AFI Fest completes its red-carpet premiere lineup: Brad Bird’s “Ray Gunn” and “I Play Rocky” close the 40th edition

The American Film Institute (AFI) has closed out the red-carpet premiere lineup for the 40th edition of AFI Fest, running October 21–25, 2026 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The final two titles announced Friday are “I Play Rocky”, Peter Farrelly’s biographical drama about Sylvester Stallone, and “Ray Gunn”, Brad Bird’s animated Netflix film.

“I Play Rocky” follows Stallone’s fight to write the screenplay and land the lead role in 1976’s “Rocky,” with Anthony Ippolito playing the cinematic boxing legend. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF), where it finished runner-up for the People’s Choice Award.

“Ray Gunn” is Brad Bird’s longtime passion project — a retro-futuristic animated neo-noir mystery featuring the voices of Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Waits. The first trailer dropped Wednesday, and the world premiere will take place at the BFI London Film Festival on October 10, ahead of the film’s AFI Fest appearance.

Alongside the two premieres, AFI announced 12 additions to the Special Screenings section: Ava DuVernay’s “14th,” Diego Luna’s “Ashes,” Tony Gilroy’s “Behemoth!” starring Pedro Pascal, Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas,” Florian Zeller’s “Bunker” with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, “Clarissa,” Simon Stone’s “Elsinore,” “Josephine,” “The Man I Love,” “Mouse,” “Tangles” and Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine.” They join previously announced titles, including “The Mosquito Bowl.”

The festival opens with the U.S. premiere of Travis Knight’s animated “Wildwood” and closes with Sian Heder’s “Being Heumann.” This edition’s guest artistic directors are Phil Lord and Chris Miller. “AFI FEST is where the world tells stories in the beating heart of Hollywood,” AFI president Bob Gazzale said in the press release, as TheWrap reports.