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SFFILM

SFFILM Festival 2025 to Open with ‘Rebuilding’: Get the Full Lineup

The 68th San Francisco International Film Festival will also honor "The Dutchman" and "Love, Brooklyn" star André Holland and famed director Chris Columbus.

By Samantha Bergeson

Samantha Bergeson

Awards and Special Events

Tributes

A Tribute to Chris Columbus + Rent

Director: Chris Columbus, USA 2005
Chris Columbus first rose to fame as the screenwriter of two films that went on to become classics, “Gremlins” and “The Goonies,” before making his directing debut with “Adventures in Babysitting.” His second directorial feature was another classic, “Home Alone.” Among his other features are “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Nine Months,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcererʼs Stone,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “Rent,” and the upcoming “The Thursday Murder Club.” Columbus is also a producer whose most recent project was Robert Eggersʼ “Nosferatu.”

Rent

Director Chris Columbus reunites most of the original Broadway cast for this vibrant adaptation of Jonathan Larsonʼs Tony-winning musical about young bohemians sharing dreams and heartaches in 1990s New York.

The Festival will also screen Nine Months, written, directed and produced by Columbus.

Nine Months

Director: Chris Columbus, USA 1995
A San Francisco yuppie reacts with dismay when his girlfriend announces her pregnancy in Chris Columbusʼ fizzy romcom blending screwball antics with sentimental moments. Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore star.

A Tribute to André Holland

In a career spanning two decades, André Holland has established himself as a dazzling talent on stage, television, and screen. On Broadway, he appeared in two August Wilson plays, Joe Turnerʼs Come and Gone and Jitney. His television work includes starring roles in The Knick, American Horror Story, and Castle Rock. Holland made his big-screen debut in “Sugar.” Among his notable films are “Miracle at St. Anna,” “42,” “Selma,” “Moonlight,” “Passing,” “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” and the two films screening in the Festival, “The Dutchman” and “Love, Brooklyn.”

Awards

Mel Novikoff Award: Roxie Theater with a Special Screening of Rashomon

Akira Kurosawa, Japan 1950
For over 30 years, the SFFILM Mel Novikoff Award has been given to an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the film-going publicʼs appreciation of world cinema. One of the oldest continuously operating movie theaters in the United States, the Roxie is a Bay Area institution. Filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes will moderate a conversation about the theater’s past, present, and future, with Executive Director Lex Sloan and Director of Programming Isabel Fondevila. A screening of Akira Kurosawa’s multivalent Rashomon, celebrating its 75th anniversary, will follow.

Rashomon

In Akira Kurosawaʼs hugely influential drama, a woodcutter, a bandit, a bride, and a ghost offer opposing perspectives on a samuraiʼs murder.

Persistence of Vision Award: Sky Hopinka: maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore

Sky Hopinka, USA 2020
Established in 1997, the Persistence of Vision Award honors the achievement of a filmmaker or institution whose main body of work is outside the realm of narrative feature filmmaking, crafting documentaries, short films, television, animated, experimental, or multi-platform work.

Ferndale, WA, native Sky Hopinka is a Ho-Chunk Nation national and descendant of the Pechanga band of Luiseño Native Americans. He is a video artist, photographer, writer, and teacher, in addition to being a filmmaker. “maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore” is his first feature. He is the recipient of a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship.

maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore

Bodies of water ebb and flow throughout Sky Hopinkaʼs poetic experimental documentary that follows the wanderings of two Native Americans as they share their rituals and relationships to life, identity, language, and their homeland.

Sloan Science on Screen Award: Magma

Director: Cyprien Val, Producer: Isabelle Madelaine, France 2024 — International Premiere The struggles between scientists, community members, and local politicians spill over like the titular substance that threatens the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe in Cyprien Vialʼs dramatic thriller starring Marina Foïs.

Special Events

Members Screening: Magic Farm

Director: Amalia Ulman, Producers: Alex Hughes, Eugene Kotlyarenko, Riccardo Maddalosso, Argentina, USA 2024
A hapless reporting team descends on a small Argentinean town in this pointed satire featuring Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff, Joe Apollonio, and Simon Rex. Free to members with RSVP.

Sundown Cinema Outdoor Screening: The Fog

John Carpenter, USA 1980
When a low-lying fog creeps through a seaside town in Northern California, ghastly occurrences ensue in this mystifyingly atmospheric horror classic from John Carpenter.

Retrospective: The Horror!

The Babadook

Jennifer Kent, Australia/Canada 2014
In Jennifer Kentʼs wicked cult classic, things go bump in the night when a widowed single motherʼs grief gradually grows into something monstrous.

Carnival of Souls

Herk Harvey, USA, 1962
In this timeless progenitor of low-budget horror cinema, a woman survives a devastating car accident and begins seeing paranormal visions of ghoulish men who pursue her to the ends of the earth and her sanity.

