What’s Westchester Watching? January 2026 Edition

“What’s Westchester Watching?” is ArtsNews’s guide to notable releases and special screenings for Westchester moviegoers.*

This month, film centers are starting the year off with an array of movies that appeal to sentimentalists and cinephiles alike, from The Godfather and Eraserhead to new releases starring Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried and more. There’s even a jazz documentary and the latest from Jim Jarmusch in the mix.

^{*All screenings are current as of the publishing of this article but are subject to change. Check with the individual venue before attending.}

New Releases

Song Sung Blue

Inspired by real life events, Song Sung Blue stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Wisconsinites Mike and Claire Sardina, who formed a Neil Diamond tribute band in the late ‘80s. The film dramatizes the pair’s triumphs and hardships as a couple and musical act. Song Sung Blue is currently playing at The Picture House Bronxville and Jacob Burns Film Center.

The Choral 

The Choral sees Ralph Fiennes as a man who takes over a choral society in Yorkshire, England during World War I. As a newcomer to the town, he navigates a community grappling with immense loss as conscription papers call many of its young men to war. The Choral opens at Jacob Burns Film Center on January 9 and Bedford Playhouse on January 30. 

On January 10, New Choral Society will have a free performance at Jacob Burns Film Center to celebrate the opening of the film. 

Father Mother Sister Brother

Landmark independent film director Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise) returns with Father Mother Sister Brother, which won the Golden Lion the 2025 Venice Film Festival. Starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, Tom Waits, Vicky Krieps and more, the anthology film tells three stories centered around estranged family dynamics. Father Mother Sister Brother opens at Jacob Burns Film Center on January 9.

The Secret Agent

Set in 1970s Brazil, The Secret Agent follows Marcelo, a man on the run trying to reunite with his son. The Brazilian film won this year’s Critics’ Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The Secret Agent begins screening at The Picture House on January 9 and Bedford Playhouse on January 23.

The Testament of Ann Lee

The Testament of Ann Lee is inspired by the true legend of the Shaker sect’s founder Ann Lee. Lee, played by Amanda Seyfried, aimed to create a utopic society and preached gender and social equality. The film features traditional Shaker hymns and rapture-inspired choreography by Celia Rowlson-Hall. 35mm screenings begin at Jacob Burns Film Center on January 16. 

Special Screenings 

The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit Screening and Filmmaker Q&A 
Jazz Forum Arts
January 15

Jazz Forum Arts hosts a screening of The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit, a documentary that investigates the history of jazz in Detroit, in its Jazz Forum Club in Tarrytown. The film, inspired by Mark Styker’s 2019 book Jazz from Detroit, highlights the many renowned jazz figures who came from the Motor City. After the screening, a Q&A will take place with filmmakers Daniel Loewenthal, Roberta Friedman and Mark Stryker. Doors at 6pm; screening at 7pm.

The Godfather
Tarrytown Music Hall
January 18

As part of its Film Series, Tarrytown Music Hall will screen The Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola’s classic mob drama follows the youngest son of a powerful Italian American crime family, played by Al Pacino, who reluctantly enters his family’s business. At 6pm. 

Eraserhead with Introduction by Cinematographer Frederick Elmes
Jacob Burns Film Center
January 18

Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) will screen David Lynch’s debut feature Eraserhead followed by an introduction by its cinematographer, Frederick Elmes. In the surrealist film, a couple’s baby turns out to be a lizard-like creature. The film will begin at 5:30pm. The screening is part of JBFC’s retrospective of Elmes’ work; other titles include the latest Jim Jarmusch film, Father Mother Sister Brother, as well as Night on Earth and Synecdoche, New York.

Yi Yi
Jacob Burns Film Center
January 21

Directed by acclaimed Taiwanese director Edward Yang, Yi Yi follows a family over the course of a year. The internationally beloved film begins with a wedding and ends with a funeral, concurrently chronicling the lives of three generations of its central family. Two showtimes: 1pm; 7pm.

The Red Shoes
Bedford Playhouse
January 27

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 technicolor masterpiece The Red Shoes is a tale about the tension between romantic love and ambition. Moira Shearer plays a young ballerina pressured to choose between her career or her romance with a young idealistic composer. A dazzling central dance sequence, cinematography from renowned cinematographer Jack Cardiff and Oscar-winning sets and music have cemented The Red Shoes as a time-tested classic. Bedford Playhouse’s Artistic Director Dan Friedman will introduce the film. At 7pm. 

My Own Private Idaho
Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers
January 28

Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, one of the biggest titles to have emerged from the New Queer Cinema movement of the ‘90s, sees River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves as two young street hustlers who fall in love in the Pacific Northwest’s social demimonde. The film is inspired by John Rechy’s 1963 novel City of Night and Shakespeare’s Henry IV. The screening is a part of Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers’s Queer Film Theory 101 series, which intends to be “a semi-educational crash course on the queer subtext of your favorite films,” and will begin at 7pm.

You May Also Enjoy:

• Recent State Funding Supports ArtsWestchester’s Mission to Keep Arts Accessible
• Performing Arts Center at Purchase Announces 2025-26 Lineup
• YoFi Fest’s 13th Year Champions Diverse Corners of Cinema (2025)

_{Photos: The Red Shoes illustration by Julia Herceg; still from The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures); still from The Godfather (Paramount Pictures); still from Yi Yi (Winter Communications Janus Films; still from My Own Private Idaho (First Line Features)}