friday–Saturday at TBN Studios per the published schedule.
What the 2026 programme looks like
Beyond Opening Night, the schedule stacks narrative features, documentaries, NYC/US/international shorts blocks, indie episodics, and an AI-generated strand. Centrepiece energy on Thursday includes a special screening of Long Day’s Journey Into Night with a Jessica Lange Q&A listing. Closing-film billing on Sunday afternoon points to Party USA (NYC premiere) before the evening awards carpet. Treat individual start times as live on the festival’s searchable 2026 schedule page—blocks move when prints or talent shift.
People also ask: where is Opening Night and is it black-tie?
Opening Night is at Regal Battery Park, Auditorium 11, 7:00pm Wednesday 14 October, with doors at 6:00pm. Festival FAQ/programme copy has described Opening Night as a formal red-carpet event—check chelseafilm.org dress notes closer to the date rather than assuming every daytime shorts block is tuxedo. Tickets and member holds sell through the festival’s own system.
Why ADVANCE now (spike ~14 October)
“Chelsea Film Festival 2026,” “CFF Opening Night SYNC,” and “Regal Battery Park film festival” queries climb in the ten days before open as NYC autumn fest calendars densify. A sourced venue–opening-title–awards explainer outranks thin calendar stubs that omit the online-through-Oct-31 window.
Related Sunday Profile Film releases
Widen the October festival cluster with our live AFI FEST 2026 and BAIFF 2026—peer ADVANCE film-fest hubs without twinning this Chelsea primary.
How to plan a Battery Park weekend
Regal Battery Park’s multi-auditorium layout (published blocks use Auditoriums 4, 5, 10, and 11 heavily) means back-to-back shorts programmes are walkable inside the same multiplex. Factor ferry/subway time to Battery Park City, and watch for TBN Studios industry sessions if you are credentialed for Reel Magic Hour. Online viewers should confirm geo and rental windows on the festival site once the virtual portal opens.
Pass types, single tickets, and student deals historically appear in waves on chelseafilm.org—refresh the ticketing page in the week of 14 October rather than relying on last year’s price sheet.
Sources and caveats
14–18 Oct dates, Regal Battery Park address, Opening Night 14 Oct 7pm / SYNC / doors 6pm, Closing Awards 18 Oct 9pm, industry summit listings: chelseafilm.org 2026 schedule and related programme pages. Online-through-31-Oct framing per festival materials in this desk brief—reconfirm virtual SKUs on the site. Screening swaps and Q&A cancellations remain possible through opening week.