They Live

Director: John Carpenter, USA 1988

Infamous for its extended, bone-crunching fistfight scene between “Rowdyˮ Roddy Piper and Keith David, this cult favorite is also an ingenious satire of neoliberal politics that holds particular resonance in our second go-round of Trumpism.

Chain Reactions

Director: Alexandre O. Philippe, USA 2024
Tobe Hooperʼs slashtastic classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre shocked moviegoers upon its 1974 release. 50 years on, Stephen King, Takashi Miike, and others describe its influence and ongoing significance.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Director: Tobe Hooper, USA 1974
Itʼs been 50 years since Tobe Hooperʼs slasher masterpiece, now part of the Library of Congress National Film Registry, first chilled the world with its nihilistic portrait of a murderous family living in a Texas farmhouse.

Talks and Workshops

Festival Talk: BLKNWS Terms & Conditions

Director: Kahlil Joseph, Producers: Onye Anyanwu, Kahlil Joseph, Amy Greenleaf, Nic Gonda, USA/Ghana 2025
Distinguished filmmaker and multimedia artist Khalil Joseph returns to SFFILM with this sonic and visually immersive celebration of black culture deftly crafted by an artist at his zenith. Followed by an extended conversation with Kahlil Joseph and a special moderator.

Festival Talk: SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Prize: Talking About Twisters

Director: Lee Isaac Chung, USA 2024
A special onstage conversation with director Lee Isaac Chung, along with scientific experts and effects wizards from the film, discussing whether a tornado can actually be “tamed,ˮ the world of tornado chasers, and how they embraced science to depict the power of nature through cinematic craft and create the vastly entertaining world of Twisters.

Festival Talk: Filming in San Francisco: A Case Study with Outerlands and FILM SF

San Francisco has served as the backdrop for numerous iconic films such as “Vertigo,” “The Rock,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “The Conversation,” among numerous others. Now, the Festivalʼs Closing Night film “Outerlands” joins this illustrious pantheon. The essential city agency Film SF is leading the charge to support a diversity of storytellers to bring their casts and crews to the City by the Bay. For this conversation, “Outerlands” director Elena Oxman, producer Marc Smolowitz, along with members of the film team will discuss the opportunities and challenges of filming in San Francisco with Film SF Executive Director Manijeh Fata and Deputy Director Sofia Alicastro.

Festival Talk: In Waves and War

Directors: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, Producer: Jessica Anthony, USA 2024
Struggling with PTSD and traumatic brain injury a group of former Navy SEALs having exhausted all other treatments, turn to cutting-edge psychedelic therapies, embarking on a deeply personal battle to heal and reclaim their lives beyond war.
A screening of the film will be followed by an extended conversation with filmmakers, documentary participants, and Stanford scientists.

Snow Bear: Workshop with Aaron Blaise

Animation legend Aaron Blaise has been capturing the beauty and complexities of the natural world in his work for more than 30 years. From the start of his career at Walt Disney Feature Animation, he brought to life iconic characters in films that include “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” and “Pocahontas.” He made his feature directorial debut with “Brother Bear,” a film that displayed his special bond with animals and received a Best Animated Feature Oscar® nomination. For the last 12 years, he has shared his wisdom with the next generation of artists and storytellers at his renowned online art school, Creature Art Teacher. Snow Bear, a gorgeous 2D hand-drawn passion project that he created over three years almost entirely on his own, is Aaronʼs latest project. Along with screening the short, this program offers a behind-the-scenes look at his filmmaking process and a drawing activity inspired by the film. This program is a collaboration with The Walt Disney Family Museum. Recommended for ages 7 and up.

Visual Storytelling Workshop with Alicia K. Harris

Alicia K. Harris, award-winning filmmaker, director, and producer leads a visual storytelling workshop for teens. Known for her poetic, expressive style and work celebrating the Black experience, Alicia will lead students through the various visual components that encompass a film, from cinematography to production and costume design. Students will learn how to convey emotion through imagery and storyboarding exercises as well as how a director goes from script to screen. The filmmaker will also screen her short film On a Sunday at Eleven and give a presentation on her career in the film and television industry. Open to students ages 13 to 18.

Narratives: USA

All Thatʼs Left of You

Director: Cherien Dabis, Producers: Thanassis Karathanos, Cherien Dabis, Martin Hampel, Karim Amer

Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition
An epic drama spanning three generations in the life of a Palestinian family, this dynamic film centers the story in the personal while also depicting the dehumanizing political situation surrounding its characters.

The Dutchman

Director: Andre Gaines, Producers: Andre Gaines, Jonathan T. Baker, USA 2025
In this powerful reimagining of Amiri Barakaʼs 1964 play, successful-but-troubled man about town Clay faces off fearlessly and unforgettably with tempestuous racial provocateur Lula.

Idiotka

Director: Nastasya Popov, Producers: Tess Cohen, Camila Mendes, Rachel Matthews, Saba Zerehi, Nastasya Popov, USA 2025
SFFILM Supported SFFILM Invest
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition

Nastasya Popovʼs delightful debut is a playful sendup of reality fashion shows and a heartwarming portrait of a designer who definitely (and defiantly) thinks outside the box.

