The Lighthouse International Film Festival just announced its 2026 documentary lineup, and it’s stacked with world premieres, Sundance picks, and stories you won’t find anywhere else.

The fest runs June 10-14 on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. This year’s doc competition includes 10 films spanning wildlife conservation, deep sea diving, indie horror families, and vigilante justice.

Two world premieres anchor the slate. Celluloid W-W-Wars follows stuttering director Allan Holzman’s wild ride through Hollywood, from working with Roger Corman to winning two Emmys. Our Colors Never Fade tracks LGBTQIA+ Ukrainians who left their lives behind to fight Russia’s invasion.

The headliner section features Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Superhero, about Seattle’s actual caped crusader who pepper-sprayed criminals until his identity got blown.

Other highlights include Seized, a Sundance doc about a police raid on a Kansas newspaper that turned into a constitutional nightmare, and My NDA, which follows three people who broke their silence agreements to expose rape and discrimination.

The fest previously announced special guests Jason Alexander and Tony Shalhoub, plus a revival screening of Big Night. Known for its beach-centric vibe, Lighthouse has been named one of MovieMaker’s “25 Coolest Film Festivals” twice.

For doc makers looking to break through, this lineup proves regional fests are programming just as bold as the majors.

Niall Horan is taking his new album on the road, and he’s starting big. The Irish singer just announced Dinner Party Live On Tour, a 26-date North American run produced by Live Nation that kicks off March 17, 2027 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Yes, St. Patrick’s Day.

The tour supports his fourth studio album, Dinner Party, dropping June 5 via Capitol Records. Stops include Brooklyn’s Barclays Center (April 4) and The Kia Forum in Los Angeles (May 22) before wrapping in Vancouver on May 29.

Tickets hit general sale Friday, May 15 at 10 AM local time on livenation.com. Citi cardmembers get early access starting today, and an artist presale opens Wednesday. VIP packages include access to a pre-show Dinner Party lounge, premium tickets, and early venue entry.

Horan’s summer is packed. He’ll play Rockefeller Center’s plaza in New York on June 12 as part of the TODAY show’s Citi Concert Series, then co-headline stadium shows with Thomas Rhett in Nashville and Hershey, Pennsylvania. The UK/EU leg starts September 22 in Birmingham.

His 2024 world tour sold over 1.2 million tickets. This time around, he’s leaning into the album’s themes of life, love, and the magic of gathering around a table. For an artist who’s sold 90 million records worldwide since his One Direction days, Horan keeps finding new ways to connect.

A 25-year-old trans-butch indie film is getting a second life. “By Hook or By Crook,” the groundbreaking 2001 debut from filmmakers Silas Howard and Harry Dodge, hits theaters next month in a newly restored 4K version.

The film follows Shy and Valentine, two gender-bending grifters navigating life on society’s margins. It was one of the first successful queer indie films shot on Mini-DV, and it made waves when audiences first saw it at Frameline and Sundance in the early 2000s.

Altered Innocence, the distributor behind “The People’s Joker,” is handling the release. The film opens in New York on June 12 and Los Angeles on June 16, then expands to Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, and more cities throughout the summer.

The restoration comes courtesy of the Academy Film Archive and UCLA Film & Television Archive, with support from Frameline, Outfest, and Sundance Institute. The Guardian called it “one of the best queer films of this century,” and Queerty says it “still feels just as fresh and original today.”

Howard went on to become the first openly trans masculine filmmaker to direct a studio film, helming projects like “Transparent” and “Pose.” Dodge is now a Guggenheim fellow and published author. Producer Steak House earned Emmy nominations for “Queer for Fear.”

For indie creators working on the margins, this one’s a reminder that scrappy, authentic work can endure.

The Grammy Awards are getting a new home. For the first time in over 50 years, the ceremony will air on ABC when it returns Feb. 7, 2027. Even bigger? It’ll simulcast on Disney+ and Hulu at the same time, marking the first streaming simulcast in Grammy history.

The news came during Disney’s upfront presentation in New York. The last time the Grammys aired on ABC was 1972, making this a pretty massive shift for music’s biggest night.

“This is an exciting time for us as an organization, a new home and a bold new chapter for the Grammy Awards,” said Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy.

The 2027 ceremony will broadcast live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Eligibility runs from Aug. 31, 2025 through Aug. 28, 2026, with nominations dropping Nov. 16, 2026. First round voting kicks off in October, and final voting wraps Jan. 7, 2027.

For indie artists grinding toward recognition, the move to streaming could mean broader access and a younger audience. For the Grammys, it’s a bet that the future of awards shows lives beyond traditional TV.

A brother and sister navigate the fractured landscape of childhood abuse in Memories of Giselle, a new graphic novel from rising cartoonist Katia Vecchio hitting shelves this summer from Image Comics.

The story follows Giselle as she’s haunted by her late grandmother’s memory and a recurring image of an empty boat, a symbol of the truth she’s buried for years. As she moves through adolescence, dealing with desire and trust, the pieces of her repressed past finally start coming together, revealing how deeply it’s shaped both her and her brother’s lives.

Vecchio, known for Silver Vessels and Painted, is making her Image debut with this deeply personal work inspired by true events. It’s drawn comparisons to Zoe Thorogood’s It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth and Kate Beaton’s Ducks for its raw, compassionate approach to difficult subject matter.

Foreword Reviews called it “a standout graphic novel” in a starred review, praising its tenderness and nuanced portrait of trauma’s lasting impact.

