L to R top row: Josh O’Connor, Lily LaTorre in REBUILDING. Nicole Beharie, André Holland in LOVE, BROOKLYN. Asia Kate Dillon, Ridley Asha Bateman in OUTERLANDS. L to R, bottom row: filmmaker Chris Columbus, and actor André Holland. Top row photos and A. Holland headshot courtesy of rights holders. C. Columbus photo courtesy of Netflix; photo by Giles Keyte.
“I am over the moon that we are back with 11 days of screenings, special Tributes, Awards, free talks, our annual Industry Days Conference, parties, city tours, and much more. It has been a delight to curate over 150 films for this year’s festival and we cannot wait to welcome local and international creatives to the city by the Bay,” said Jessie Fairbanks, SFFILM’s Director of Programming. “The program is packed with discovery titles, emerging storytellers, buzzy new films, A-list talent, and a special horror retrospective—that will be sure to delight audiences and filmmakers alike.”
The Festival opens with Max Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding, a poignant exploration of communal love and resilience in the wake of devastating wildfires. This intimate, timely drama stars Josh O’Connor (Challengers, La Chimera, The Crown) as a man determined to restore his family’s ranch and rediscover his purpose. The Centerpiece presentation is Rachael Abigail Holder’s Love, Brooklyn, a layered romantic comedy exploring urban isolation and Black life in the modern age. Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and starring André Holland, Nicole Beharie, and DeWanda Wise, the film generates plenty of sparks and humor. The Centerpiece film is presented alongside a Festival Tribute celebrating the career and craft of André Holland (Selma, Moonlight, Passing) who has been dazzling audiences on stage, television, and screen over the past two decades. Alongside the Centerpiece film, Holland offers a remarkable performance in Andre Gaines’s The Dutchman in the Marquee spotlight.
SFFILM will also celebrate legendary writer, director, and producer Chris Columbus with a Festival Tribute, featuring an extended onstage conversation that spans his decades-long career, including a special 35 mm screening of the musical classic Rent. Renowned for directing iconic blockbusters such as Home Alone (1990), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Columbus also produced Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Help (2011), Night at the Museum (2006), Patti Cake$ (2017), The Exiles (2022), and Nosferatu (2024). Columbus began his path as a screenwriter with credits including beloved classics like Gremlins (1984) and The Goonies (1985) among many others. The romantic comedy Nine Months, starring Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore, and Robin Williams, which Columbus wrote, directed and produced, will also screen as part of the Festival lineup.
Closing Night is Outerlands, Elena Oxman’s tale of discovery and acceptance, starring a cast of exciting emerging talents, including Asia Kate Dillon, and Ridley Asha Bateman, as well as iconic queer comic Lea DeLaria. Filmed in San Francisco and supported by SFFILM through its FilmHouse Residency and SFFILM Invest program, Oxman’s film leads a robust selection of Bay Area films in the 2025 Festival and the largest-ever showcase of SFFILM Supported projects, highlighting the region’s vibrant creative community. In a dedicated Festival Talk, director Elena Oxman and producer Marc Smolowitz, along with Film SF Executive Director Manijeh Fata and Deputy Director Sofia Alicastro, will discuss the opportunities and challenges of filming in San Francisco.
“San Francisco’s revitalization is in full swing, and we’re proud to host filmmakers from around the world to connect with thousands of moviegoers of all ages over 11 wonderful days,” said Anne Lai, the Executive Director of SFFILM. “This year is a true celebration of the Bay, with so much homegrown talent as well as collaborations with fellow arts and culture organizations. We’re thrilled to partner with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Lee Neighborhood Theatres in the Marina, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, and—in the historic Presidio—the Premier Theater at One Letterman, the Walt Disney Family Museum, and the SF Parks Alliance and Sundown Cinema. We’ll also be honoring the historic Roxie Theater in the Mission. Seeing films together is one of the most vibrant human experiences, which is what our Festival is all about.”