Isle Child

Director: Thomas Percy Kim, Producers: Lauren Chen, Harrison Allen, USA/South Korea 2024 — World Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
A teenagerʼs idyllic life comes crashing down when he receives news of his birth motherʼs illness, thrusting him into a complex space between his Korean heritage and his American identity.

Love, Brooklyn

Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)

Director: Joel Alfonso Vargas, Producer: Paolo Maria Pedullà, USA 2025
Golden Gate Awards: Cine Latino Competition
A 19-year-old Dominican American endeavors to grow up after his girlfriend becomes pregnant. As characters shift rapidly between English and Spanish, director Joel Alfonso Vargas crafts a debut of great verisimilitude, humor, and empathy.

Operation Taco Garyʼs

Director: Michael Kvamme, Producer: Matthew Vaughan, USA 2024
Simon Rex stars as a conspiracy oddball who resorts to extreme measures to rescue his brother from a coming global cataclysm in this wacky blend of screwball comedy, action, sci-fi, and tacos.

Outerlands

Rebuilding

Director: Max Walker-Silverman, Producers: Jesse Hope, Dan Janvey, Paul Mezey
USA 2025
In Max Walker-Silvermanʼs achingly personal tale about communal love and resilience, Josh OʼConnor stars as a man determined to rebuild his family ranch and recapture his purpose as a cowboy.

Ricky

Director: Rashad Frett, Producers: Pierre M. Coleman, Simon TaufiQue, Sterling Brim, Josh Peters, DC Wade, USA 2024
SFFILM Supported SFFILM Invest
Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition

After spending his teenage and early adult years in prison, Ricky navigates a tumultuous path toward reintegration and redemption in his post-incarcerated life.

Sharp Corner

Director: Jason Buxton, Producers: Paul Barkin, Marc Tetreault, Jason Levangie, Jason Buxton, Susan Mullen, Canada/Ireland 2024 — US Premiere
Ben Foster and Cobie Smulders shine in Jason Buxtonʼs taut psychological thriller about a young family whose benign move to the suburbs leads to unthinkable consequences.

Narratives: International

Beloved Tropic

Director: Ana Endara, Producer: Isabella Gálvez, Panama/Colombia 2024 — US Premiere Golden Gate Awards: Cine Latino Competition
A Colombian immigrant woman in Panama cares for a matriarch suffering from dementia in a powerful story about love, motherhood, and aging.

The Best Mother in the World

Director: Anna Muylaert, Producers: Tomás Darcyl, Ricardo Costianovsky, Clara Ramos, Bianca Villar, Karen Castanho, Gabriel Gurman, Fernando Fraiha, Anna Muylaert, Brazil/Argentina 2025 — North American Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Cine Latino Competition

A trash collector fleeing abuse tells her kids that they are on a grand adventure instead of admitting they are homeless in this compassionate portrait of a mom making the best of a dire situation.

The Botanist

Director: Jing Yi, Producers: Zuolong Shan, Qi Ai, China 2025 — North American Premiere Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
In the sun-drenched valleys of Xinjiang, China, a young Kazakh boy, beguiled by the natural world, experiences that same sense of enchantment when he meets a spirited Han Chinese girl.

Cactus Pears

Director: Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, Producers: Neeraj Churi, Mohamed Khaki, Kaushik Ray, Naren Chandavarkar, Sidharth Meer, Hareesh Reddypalli, Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, Jim Sarbh, Rajesh Parwatkar, Deepthi Pendurty, Parag Pradhan, India/UK/Canada 2025
Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition

A tender tale of queer love and friendship that blossoms amidst one man’s grief over the death of his father and the strict social mores of a rugged western Indian town.

Cloud

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Producers: Yumi Arakawa, Yuki Nishimiya, Nobuhiro Iizuka, Japan 2024
An unscrupulous online resellerʼs misdeeds catch up with him in mysterious and frightening ways in horror maestro Kiyoshi Kurosawaʼs dark tale.

The Devil Smokes

Director: Ernesto Martínez Bucio, Producers: Carlos Hernández Vázquez, Gabriela Gavica Marrufo, Alejandro Durán, Mexico 2025 — North American Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
Telling the story of five siblings fending for themselves in the wake of parental abandonment, this tender, well-crafted film won Berlinaleʼs inaugural Perspectives Award for fiction debut.

40 Acres

Director: R.T. Thorne, Producer: Jennifer Holness, Canada 2025
Danielle Deadwyler stars as a woman willing to go to any lengths to protect her family and her farm from roving bandits in this bloody, unrelentingly tense post-apocalyptic thriller.

Ghost Trail

Director: Jonathan Millet, Producer: Pauline Seigland, France/Belgium/Germany 2024
A Syrian exile and former literature professor, now living in France, hunts the prison guard who once tortured him, balancing vengeance, secrecy, and the emotional weight of his past.

