The Socially Relevant Film Festival Begins March 11, 2026 at Lensfest Center in New York City with film "The Last Wish" - See Many other Important Films, Meet Filmmakers and Network at a Reasonable Cost

The 13th annual edition of SR Socially Relevant™ Film Festival NY opens on Wednesday, March 11, at the iconic LenFest Center for the Arts at Columbia University, with the feature film The Last Wish by Rax Rinnekangas. The Last Wish, a Finnish-Spanish co-produced feature, starring Eric Francés (Madrid) and Nora Armani (New York), was shot entirely in Northern Spain, in Santo Domingo de Silos, and celebrates literature and literacy. The film is in Spanish and Western Armenian with English subtitles. Q&A with the artists follows.

SR Socially Relevant™ Film Festival opens Wednesday, March 11, at the LenFest Center for the Arts of Columbia University with a program that starts with a Red Carpet at 5:30 PM, followed by the screening of three BIPOC short films, then another round on the Red Carpet at 7:15 PM, before the Official Opening Ceremony at 7:30 PM and the feature film The Last Wish by Rax Rinnekangas. The film reminds us of the merits of reading world literature and deep introspection, set against the beautiful backdrop of Northern Spain. 

The official Selection of the 13th edition of SRFF features 44 films from 20 countries. The films stream online starting March 16. A Spotlight on Egyptian Artists, French Cinema, Armenian, US, and Italian-Swiss films completes the spectrum.

The Armenian spotlight this year includes My Armenian Phantoms by Tamara Stepanyan, Armenia’s Official submission to the Oscars; Silence by Narek Shahverdyan; and Imagined Landscapes by Eleanor Ekserdjian. The festival themes range from BIPOC to Disability, Family and Home, Race, Religion and Exile, and Mental Health issues. Most screenings conclude with a Q&A with the filmmakers.

The SRFF 2026 competition award categories are headed by The Vania Exerjian - Empowering Women Award, named after the founder’s cousin, actress and producer Vania Exerjian, who was a victim of a hate crime. And the Kirk Award is named after philanthropist and MGM ceo Kirk Kerkorian. In addition, SRFF awards a dozen more jury-picked awards in the different categories.

"We’re grateful for the opportunity we’ve had to present over 800 socially relevant films from 40 countries over the past 13 years. The work of talented and dedicated filmmakers has offered us the added bonus of learning about the human condition, filmmaking, and ways of engaging an audience as first steps towards raising awareness of social issues. We love our filmmakers, as they are the core of what makes a festival noteworthy. We pride ourselves on offering the much-needed platform to filmmakers whose work may otherwise remain unnoticed." Festival Founding Artistic Director Nora Armani.

SRFF was founded by Actress/ Filmmaker Nora Armani in 2013 as a response to the proliferation of violence and violent forms of storytelling in media and entertainment. Following a family tragedy that cost the lives of two of her dearest and nearest, namely her cousin Vania and uncle Jack Exerjian, Armani founded the festival to commemorate them in a meaningful way. SRFF believes in the power of the film medium to raise awareness of social issues and promote positive social change. The Mission of the SR Film Festival is to shine a spotlight on filmmakers who tell compelling, socially relevant, human-interest stories across a broad range of social issues without resorting to violence or violent forms of storytelling.

Tickets are $15 online here and $20 at the door. Senior $10. Press and Media are invited. 

Contact:
SR Socially Relevant™ Film Festival NY
https://www.ratedsrfilms.org/
ratedsrfilms@gmail.com
+1 (917) 318 2290

About the SR Socially Relevant™ Film Festival New York

13th annual edition - SRFF 2026 - March 2026.

SRFF is a nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organization founded in January 2013 by actress/filmmaker Nora Armani in response to the proliferation of violence and violent forms of storytelling. The mission of SRFF is to promote films with socially relevant™ content and filmmakers who tell human-interest stories. Over 795 films from 40 countries have been screened, bringing meaningful entertainment and social awareness to the community. SRFF strives to raise awareness of social issues through cinema, promoting positive social change, peace, understanding, and a clean environment. http://www.ratedsrfilms.org/ 

Spokespersons of SR Socially Relevant™ Film Festival NY include Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, Erin Brockovich, Martin Sheen, Pulitzer Prize and Tony award-winner Robert Schenkkan, best-selling French novelist Marc Levy, Academy Award Nominee and Emmy Award Winner Guy Davidi, and American TV personality and author Gretchen Carlson. Honor awardees of 2023 were Gale Anne Hurd, Tonya Lewis Lee, Robert Schenkkan, and Nicole Ansari-Cox. The 2025 Honor Awardee was Karren Karagulian of Anora.

Donations are tax-deductible.

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