Several Marquee titles are woven through the Festival program, showcasing a diverse array of stories spanning comedy, genre films, documentaries, narratives and literary adaptations. These include BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, starring Shaunette Renée Wilson (Black Panther), followed by an extended onstage conversation (Festival Talks) with director and artist Kahlil Joseph. Also featured is Andre Gaines’s The Dutchman, a powerful reimagining of Amiri Baraka’s Obie-winning 1964 play by the same name starring André Holland and Kate Mara; R.T. Thorne’s apocalyptic drama 40 Acres starring Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson, Till) and Michael Greyeyes (Fear the Walking Dead); Hot Milk, Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s cinematic adaptation of Deborah Levy’s acclaimed novel with a stellar cast including Emma Mackey (Sex Education), Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), and Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread). Jason Buxton’s gripping psychological thriller Sharp Corner starring Ben Foster (Hell or High Water) and Cobie Smulders (The Avengers), will keep audiences on the edge of their seats, while Michael Kvamme‘s comedy, action, sci-fi blend Operation Taco Gary’s starring SF Bay Area native Simon Rex (Red Rocket) and Dustin Milligan (Schitt’s Creek) promises to take audiences for a wild, entertaining ride. Rounding up the Marquee offerings is Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, Shoshannah Stern’s documentary chronicling the trailblazing career of Academy Award®-winning actress Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God, CODA) as she balances professional recognition and activism.
Special honors and awards at the 2025 SFFILM Festival recognize the artistry and impact of filmmaking, celebrating its lasting influence on culture. The Mel Novikoff Award which honors film exhibitors will celebrate a Bay Area institution and one of the oldest continuously operating movie theaters in the United States, the Roxie Theater. An onstage conversation with Executive Director Lex Sloan and Director of Programming Isabel Fondevila moderated by local filmmaker and SFFILM’s Novikoff Committee Member, Rodrigo Reyes, precedes a screening of Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Rashomon, celebrating its 75th anniversary. The Persistence of Vision Award goes to experimental filmmaker Sky Hopinka who will be in an onstage conversation with UC Berkeley Associate Professor Beth Piatote, at BAMPFA. The program features a screening of poetic documentary maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore. A selection of Sky Hopinka’s short films titled Sky Hopinka Shorts: a proposition of memory will also screen as part of the Festival lineup. Films include Dislocation Blues (2017), Fainting Spells (2018), Just a Soul Responding (2023), Kicking the Clouds, (2021), Kunįkaga Remember Red Banks, Kunįkaga Remembers the Welcoming Song (2014), Lore (2019) and When you’re lost in the rain (2018).
In partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, SFFILM will present three events as part of their SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative which supports the compelling depiction of science on screen. The Sloan Science on Screen Award recipient is Cyprien Vial’s dramatic thriller Magma which will have its international premiere at the Festival. In the film starring Marina Foïs, the struggles between scientists, community members, and local politicians spill over like the titular substance that threatens the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. SFFILM will also honor the film Twisters with the Sloan Science in Cinema Prize—which celebrates the compelling depiction of scientific themes or characters in a narrative feature film—at a special event featuring a discussion with director Lee Isaac Chung and experts on the technology and science of the extreme storms depicted on screen in this blockbuster. Also highlighted as part of the initiative, Cristina Costantini’s documentary Sally, about the extraordinary life of Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
Juried competition winners for the Golden Gate Awards and Audience Awards for Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature will be announced at the end of the Festival.
Extended talks include a panel focused on the documentary feature In Waves and War, directed by award-winning local filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk. Following the film screening, a conversation between the filmmakers, a group of Stanford researchers attempting to improve PTSD treatment, and film participants will offer Festival audiences a unique exploration of the veteran reintegration experience. Special Events such as the Members Screening of Amalia Ulman’s pointed satire Magic Farm, featuring a star-studded cast with Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff, Joe Apollonio, and Simon Rex (also starring in Operation Taco Gary’s) is a beloved and exclusive perk for SFFILM’s fantastic film community. A partnership with the SF Parks Alliance will kick off their public movie series with a Sundown Cinema Outdoor Screening of John Carpenter’s The Fog at the Civil War Parade Ground in the Presidio. Carpenter’s 1980 thriller rounds out the Festival’s special program Retrospectives: The Horror! which includes the director’s 1988 film They Live, along with Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook (2014) and Herk Harvey’s Carnival of Souls (1962). Horror classic Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), is presented alongside Alexandre Philippe’s documentary Chain Reactions (2024), where five artists discuss the impact this film has had on their lives and craft.