Happyend

Director: Neo Sora, Producer: Albert Tholen, Aiko Masubuchi, Eric Nyari, Alex C. Lo, Anthony Chen Japan/USA 2024
SFFILM Supported SFFILM Rainin Grant
In a moody near-future Tokyo, a schoolʼs new draconian mass surveillance system unsettles the friendships and free spirits of a group of endearingly rambunctious teens.

Harvest

Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari, Producers: Rebecca OʼBrien, Joslyn Barnes, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Marie-Elena Dyche, UK/Germany/Greece/France/USA 2024
In this painterly adaptation of Jim Craceʼs novel, director Tsangari once again observes behavioral systems within a pressure cooker as residents of a medieval village face upheaval when capitalist dynamics come to town.

Hola Frida!

Directors: André Kadi, Karine Vézina, Producers: Florence Roche, André Kadi, Laurence Petit, Eliott Khayat, Canada/France 2024
In Coyoacán, Mexico, young Frida Kahlo experiences the world as vibrant, colorful, and full of animals and dreams. When challenges come her way, she faces them with her enchanting imagination!

Honeymoon

Director: Zhanna Ozirna, Producer: Dmytro Sukhanov, Ukraine 2024
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
Trapped in their high-rise apartment, a newlywed couple in Ukraine play a cat-and-mouse with Russian soldiers as war rages in the outside world.

Horizon

Director: César Augusto Acevedo, Producers: Paola Andrea Pérez, Nieto Thierry Lenouvel, Colombia, France/Germany/Luxembourg/Chile 2024 — US Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Cine Latino Competition
Decades-long civil conflict has claimed the lives of many in Colombia. This visually transcendent cinematic reverie explores a mother and sonʼs remorse as they reckon with their own transgressions during this period.

Hot Milk

Director: Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Producers: Christine Langan, Kate Glover, Giorgos Karnavas, UK 2025
An unsettling mother/daughter story set over a sultry Spanish summer, this sexy and mysterious drama starring Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, and Vicky Krieps, beautifully adapts Deborah Levyʼs acclaimed novel.

The Hyperboreans

Directors: Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña, Producer: Catalina Vergara, Chile 2024
Golden Gate Awards: Cine Latino Competition
On a mission to recover a lost film, an actress and psychologist stumbles into Chilean history and uncovers secrets hidden in Antarctic ice in this fantastically surreal blend of live action and animation.

Ink Wash

Director: Sarra Tsorakidis, Producers: Nikos Moustakas, Katrine Dolmer, Romania/Greece/Denmark 2024
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
A heartbroken mural painter nearing 40 retreats to a remote Romanian hotel, where the surrounding wilderness and solitude force her to confront her past, reassess her future, and rediscover her artistry.

Julie Keeps Quiet

Director: Leonardo Van Diji, Producers: Gilles Coulier, Gilles De Schryver, Wouter Sap, Roxanne Sarkozi, Delphine Tomson, Belgium/Sweden 2024
With astute attention to framing and shot design, this riveting debut puts its rising tennis star protagonist front and center as she navigates the suspension of her coach amid rumors of abuse.

The Last First Time

Director: Rafael Ruiz Espejo, Producers: Rafael Ruiz Espejo, Luna Marán, Mexico 2025 — World Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Cine Latino Competition
Away from home to take a test, a teenager experiences his firsts in love and sex when he meets another boy, embarking on a wild night of hard partying and carnal passion.

Magic Farm

Director: Amalia Ulman, Producers: Alex Hughes, Eugene Kotlyarenko, Riccardo Maddalosso, Argentina, USA 2024

A hapless reporting team descends on a small Argentinean town in this pointed satire featuring Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff, Joe Apollonio, and Simon Rex. Free to members with RSVP.

Magma

Manas

Director: Marianna Brennand, Producers: Carolina Benevides, Marianna Brennand, Brazil/Portugal 2024
Trapped in an abusive home on an isolated island in the Brazilian rainforest, a 13-year-old girl yearns to escape and reunite with her older sister in the city.

Olivia & The Clouds

Director: Tomás Pichardo Espaillat, Producers: Amelia del mar Hernández, Fernando Santos Díaz, Dominican Republic 2024
This visually stunning exploration of love, memory, and perception follows two couples whose recollections of their relationships diverge, revealing how intimacy is shaped by time, storytelling, and personal truth.

The Quiet Son

Directors: Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin, Producers: Olivier Delbosc, Marie Guillaumond, France 2024
Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition
Pierre (Vincent Lindon) is a railroad repairman in northeastern France who discovers that his eldest son is hanging around a group of right-wing thugs in this carefully observed drama centered on family and politics.

Rains Over Babel

Director: Gala Del Sol, Producers: H.A. Hermida, Andrés Hermida, Ana Cristina Gutiérrez, Natalia Rendón Rodríguez, Isabela Hermida, Gala del Sol, Colombia/Spain, USA 2025
Golden Gate Awards: Cine Latino Competition
Afrofuturism, surrealism, and punk blend to spin a queer, neon-lit adventure fable inspired by Danteʼs Inferno.

