He made his directorial debut in 1994 at the age of 25 with Little Odessa, a widely acclaimed film that received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. In 2000, Gray wrote and directed The Yards, his second feature and his first with Joaquin Phoenix, who would become a frequent collaborator, going on to star in his next three films: We Own the Night (2007), Two Lovers (2008), and The Immigrant (2013), all of which screened in competition at Cannes.Gray’s The Lost City of Z—based on the bestselling novel by David Grann and starring Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, and Tom Holland—had its world premiere as the closing night selection of the 2016 New York Film Festival and was released in theaters by Amazon and Bleecker Street in 2017. Disney/Fox’s Ad Astra, directed by Gray and starring Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones, world premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival and was released in theaters in September 2019.Focus Features’ Armageddon Time—which he directed, wrote, and produced—was inspired by his own childhood in 1980s Queens. The film had its world premiere at Cannes, followed by screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and New York Film Festival before its release in October 2022.Gray’s latest feature, Paper Tiger, starring Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller and Adam Driver, premiered in competition at Cannes. After opening the New York Film Festival in September, the film will be released theatrically by Neon in November 2026.Born in New York City, Gray grew up in Queens and attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Special Guests 2026 Carlos Reygadas Gael García Bernal Guillermo del Toro Alfonso Cuarón Special Guests in Other Editions Kleber Mendonça Filho Charlie Kaufman Oliver Laxe Robin Campillo Lucrecia Martel Juliette Binoche Francis Ford Coppola Ira Sachs Liv Tyler Alexander Payne James Ivory Ava DuVernay Leos Carax Kathleen Kennedy Jodie Foster James Ivory Luis Mandoki Jerry Schatzberg Maribel Verdú Laurent Cantet Frank Marshall Claire Denis Barry Jenkins Ciro Guerra en Rosalie Varda J. M. Coetzee Luc Dardenne Robert Redford Alfonso Cuarón Damien Chazelle Paul Weitz Patrice Leconte Julie Bertuccelli Carol Littleton John Bailey Olivier Assayas Lynne Ramsay Al Gore Michel Hazanavicius Bob Rafelson Fred Kelemen Aaron Eckhart Casey Affleck Giada Colagrande Audrey Tautou Isabelle Huppert Tim Roth Rodrigo García Peter Greenaway Pawel Pawlikowski Pierre Rissient Amos Gitai Juliette Binoche Edward James Olmos Robert Rodriguez John Sayles Alejandro Jodorowsky Danny Trejo Bruno Dumont Quentin Tarantino Pablo Larraín José María Prado Whit Stillman Dieter Kosslick Geraldine Chaplin Seifollah Samadian Gregory Nava Sally Potter Abbas Kiarostami Damián Alcázar Demián Bichir Elena Anaya Thierry Frémaux Marisa Paredes Michel Gondry Volker Schlöndorff Luis Valdez Béla Tarr Lucrecia Martel Javier Bardem Edgar Ramírez Fernando Trueba Doris Dörrie Serge Bromberg Terry Gilliam Julio Alemán Kelly Reichardt Jennifer Lawrence Steven Soderbergh Michael Nyman Nicolas Philibert Todd Haynes Stephen Frears Héctor Babenco Gael García Bernal Carlos Reygadas Alejandro González Iñárritu Cristian Mungiu Bertrand Tavernier Arthur Penn Jean-Claude Carrière Guillermo del Toro Mike Hodges Diego Luna Tommy Lee Jones Valeria Sarmiento Raúl Ruiz Gus Van Sant Manoel De Oliveira Fernando Vallejo Julia Ormond Salma Hayek Werner Herzog Barbet Schroeder Barbet Schroeder Guillermo del Toro Alfonso Cuarón Casey Affleck Barbet Schroeder Guillermo del Toro Alfonso Cuarón Casey Affleck Barbet Schroeder Guillermo del Toro Alfonso Cuarón Casey Affleck
He made his directorial debut in 1994 at the age of 25 with Little Odessa, a widely acclaimed film that received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. In 2000, Gray wrote and directed The Yards, his second feature and his first with Joaquin Phoenix, who would become a frequent collaborator, going on to star in his next three films: We Own the Night (2007), Two Lovers (2008), and The Immigrant (2013), all of which screened in competition at Cannes.Gray’s The Lost City of Z—based on the bestselling novel by David Grann and starring Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, and Tom Holland—had its world premiere as the closing night selection of the 2016 New York Film Festival and was released in theaters by Amazon and Bleecker Street in 2017. Disney/Fox’s Ad Astra, directed by Gray and starring Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones, world premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival and was released in theaters in September 2019.Focus Features’ Armageddon Time—which he directed, wrote, and produced—was inspired by his own childhood in 1980s Queens. The film had its world premiere at Cannes, followed by screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and New York Film Festival before its release in October 2022.Gray’s latest feature, Paper Tiger, starring Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller and Adam Driver, premiered in competition at Cannes. After opening the New York Film Festival in September, the film will be released theatrically by Neon in November 2026.Born in New York City, Gray grew up in Queens and attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