In an exciting partnership between the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) and SFFILM’s Artist Development program led by Masashi Niwano, called the SFFILM/SFCM Sound and Cinema Fellowship, a special presentation will be featured during the Festival. Over the past year, the program paired four local filmmakers from SFFILM’s FilmHouse Residency with SFCM’s Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) students to produce original scores for their short films. The Sound and Cinema Showcase of four films with new music and soundtracks will be screened at SFCM’s state-of-the-art Barbro Osher Recital Hall in the heart of San Francisco’s Civic Center neighborhood. The program includes Betsy Tsai’s Along Away, A.K. Sandhu’s America, We Beg Your Pardon, Florencia Manovil’s Camino, and Steven Raven Liang’s Oscar’s Return.
The storied Golden Gate Awards (GGAs) juried competition returns in 2025 for the 68th year with cash prizes awarded to the Global Visions Competition, Cine Latino Competition, New Directors Competition, Mid-Length Competition and a prize for the best documentary feature film newly named the Kirby Walker Documentary Award. As an Academy Award-qualifying festival, SFFILM Festival will present honors for Best Narrative Short, Documentary Short, and Animated Short in addition to recognizing a Bay Area Short Film, Family Short Film, and Youth Works Film.
Honoring the best documentary feature, the Kirby Walker Documentary Award celebrates the legacy of Kirby Walker, beloved Bay Area activist and filmmaker whose profound curiosity about the lives of others and the world in general sparked a lasting love and respect for documentary filmmaking that allows audiences to develop their own informed viewpoint.
“On behalf of Kirby and our family we are thrilled to honor her legacy with the Kirby Walker Documentary Award,” said her spouse Paul Danielsen and sons Myles and Clay Danielsen. “It honors her dream of mentoring and nurturing the next generation of documentarians as they hone their craft, develop the narrative, and share the stories they feel passionate about through film.”
Mid-Length Films return to the festival, celebrating titles that clock in between 31 and 59 minutes long. These films may be slimmed down in length, but they deliver powerful storytelling. The showcase includes three programs: O R I G I N S—about acclaimed Bay Area choreographer Alonzo King and his renowned LINES Ballet Company—(screening with short films A Quiet Storm and Voices from the Abyss), On Healing Land, Birds Perch (screening with short films Roots That Reach Toward The Sky and We Were the Scenery), and Two People Exchanging Saliva (screening with shorts Budget Paradise and 1:10).
Short films are represented by seven thematically curated programs that blend narrative and documentary forms, along with live-action and animation. These programs showcase filmmakers’ creativity, skill, and artistry, offering audiences a chance to experience a diverse range of styles, perspectives, and stories. The programs include: Shorts 1: Sublime Interludes, Shorts 2: Under Precarious Circumstances, Shorts 3: Dark Waves & Stranger Tides, Shorts 4: Family Matters, Shorts 5: Docs, Shorts 6: Family Films, and Shorts 7: Youth Works.
A cherished staple in the lineup, Family Friendly programs include Shorts 6: Family Films, and Shorts 7: Youth Works, along with Family Feature Hola Frida! André Kadi and Karine Vézina’s animated retelling of Frida Kahlo’s childhood in Coyoacán, Mexico. Family Workshops include interactive programs Snow Bear: Workshop with Aaron Blaise and Visual Storytelling Workshop with Alicia K. Harris. SFFILM will also host the 34th annual Schools at the Festival (SATF) program serving 13,000 students and educators in the Bay Area with in-person programming and across the US with online offerings for youth audiences. The program curated by SFFILM’s Education team led by Keith Zwölfer, features film selections from the Festival lineup along with SATF-only offerings. Highlights include The Art & Science of Lucasfilm: James Tooley — ILM Creature Supervisor, a program now in its 17th edition; live-action and animated series Jane by J.J. Johnson; docu-series Social Studies by Lauren Greenfield; narrative features such as Isaiah Saxon’s The Legend of Ochi, and Tanith Glynn-Maloney’s Windcatcher; documentary features Pets by Bryce Dallas Howard and See Her Be Her by Jean Fruth; and a compelling collection of short films titled From Fact to Fiction.