Red Path

Director: Lotfi Achour, Producers: Anissa Daoud, Sébastien Hussenot, Lotfi Achour Tunisia/France/Belgium/Poland/Saudi Arabia/Qatar 2024 — US Premiere Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition

Haunted by his cousinʼs brutal murder, a young shepherd in Tunisia navigates trauma through visions of the boyʼs ghost, while his family fights for justice in an indifferent and dangerous world.

Shadowbox

Director: Tanushree Das, Saumyananda Sahi, Producers: Naren Chandavarkar, Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann, Saumyananda Sahi, India/France/USA/Spain 2025 — North American Premiere Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
Maya works multiple jobs to keep her household running until her husbandʼs disappearance and trouble with the law upset the delicate and fragile balance she maintains in her world.

Souleymane’s Story

Director: Boris Lojkine, Producer: Bruno Nahon, France 2024
Boris Lojkineʼs moody and propulsive film plays like a thriller, steadily laying out the obstacles confronting undocumented immigrant Souleymane as he desperately tries to make the right choices.

Sukkwan Island

Director: Vladimir de Fontenay, Producers: Eliott Khayat, Caroline Benjo France/Norway/Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg/UK 2024
Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition
Father-son bonding amid the majesty of nature takes a dark turn in this visually exhilarating adaptation of a novella by David Vann that stars Swann Arlaud and Woody Norman.

Surviving Earth

Director: Thea Gajić, Producers: Aleksandra Bilić, Sophie Reynolds, UK 2025
Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition
Vlad, a charismatic Yugoslav refugee and talented musician, is a larger-than-life character who cherishes his teenage daughter. He is also a recovering addict wrestling with his demons and the terror of failure.

That Summer in Paris

Director: Valentine Cadic, Producers: Antoine Jouve, Masa Sawada, Arnaud Bruttin, France 2025 — North American Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition
In this constantly surprising and touching debut, 30-year-old Blandine visits Paris to reconnect with her half-sister Julie and see her idol compete in the Olympics, but nothing goes quite according to plan.

3670

Director: Joonho Park Producer: Hyein Lee, South Korea 2025 — World Premiere

Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition
A young North Korean defectorʼs path towards self-discovery brings him into Seoulʼs vibrant gay community where new friendships and hardships lie ahead.

Triumph

Directors: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov, Producers: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov, Konstantina Stavrianou, Irini Vougioukalou, Maria Bakalova, Julian Kostov, Bulgaria/Greece 2024
In this comedy of errors based on real life events, a hapless general in 1990s Bulgaria falls sway to his personal psychicʼs prophecy that glory await is they discover a way to communicate with aliens.

Viet and Nam

Director: Minh Quý Truong, Producers: Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew Vietnam/Philippines/Singapore/France/Netherlands/Italy/Germany/USA 2024
The ghosts of the Vietnam conflict fall heavily on war orphan Nam, who finds solace in the arms of his lover Viet even as he contemplates leaving the country.

Where the Wind Comes From

Director: Amel Guellaty, Producers: Asma Chiboub, Karim Aitouna, Tunisia/France/Qatar 2025
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
Two Tunisian youngsters hit the road in the hopes of winning an art competition in this rousing and fanciful portrait of two friends who find that working together makes them stronger than the sum of their individual parts.

Winter in Sokcho

Director: Koya Kamura, Producer: Fabrice Préel-Cléach, France/South Korea 2024

Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
In a snowy seaside town on South Koreaʼs east coast, a mysterious French artist upends an introspective young womanʼs life.

Xoftex

Director: Noaz Deshe, Producers: Noaz Deshe, Andro Steinborn, Jordan Tappis, Beau Willimon, Christophe Audeguis, Germany/France 2024 — North American Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition
The surreal and haunting limbo of asylum seekersʼ daily lives reveals itself in Greeceʼs Xoftex camp when a young Syrian refugee filmmaker blurs reality and fiction by making a zombie movie.

Documentaries: USA

BLKNWS Terms & Conditions

The Chaplain and the Doctor

Director: Jessica Zitter, Producers: Jen Gilomen, Niema Jordan, Jessica Zitter, USA 2025 — World Premiere
SFFILM Supported FilmHouse Residency, SFFILM Invest
An unlikely partnership forms between a chaplain and a physician in an Oakland trauma center, challenging medical biases and redefining compassionate care as they confront personal and professional struggles together.

Come See Me in the Good Light

Director: Ryan White, Producers: Jessica Hargrave, Ryan White, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen, USA 2025
Spoken word icon and poet laureate Andrea Gibson navigates her final tour amid a devastating cancer diagnosis. She and her partner Megan Falley bring a vibrant accessibility to the cycles of treatment with grace, poignancy, and bawdy humor.