The book drops at comic shops June 17 and bookstores everywhere July 14. For indie creators tackling tough stories about survival and memory, Vecchio’s approach proves you don’t need to sensationalize trauma to make it hit hard.

Marcel Ruiz, best known for playing Alex Alvarez in Netflix’s One Day at a Time, is stepping behind the camera for the first time. His debut as a screenwriter and producer comes with Summer of Three, which world premieres at Tribeca Festival’s U.S. Narrative Competition in June.

The film is directed by his father, Carlitos Ruiz-Ruiz, whose debut Lovesickness premiered at Tribeca back in 2007. Now they’re back together with a deeply personal collaboration.

Summer of Three follows 17-year-old Javi, who returns to Puerto Rico after years away, first for his grandfather’s funeral. What starts as a reluctant trip turns into an unexpected homecoming when he meets Luife and Kiki, two misfits who pull him into a sultry love triangle. The film explores identity, grief, and belonging through a summer of heat, music, and emotional awakening.

The soundtrack blends reggaeton classics with Puerto Rico’s indie scene, grounding the story in the island’s youthful energy. Newcomers Kiki Montilla and Paolo Schoene join Ruiz in the cast.

This is exactly the kind of project Tribeca was built for: personal, bold, and rooted in cultural identity. A father-son collaboration premiering where the father’s career began? That’s the indie dream.

A new video podcast is asking a simple question: where do revolutions begin?

Living for the City, hosted by MacArthur Fellow and bestselling author Hanif Abdurraqib, traces music movements back to the neighborhoods, record stores, and street corners where they started. The eight-episode first season focuses on Detroit, exploring how the city shaped Motown, techno, and hip-hop.

Abdurraqib, known for his work in The New Yorker and books like A Little Devil in America, sits down with artists, DJs, producers, and the people behind the scenes who built these movements from the ground up. It’s his first time hosting on camera.

“I am someone who has a deep investment in not just sounds, but the roots of the sounds, the hands and hearts that went into making the sounds,” Abdurraqib said.

The series premieres May 13 on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday. Future seasons will spotlight other cities that have shaped music across generations.

Living for the City is produced by Side Stage, a network from Live Nation and Magnet Originals.

For creators trying to understand how local scenes go global, this one’s worth watching.

Foster the People are hitting the road this fall with a 25-date North American tour that promises to bring their latest live show vision to cities across the U.S. and Canada.

The “Good Mourning Sunshine” tour kicks off September 9 in Phoenix and wraps October 23 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Goth Babe joins most dates, with The Beaches supporting at Red Rocks. The run includes stops at Forest Hills Stadium in New York, Red Rocks in Colorado, and Toronto’s RBC Amphitheatre.

The tour follows a massive 2025 world tour behind Paradise State of Mind, the band’s third Top 10 album. That record earned praise from Billboard, NME, and Forbes before selling out shows across North America, Europe, and Latin America.

Foster the People debuted a reimagined live show at Coachella earlier this year, built around a 1950s utopia that unravels into psychedelic chaos. It’s a visual commentary on the modern world that they’ll now bring to amphitheaters and theaters nationwide.

Citi presale starts May 5 at 8am local, followed by artist presale at 10am. General on-sale is May 8 at 10am via fosterthepeople.com.

For indie and mainstream acts alike, fall tour season just got a lot more interesting.

Teenager Cata is having a pretty normal summer on Mallorca, swimming in the Mediterranean and flirting with a Swedish boy. Then her grandmother dies. One day, she slips into her abuela’s dress and feels something pull her closer to the woman she just lost.

That’s the setup for “Forastera,” a Spanish ghost story that trades scares for something quieter and more unsettling. Director Lucía Aleñar Iglesias uses the sun-drenched island as the backdrop for a film about grief, memory, and the strange ways the dead stay with us.

The debut feature won the FIPRESCI Prize at Toronto International Film Festival and picked up awards at festivals across Spain, including Best New Director for Aleñar Iglesias at Seminci Valladolid. Critics are calling it tender, poetic, and a revelation for star Zoe Stein.

“Forastera” opens May 29 at Film Forum in New York. The title translates to “stranger,” which feels right for a movie about becoming someone else while trying to hold onto someone you’ve lost. It’s the kind of ghost story that lingers because it’s less about hauntings and more about what we carry forward.

What happens when a bestselling fantasy author is a decade past deadline and completely out of ideas?

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, the duo behind Criminal and Kill Or Be Killed, are exploring that nightmare in Unfinished Tales, a new original graphic novel coming this winter from Image Comics.

The story follows Finnegan Blake, a wildly successful author whose epic fantasy series became a massive TV show. There’s just one problem: he’s ten years overdue on the final book and has no clue how to finish it. When an old friend arrives with a solution to his writer’s block, things spiral into dark territory fast.

“I’ve always been fascinated by why people write, or in this case, why they don’t,” Brubaker said. “It’s a deep dive into the world of writers and publishing, the pressure to succeed, and what that may cost you. It’s also a very fucked up thriller about egos and ambition.”

The book mixes Stephen King’s Misery with The Talented Mr. Ripley, and somehow threads the needle for fans of both Tolkien and Megan Abbott.

Unfinished Tales hits comic shops November 11 and bookstores December 8. For indie creators grinding through their own deadlines and creative demons, this one might hit a little too close to home.