2025 SFFILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Big Nights
Opening Night: Rebuilding
Director: Max Walker-Silverman, Producers: Jesse Hope, Dan Janvey, Paul Mezey
(USA 2025, 95)
In Max Walker-Silverman’s achingly personal tale about communal love and resilience, Josh O’Connor (Challengers, La Chimera) stars as a man determined to rebuild his family ranch and recapture his purpose as a cowboy.
Centerpiece: Love, Brooklyn + A Tribute to André Holland
Director: Rachael Abigail Holder, Producers: André Holland, Patrick Wengler, Maurice Anderson, Kate Sharp, Liza Zusman (USA 2024, 87)
Bursting with sexual chemistry, textured relationships, and the allure of a love triangle, Love, Brooklyn is a charged film that explores Black life in the modern age.
A Tribute to André Holland will be presented along with the Centerpiece film.
Closing Night: Outerlands
Director: Elena Oxman, Producers: Marc Smolowitz, Elena Oxman, Asia Kate Dillon, Allison Estrin, Henry Russell Bergstein (USA 2025, 100)
SFFILM Supported (FilmHouse Residency, SFFILM Invest)
Cass, a San Francisco transplant, finds themselves an unintentional caretaker for an acquaintance’s child in this sweet local film about discovery, chosen family, and acceptance.
Awards and Special Events
Tributes
A Tribute to Chris Columbus + Rent
Director: Chris Columbus (USA 2005, 135)
Chris Columbus first rose to fame as the screenwriter of two films that went on to become classics, Gremlins (1984) and The Goonies (1985), before making his directing debut with Adventures in Babysitting (1987). His second directorial feature was another classic, Home Alone (1990). Among his other features are Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Nine Months (1995), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Rent (2005), and the upcoming The Thursday Murder Club. Columbus is also a producer whose most recent project was Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (2024).
Rent
Director Chris Columbus reunites most of the original Broadway cast for this vibrant adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s 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, 103)
A San Francisco yuppie reacts with dismay when his girlfriend announces her pregnancy in Chris Columbus’ 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 Turner’s 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 (2008). Among his notable films are Miracle at St. Anna (2008), 42 (2013), Selma (2014), Moonlight (2016), Passing (2021), Exhibiting Forgiveness (2024), 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, 88)
For over 30 years, the SFFILM Mel Novikoff Award has been given to an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the film-going public’s 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 Kurosawa’s hugely influential drama, a woodcutter, a bandit, a bride, and a ghost offer opposing perspectives on a samurai’s murder.
Persistence of Vision Award: Sky Hopinka: maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore
Sky Hopinka (USA 2020, 81)
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. His films include Trade (2013), Jáaji Approx. (2016), Visions of an Island (2016), Dislocation Blues (2017), Lore (2019), Kicking the Clouds (2022), and Sunflower Siege Engine (2023). 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 Hopinka’s 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, 85) — 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 Vial’s dramatic thriller starring Marina Foïs.
Special Events
Members Screening: Magic Farm
Director: Amalia Ulman, Producers: Alex Hughes, Eugene Kotlyarenko, Riccardo Maddalosso (Argentina, USA 2024, 93)
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, 89)
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, 94)
In Jennifer Kent’s wicked cult classic, things go bump in the night when a widowed single mother’s grief gradually grows into something monstrous.
Carnival of Souls
Herk Harvey (USA, 1962, 78)
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, 93)
Infamous for its extended, bone-crunching fistfight scene between “Rowdy” 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, 103)
Tobe Hooper’s 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, 83)
It’s been 50 years since Tobe Hooper’s 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, 113)
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, 60)
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,” 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 (1958), The Rock (1996), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Conversation (1974), among numerous others. Now, the Festival’s 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, 108)
Struggling with PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI), 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 (1991), The Lion King (1994), and Pocahontas (1995). He made his feature directorial debut with Brother Bear (2003), 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 Aaron’s 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 13–18.
Narratives: USA
All That’s Left of You
Director: Cherien Dabis, Producers: Thanassis Karathanos, Cherien Dabis, Martin Hampel, Karim Amer (Country, Country 2025, 145)
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, 94)
In this powerful reimagining of Amiri Baraka’s 1964 play, successful-but-troubled man about town Clay (Festival tribute André Holland) faces off fearlessly and unforgettably with tempestuous racial provocateur Lula (Kate Mara).