The Dating Game

Director: Violet Du Feng, Producers: Joanna Natasegara, James Costa, Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas, Violet Du Feng, USA/UK/Norway 2025
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
When males outnumber females by 30 million, getting a date with a woman is almost impossible. Enter coach Kao whose business is helping Chinese males up their game—and maybe find a wife.

Deaf President, Now!

Directors: Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir, Producers: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim, Amanda Rohlke, Jonathan King, Michael Harte, USA 2024
In this involving documentary, students at Washington, D.C.ʼs Gallaudet University stage protests in March 1988, demanding that the worldʼs first university for the deaf and hard of hearing appoint a deaf president.

Ferrari: Fury & The Monster

Director: Steve Hoover, Producers: Monella Kaplan, Stefano Gallini-Durante, Emily Korteweg, Michael Angelo Covino, USA 2024 — International Premiere
Motorsports engineer Mauro Forghieri, creator of the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO, takes center stage in this rip-roaring tale of Ferrari’s ascendance in the racing world.

Folktales

Directors: Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing, Producers: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, USA/Norway 2025
Teenagers attend a rural high school in the Norwegian wilderness where the curriculum includes lessons from sleigh dogs, dances in the forest, and unexpected friends.

Her/Mine

Director: Alexandra Shiva, Producers: Alexandra Shiva, Lindsey Megrue, USA 2025 — World Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
Filmmaker Alexandra Shiva pieces together memories of her Hollywood scion mother, rooting through personal artifacts and 16mm footage to reflect on her own life and craft a poetic meditation on memory, loss, and motherhood.

In Waves and War

Directors: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, Producer: Jessica Anthony, USA 2024
Struggling with PTSD and traumatic brain injury, a group of former Navy SEALs turn to cutting-edge psychedelic therapies, embarking on a deeply personal battle to heal and reclaim their lives beyond war.

maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore

Sky Hopinka, USA 2020
Bodies of water ebb and flow throughout Sky Hopinkaʼs poetic experimental documentary that follows the wanderings of two Native Americans as they share their rituals and relationships to life, identity, language, and their homeland.

Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore

Director: Shoshannah Stern, Producers: Robyn Kopp, Shoshannah Stern, Justine Nagan, Bonni Cohen USA 2024
Oscar®-winner Marlee Matlin struggled to balance professional success with the pressures of being an icon for the deaf community. Shoshannah Sternʼs tender debut documentary joyfully celebrates the trailblazing triumph of Matlinʼs career.

Sally

Director: Cristina Costantini, Producers: Cristina Costantini, Lauren Cioffi, Dan Cogan, Jon Bardin, USA 2025

Sloan Science on Screen Initiative
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
Astronaut Sally Ride blazed a trail as the first American woman in space in 1983, while her personal life was more complicated. This exhilarating documentary offers a full-bodied portrait of an extraordinary hero.

Seeds

Director: Brittany Shyne, Producers: Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Brittany Shyne, USA 2024
SFFILM Supported Documentary Film Fund
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition

This visually stunning portrait reflects on identity, legacy, and the cyclical nature of life as it explores a Black familyʼs century-old farm, capturing its beauty as well as the familyʼs struggles.

The Tallest Dwarf

Director: Julie Forrest Wyman, Producers: Lindsey Dryden, Shaleece Haas, Jonna McKone USA 2025
SFFILM Supported SFFILM Rainin Filmmakers with Disabilities Grant, FilmHouse Residency, SFFILM Invest

Diagnosed with hypochondroplasia dwarfism as an adult, filmmaker Julie Wyman seeks to understand her own condition as she confers with her family, medical experts, and a welcoming, creative group of little people for answers.

Vivien’s Wild Ride

Director: Vivien Hillgrove, Producers: Deann Borshay Liem, Jessica Anthony, Janet Cole, Dawn Valadez USA 2024 — World Premiere
SFFILM Supported SFFILM Rainin Filmmakers with Disabilities Grant
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition

When legendary film editor Vivien Hillgrove begins losing her sight, she turns to filmmaking to craft a magical memoir, reflecting on her career, personal struggles, and the transformative power of creativity.

Documentaries: International

Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story

Director: Sinéad OʼShea, Producers: Claire McCabe, Eleanor Emptage, Sinéad O’Shea, Ireland/UK 2024

Edna O’Brien became notorious for writing sexually explicit novels in the ‘60s and ‘70s that inspired generations of writers. Jessie Buckley narrates this tender documentary that captures the late writer’s essence.

The Brink of Dreams

Directors: Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir, Producers: Ayman El Amir, Nada Riyadh, Marc Irmer, Claire Chassagne, Egypt/France/Denmark/Qatar/Saudi Arabia 2024
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
In a conservative Egyptian village, a group of girls form a street theater troupe, using performance to challenge patriarchal norms, pursue their artistic dreams, and navigate the complexities of womanhood and societal expectations.”

Cutting Through Rocks

Directors: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni, Producers: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni Iran/Germany/USA/Netherlands/Qatar/Chile/Canada 2025
The first female elected to her rural Iranian villageʼs council refuses to follow patriarchal norms despite facing aggressive resistance in this transcendent vérité portrait of an extraordinary woman effecting change.

