First Glimpse of Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, Scheduled for World Premiere at the 64th New York Film Festival.

      Following the announcement yesterday regarding Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest endeavor set to debut at this fall’s New York Film Festival, another significant world premiere has been revealed. Luca Guadagnino's "Artificial" will have its world premiere in the Main Slate of the 64th New York Film Festival, scheduled for September 25 to October 12. The film, which was acquired by NEON after Amazon MGM Studios dropped it, will premiere on October 5 at Alice Tully Hall, with Guadagnino and cast members present.

      The festival's synopsis reads: “The stakes are incredibly high in Luca Guadagnino’s captivating, humorous, and deeply human film, 'Artificial,' which presents a drama of great moral significance that takes the audience through twenty years of machine learning exploration and technocratic recklessness that have led us to today’s AI crisis. In 2003, Soviet-born computer scientist Ilya Sutskever (Yura Borisov) began his study of artificial neural networks under the guidance of University of Toronto professor Geoffrey ‘Godfather of AI’ Hinton (Mark Rylance). A decade later, while working at Google, Sutskever fatefully encounters a young entrepreneur named Sam Altman (Andrew Garfield), who would go on to become co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. Among the most daring filmmakers, Guadagnino (who previously presented "Call Me by Your Name," "Bones and All," "Queer," and "After the Hunt" at NYFF) makes an audacious leap into our current crisis with this thought-provoking script by Simon Rich, which explores the blurred lines between human and machine, truth and deception. Featuring outstanding performances by Garfield and Borisov, a stellar supporting cast that includes Rylance, Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, Ike Barinholtz, Jason Schwartzman, and Chris O’Dowd, and original music by Damon Albarn, Guadagnino’s film flows like a relentless machine—creating history as we watch. A NEON release.”

      NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim commented: “What stands out about Luca Guadagnino’s clever and sobering new film is its perfect tone in recounting how we reached this AI crossroads. 'Artificial' navigates this path with clear-eyed horror, dark humor, and a feeling of existential urgency. If there’s ever been a film suited for this moment, it is this one.”

      “I don’t know Sam Altman. I’ve never met him,” Garfield remarked recently to Esquire. “I based my performance on the script, court transcripts, interviews, and research. We were telling a story, but anyone assuming such significant responsibility for a company or technology that they know could severely impact humanity's essence must possess a certain capacity to dissociate.”

      The 64th New York Film Festival will be held from September 25 to October 12, 2026, with passes currently available for purchase. Individual tickets will go on sale on September 15 at noon.

      View the first image of "Artificial" below.