Idiotka
Director: Nastasya Popov, Producers: Tess Cohen, Camila Mendes, Rachel Matthews, Saba Zerehi, Nastasya Popov (USA 2025, 82)
SFFILM Supported (SFFILM Invest)
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
Nastasya Popov’s 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, 88) — World Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
A teenager’s idyllic life comes crashing down when he receives news of his birth mother’s illness, thrusting him into a complex space between his Korean heritage and his American identity.
Love, Brooklyn
Director: Rachael Abigail Holder, Producers: André Holland, Patrick Wengler, Maurice Anderson, Kate Sharp, Liza Zusman (USA 2024, 87)
Bursting with sexual chemistry, textured relationships, and the allure of a love triangle, Love, Brooklyn is a charged film that explores Black life in the modern age.
Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)
Director: Joel Alfonso Vargas, Producer: Paolo Maria Pedullà (USA 2025, 99)
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 Gary’s
Director: Michael Kvamme, Producer: Matthew Vaughan (USA 2024, 88)
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
Director: Elena Oxman, Producers: Marc Smolowitz, Elena Oxman, Asia Kate Dillon, Allison Estrin, Henry Russell Bergstein (USA 2025, 100)
SFFILM Supported (FilmHouse Residency, SFFILM Invest)
Cass, a San Francisco transplant, finds themselves an unintentional caretaker for an acquaintance’s child in this sweet local film about discovery, chosen family, and acceptance.
Rebuilding
Director: Max Walker-Silverman, Producers: Jesse Hope, Dan Janvey, Paul Mezey
(USA 2025, 95)
In Max Walker-Silverman’s achingly personal tale about communal love and resilience, Josh O’Connor (Challengers, La Chimera) 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, 108)
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, 110) — US Premiere
Ben Foster and Cobie Smulders shine in Jason Buxton’s 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, 108) — 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, 106) — 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, 96) — 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, 112)
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, 123)
An unscrupulous online reseller’s misdeeds catch up with him in mysterious and frightening ways in horror maestro Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s dark tale.
The Devil Smokes
Director: Ernesto Martínez Bucio, Producers: Carlos Hernández Vázquez, Gabriela Gavica Marrufo, Alejandro Durán (Mexico 2025, 97) — 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 Berlinale’s inaugural Perspectives Award for fiction debut.
40 Acres
Director: R.T. Thorne, Producer: Jennifer Holness (Canada 2025, 113)
Danielle Deadwyler (Till) 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, 108)
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, 113)
SFFILM Supported (SFFILM Rainin Grant)
In a moody near-future Tokyo, a school’s 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 O’Brien, Joslyn Barnes, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Marie-Elena Dyche (UK/Germany/Greece/France/USA 2024, 133)
In this painterly adaptation of Jim Crace’s 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, 82)
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, 84)
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, 125) — 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 son’s 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, 92)
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 Levy’s acclaimed novel.
The Hyperboreans
Directors: Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña, Producer: Catalina Vergara (Chile 2024, 71)
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, 90)
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, 97)
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, 76) — 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, 93)
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
Director: Cyprien Val, Producer: Isabelle Madelaine (France 2024, 85) — 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 Vial’s dramatic thriller starring Marina Foïs.
Manas
Director: Marianna Brennand, Producers: Carolina Benevides, Marianna Brennand (Brazil/Portugal 2024, 101)
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, 80)
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, 119)
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, 118)
Golden Gate Awards: Cine Latino Competition
Afrofuturism, surrealism, and punk blend to spin a queer, neon-lit adventure fable inspired by Dante’s Inferno.