Endless Cookie

Directors: Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver, Producers: Daniel Bekerman, Chris Yurkovich, Alex Ordanis, Jason Ryle, Seth Scriver, Canada 2025
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
From distinct backgrounds, Seth and Pete Scriver come together to record Peteʼs stories in this colorful, digressive, and endlessly entertaining animated documentary, a brilliantly inventive mix of brotherly love and Canadian history.

How Deep Is Your Love

Director: Eleanor Mortimer, Producer: Jacob Thomas, UK 2024
As scientists uncover new lifeforms in the deep sea, their discoveries inspire wonder in a documentary that asks us to consider the relationship between exploration and exploitation.

How to Build a Library

Directors: Chris King, Maia Lekow, Producers: Chris King, Maia Lekow, Kenya/Germany 2025
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
Two determined women in Nairobi take on the daunting task of decolonizing a former whites-only library, navigating bureaucracy, fundraising, and colonial legacies to transform it into a vibrant cultural hub for modern Kenya.

I Dreamed His Name

Director: Angela Carabali, Producers: Sandra Tabares-Duque, Angela Carabali, Colombia 2025 — International Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
Thirty years after their father disappeared during a period of civil unrest, director Ángela Carabalí and her sister Juliana travel throughout Colombia seeking answers.

Only on Earth

Director: Robin Petré, Producers: Signe Skov Thomsen, Malene Flindt Pedersen, Denmark/Spain 2025 — US Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
In the hottest summer on record in Galicia, Spain, flames engulf the picturesque hills as fires rage on for days in this empathetic, immersive documentary that takes the measure of climate change.

Sonaggios

Director: Pietro Mereu, Producers: Francesca Cimolai, Marco Chiappa, Martin Cadieux-Rouillard Italy/Canada 2024 — World Premiere
In this entrancing documentary, two families in Sardinia handcraft the cowbells that decorate the necks of sheep, while considering how to ensure the survival of their age-old artisanal tradition.

Sudan, remember us

Director: Hind Meddeb, Producers: Abel Nahmias, Michel Zana, Alice Ormières, Taoufik Guiga France/Qatar/Tunisia 2024
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
In the midst of a war and destruction in Sudan, four young activists insist on justice, freedom, and change, emerging as beacons of hope for the country and the world.

Timestamp

Director: Kateryna Gornostai, Producers: Natalia Libet, Olha Bregman Ukraine/France/Luxembourg/Netherlands 2025
Children learn lessons in resilience alongside math and history in this cinema vérité documentary shot in classrooms across war-torn Ukraine.

The Track

Director and producer: Ryan Sidhoo, Canada 2025
SFFILM Supported Documentary Film Fund
In a Sarajevo still shrouded by the shadow of war, an Olympic-size luge track slowly comes back to life, along with the hopes and dreams of three young athletes and their coach.

The Wolves Always Come at Night

Director: Gabrielle Brady, Producers: Julia Niethammer, Ariunaa Tserenpil, Rita Walsh Mongolia/Australia/Germany 2024
A devastating sandstorm shatters a Mongolian herding familyʼs life, forcing them to migrate to the city, where they struggle with urban hardship while longing for their disappearing way of life.

Mid-Length Films

Each mid-length film will be paired with two shorts.

On Healing Land, Birds Perch

Director: Naja Pham Lockwood, Producers: Julian Cautherley, Naja Pham Lockwood, USA/Vietnam 2025
Golden Gate Awards: Mid-Length Films
AP photographer Eddie Adamsʼ iconic “Saigon Executionˮ photo depicting a South Vietnamese general killing a Viet Cong captain serves as the springboard for a documentary examining the impact of the Vietnam War on both menʼs families.

Screening with:

Roots That Reach Toward the Sky

Jess X. Snow, USA 2024

We Were the Scenery

Christopher Radcliff, USA/Vietnam/Philippines 2025

ORIGINS

Director: Drea Cooper, Producers: Julie Costanzo, Gary Kout, Drea Cooper, USA 2025 — World Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Mid-Length Films
Acclaimed choreographer Alonzo King and his renowned LINES Ballet Company step up to the barre in this gorgeously photographed film that interweaves powerful personal stories and performance.

Screening with:

A Quiet Storm

Benjamin Nicolas, Canada/Japan 2024

Voices from the Abyss

Irving Serrano, Victor Rejón, Mexico 2024

Two People Exchanging Saliva

Director: Natalie Musteata, Alexandre Singh, Producers: Violeta Kreimer, Valentina Merli, Natalie Musteata, Alexandre Singh, France/USA 2024
Golden Gate Awards: Mid-Length Films
In a repressive society where kissing means death and currency is measured in slaps, an unhappy womanʼs growing bond with a salesgirl sparks desire, jealousy, and dangerous consequences.

Screening with:

Budget Paradise

LaTajh Simmons-Weaver, USA 2025 — World Premiere

1:10

Sinan Tane, Switzerland 2024 — International Premiere

Shorts Programs

Shorts Sublime Interludes

Reality is fluid, memory is unreliable, and the boundaries between the known and unknown blur in this collection of shorts that is, indeed, sublime.

Across the Waters

Viv Li, France 2024

I Lay for You to Sleep

Ali Al Hajri, Qatar 2024 — International Premiere

Maputo

Lucas Birolli Abrahão, Brazil 2024 — International Premiere

Ordinary Life

Yoriko Mizushiri, France/Japan 2025

Rat Rod

Jared Jakins, USA 2025

Vox Humana

Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, Philippines/Singapore, USA 2024

Shorts Under Precarious Circumstances

Thrust into moments of upheaval, characters navigate shifting power dynamics, personal reckonings, and the weight of irreversible choices in this powerful collection.

After What Happened at the Library

Syra McCarthy, USA 2024
SFFILM Supported FilmHouse Residency

Bad For a Moment

Daniel Soares, Portugal 2024

Buick

Michael Godere, USA 2024 — World Premiere

Dawn Every Day

Amir Yussef, Egypt 2024

Memories of Zhi

Mingxin Li, China/UK 2024 — International Premiere

Nine Days in August

Ella Knorz, Germany 2024

Retirement Plan

John Kelly, Ireland 2024

Shorts Dark Waves & Stranger Tides

Dive into darkness and sink deeper into strangeness with these seven wickedly delightful horror and genre shorts.

A Brighter Summer Day For The Lady Avengers

Birdy Wei-Ting Hung, Taiwan/USA 2024

Chow

Kevin Armento, USA 2024

/HAAW/

Joe Scoma, USA 2024

How Was Your Weekend?

Cam Banfield, USA 2025

MANGO

Joan Iyiola, UK/France 2025

She Raised Me

Ben Lewis, USA/Canada 2025

Stomach Bug

Matty Crawford, UK 2024

Shorts Family Matters

This shorts block explores the love and dynamics between families from across the globe as they confront societal challenges and strengthen their bonds.

Bloomed in the Water

Joanne Mony Park, USA 2024

Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites

Chheangkea, Cambodia/France, USA 2025

Hermanos

Miguel Pérez Castelazo, Mexico 2024 — International Premiere

The Mud Under My Window

Violette Delvoye, France/Belgium 2025 — North American Premiere

My Brother, My Brother

Saad Dnewar, Egypt/France/Germany 2025 — North American Premiere

Saint Andrews

Erin Ramirez, USA/Jamaica 2025 — World Premiere

Sola

Lana Baric, Croatia 2023

Shorts Docs

An eclectic collection of stories from across the world, this documentary block brings forth experiences of individuals and larger communities bound together by the tumultuous and often uncertain times that we are living in.

Camp Widow

Laura Green, USA 2025

Clara’s Fruit

Morgan Mathews, USA 2024 — World Premiere

Firefighter Goats

Phoebe Dobey, Norway 2024 — International Premiere

Fragmented

Tanya Marar, Palestine/Portugal 2025 — International Premiere

The Hemingway

Patrick Sean OʼBrien, USA 2024

Losing Your Home

Emmanuel Rioux, Canada 2024

Waska: The Forest Is My Family

Nina Gualinga, Ecuador, UK 2025 — US Premiere

Shorts Family Films

Through genre-defying celebrations of culture, heartfelt stories that amplify resilience, and inventive animations that dramatically push the boundaries of the medium, Family Films celebrates the wonder, whimsy, and wisdom of short films that appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds.

The Girl with the Occupied Eyes

André Carrilho, Portugal 2024

Have I Swallowed Your Dreams

Clara Chan, Canada 2024

Hoofs on Skates

Ignas Meilūnas, Lithuania 2024

Livestreams with GrandmaPuzzles

Emily Sheskin, USA 2024

On a Sunday at Eleven

Alicia K. Harris, Canada 2024

Snow Bear

Aaron Blaise, USA 2024

Swimming with Butterflies

Karl Stelter, USA 2024

Tule

Jocelyn Garcia, USA 2024

Shorts Youth Works

Youth Works celebrates and spotlights the next generation of filmmakers from within the Bay Area, and from as far away as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China. Demonstrating the rising talent of these teenagers, these shorts encompass thought-provoking scripts, breathtaking and delightful cinematography, rich stop-motion animation, and genre-pushing meditations.

As You Are

Daria Strachan, USA 2024

The Brave Ones

Mahdiyeh Abbaszaden, Iran 2025 — World Premiere

Coop

Mujtaba Alhejji, Saudi Arabia 2024 — North American Premiere

Echoes of a Sunlit Koi

Ying Zhao, China 2025 — World Premiere

Junebug

Amiko Muscat, USA 2024
SFFILM Supported Youth Film House Residency

little dreamer

Astrid Nymo-Young, USA 2024