Red Path
Director: Lotfi Achour, Producers: Anissa Daoud, Sébastien Hussenot, Lotfi Achour (Tunisia/France/Belgium/Poland/Saudi Arabia/Qatar 2024, 100) — US Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
Haunted by his cousin’s brutal murder, a young shepherd in Tunisia navigates trauma through visions of the boy’s 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, 93) — North American Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
Maya works multiple jobs to keep her household running until her husband’s 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, 92)
Boris Lojkine’s 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, 114)
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, 97)
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, 75) — 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, 124) — World Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition
A young North Korean defector’s path towards self-discovery brings him into Seoul’s 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, 98)
In this comedy of errors based on real life events, a hapless general in 1990s Bulgaria falls sway to his personal psychic’s 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, 129)
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, 99)
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, 104)
Golden Gate Awards: New Directors Competition
In a snowy seaside town on South Korea’s east coast, a mysterious French artist upends an introspective young woman’s life.
Xoftex
Director: Noaz Deshe, Producers: Noaz Deshe, Andro Steinborn, Jordan Tappis, Beau Willimon, Christophe Audeguis (Germany/France 2024, 99) — North American Premiere
Golden Gate Awards: Global Visions Competition
The surreal and haunting limbo of asylum seekers’ daily lives reveals itself in Greece’s Xoftex camp when a young Syrian refugee filmmaker blurs reality and fiction by making a zombie movie.
Documentaries: USA
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions
Director: Kahlil Joseph, Producers: Onye Anyanwu, Kahlil Joseph, Amy Greenleaf, Nic Gonda (USA/Ghana 2025, 113 )
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.
The Chaplain and the Doctor
Director: Jessica Zitter, Producers: Jen Gilomen, Niema Jordan, Jessica Zitter (USA 2025, 86) — 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, 104)
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, 90)
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, 100)
In this involving documentary, students at Washington, D.C.’s Gallaudet University stage protests in March 1988, demanding that the world’s 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, 80) — 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, 106)
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, 82) — 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, 108)
Struggling with PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI), 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, 81)
Bodies of water ebb and flow throughout Sky Hopinka’s 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, 97)
Oscar®-winner Marlee Matlin struggled to balance professional success with the pressures of being an icon for the deaf community. Shoshannah Stern’s tender debut documentary joyfully celebrates the trailblazing triumph of Matlin’s career.
Sally
Director: Cristina Costantini, Producers: Cristina Costantini, Lauren Cioffi, Dan Cogan, Jon Bardin (USA 2025, 103)
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, 125)
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 family’s century-old farm, capturing its beauty as well as the family’s struggles.
The Tallest Dwarf
Director: Julie Forrest Wyman, Producers: Lindsey Dryden, Shaleece Haas, Jonna McKone (USA 2025, 93)
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, 87) — 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 O’Shea, Producers: Claire McCabe, Eleanor Emptage, Sinéad O’Shea (Ireland/UK 2024, 99)
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, 101)
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, 94)
The first female elected to her rural Iranian village’s 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, 97)
Golden Gate Awards: Documentary Competition
From distinct backgrounds, Seth and Pete Scriver come together to record Pete’s 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, 100)
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, 101)
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, 86) — 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, 92) — 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, 84) — 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, 76)
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, 125)
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, 90)
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, 96)
A devastating sandstorm shatters a Mongolian herding family’s 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, 33)
Golden Gate Awards: Mid-Length Films
AP photographer Eddie Adams’ iconic “Saigon Execution” 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 men’s families.
Screening with:
Roots That Reach Toward the Sky
Jess X. Snow (USA 2024, 15)
We Were the Scenery
Christopher Radcliff (USA/Vietnam/Philippines 2025, 15)
O R I G I N S
Director: Drea Cooper, Producers: Julie Costanzo, Gary Kout, Drea Cooper (USA 2025, 39) — 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, 30)
Voices from the Abyss
Irving Serrano, Victor Rejón (Mexico 2024, 23)
Two People Exchanging Saliva
Director: Natalie Musteata, Alexandre Singh, Producers: Violeta Kreimer, Valentina Merli, Natalie Musteata, Alexandre Singh (France/USA 2024, 36)
Golden Gate Awards: Mid-Length Films
In a repressive society where kissing means death and currency is measured in slaps, an unhappy woman’s growing bond with a salesgirl sparks desire, jealousy, and dangerous consequences.
Screening with:
Budget Paradise
LaTajh Simmons-Weaver (USA 2025, 14) — World Premiere
1:10
Sinan Taner (Switzerland 2024, 18) — International Premiere
Shorts Programs
Shorts 1: 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, 15)
I Lay for You to Sleep
Ali Al Hajri (Qatar 2024, 15) — International Premiere
Maputo
Lucas Birolli Abrahão (Brazil 2024, 15) — International Premiere
Ordinary Life
Yoriko Mizushiri (France/Japan 2025, 10)
Rat Rod
Jared Jakins (USA 2025, 11)
Vox Humana
Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (Philippines/Singapore, USA 2024, 22)
Shorts 2: 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, 15)
SFFILM Supported (FilmHouse Residency)
Bad For a Moment
Daniel Soares (Portugal 2024, 15)
Buick
Michael Godere (USA 2024, 12) — World Premiere
Dawn Every Day
Amir Yussef (Egypt 2024, 20)
Memories of Zhi
Mingxin Li (China/UK 2024, 23) — International Premiere
Nine Days in August
Ella Knorz (Germany 2024, 17)
Retirement Plan
John Kelly (Ireland 2024, 7)
Shorts 3: 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, 12)
Chow
Kevin Armento (USA 2024, 15)
/HAAW/
Joe Scoma (USA 2024, 12)
How Was Your Weekend?
Cam Banfield (USA 2025, 9)
MANGO
Joan Iyiola (UK/France 2025, 11)
She Raised Me
Ben Lewis (USA/Canada 25, 13)
Stomach Bug
Matty Crawford (UK 2024, 15)
Shorts 4: 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, 14)
Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites
Chheangkea (Cambodia/France, USA 2025, 19)
Hermanos
Miguel Pérez Castelazo (Mexico 2024, 13) — International Premiere
The Mud Under My Window
Violette Delvoye (France/Belgium 2025, 12) — North American Premiere
My Brother, My Brother
Saad Dnewar (Egypt/France/Germany 2025, 15) — North American Premiere
Saint Andrews
Erin Ramirez (USA/Jamaica 2025, 15) — World Premiere
Sola
Lana Barić (Croatia 2023, 15)
Shorts 5: 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, 15)
Clara’s Fruit
Morgan Mathews (USA 2024, 15) — World Premiere
Firefighter Goats
Phoebe Dobey (Norway 2024, 11) — International Premiere
Fragmented
Tanya Marar (Palestine/Portugal 2025, 7) — International Premiere
The Hemingway
Patrick Sean O’Brien (USA 2024, 10)
Losing Your Home
Emmanuel Rioux (Canada 2024, 19)
Waska: The Forest Is My Family
Nina Gualinga (Ecuador, UK 2025, 15) — US Premiere
Shorts 6: 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, 8)
Have I Swallowed Your Dreams
Clara Chan (Canada 2024, 6)
Hoofs on Skates
Ignas Meilūnas (Lithuania 2024, 13)
Livestreams with GrandmaPuzzles
Emily Sheskin (USA 2024, 6)
On a Sunday at Eleven
Alicia K. Harris (Canada 2024, 9)
Snow Bear
Aaron Blaise (USA 2024, 11)
Swimming with Butterflies
Karl Stelter (USA 2024, 8)
Tule
Jocelyn Garcia (USA 2024, 4)
Shorts 7: 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, 7)
The Brave Ones
Mahdiyeh Abbaszadeh (Iran 2025, 4) — World Premiere
Coop
Mujtaba Alhejji (Saudi Arabia 2024, 12) — North American Premiere
Echoes of a Sunlit Koi
Ying Zhao (China 2025, 5) — World Premiere
Junebug
Amiko Muscat (USA 2024, 6)
SFFILM Supported (Youth FilmHouse Residency)
little dreamer
Astrid Nymo-Young (USA 2024, 5)
Painting Resistance
Dylan Clarke, Aesha Gluck, Liam Renaud (USA 2024, 9)
Reach for Me
Hazel Baileh Klein Wolff (USA 2025, 5) — World Premiere
Thunderbird and Killer Whale: S-hwuhwa’us & Qul-lhanumutsun
Jason Cheng (Canada 2024, 8)
Umbral Cloak
Cade Savage Schwartz (USA 2024, 5)
Why Can’t We Just Be Ghosts?
Patrick Jang (USA 2025, 9) — World Premiere
