The Florida Film Festival announced the film lineup and events schedule for next month’s 35th edition of the popular film festival, taking place April 10-19. The mark-your-calendar film event for the Central Florida-based festival will lead off with an Opening Night presentation of Adam Carter Rehmeier’s renegade road trip movie Caroline, Caroline, feature a gala Centerpiece presentation of Jorma Taccone’s Over Your Dead Body, starring Samara Weaving, then wrap of the film festival with a 75th Anniversary screening of the Alfred Hitchcock classic, Strangers on a Train. The subjects of this year’s celebrated “An Evening With.. events will be Academy Award®-nominee Paul Giamatti and Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Beverly Hills Cop’s Judge Reinhold.
FFF will showcase 161 films (31 narrative features, 18 documentary features, and 112 short films), representing 31 countries, screening at the Enzian Theater (1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland, Florida). The ambitious lineup includes 24 world premieres (Ahmed Bouchalga’s The Call, Costa Karalis’ Frogtown, Woodruff Laputka and Tehben Dean’s The Man Whom the Trees Loved,Randy Moore’s Return From Tomorrow, Alejandro Ruax and Saskia d’Altena’s (If You Really Love Me, Outlive Me), Paul Oh’s Correspondence, Justin Whittingham’s Welcome, Ellie Foumbi’s Afufu, Faryl Amadeus’ Man in Motel, Jessica Li’s Peace Corps, Michael Borrelli’s The Last Day of Byron Bray, Timothy Jacob Elledge’s Neuman, Brooke Trantor’s Nut Milk in May, Sterling Hampton IV’s Study Hall, Isabel Pask’s Scout’s Honor, Grant Swanson’s Iron Lake, Syra McCarthy and Kyle Casey Chu’s Betty St. Clair, Austin Cauldwel’s Idyll, Kyle Spleiss’s House Cat, Justice Smith’s Grampa, Stacey Torkelson’s In Lieu of Flowers, Mary Pilon’s Screw Lucy, Modar Kajo’s In God’s Hands, and Noah Engel’s Everything that Fell from the Mourning Dove’s Nest as She Built It ).
Highly anticipated titles from filmmakers like Steven Soderberg (The Christophers), Kirk Jones (I Swear), Gregg Araki (I Want Your Sex), Ben Wheatley (Normal), Curry Barker (Obsession), Maude Apatow (Poetic License), Daniel Roher (Tuner), and Jeremy Workman (School For Defectors) will also be can’t miss films for Central Florida film fans to see for the first time.
Florida Film Festival Executive Director Wade Neal, said, “This Florida Film Festival will be my first as the new Executive Director, and I’m thrilled to be part of a team that has made the festival one of the most exciting, well‑curated, and outrageously fun in the country for 35 years.. We take the view that film is eternal, and is a supreme storytelling framework that creates deeper understanding, togetherness, and insight than other art forms. By coming together to celebrate the work and talent that each film represents, we honor extraordinary filmmakers that carry the power and magic of film forward.”
FFF Programming Director, Matthew Curtis, added, “We couldn’t be more excited about this year’s program, which is certain to be one of the strongest we’ve ever done. Storytellers from all over the world will be showcasing their work during our 10-day celebration of extraordinary voices and creatives in cinema today, with most films making their Florida premiere with us and many having their World, North American, U.S., and East Coast as well. New developments for year 35 include our inaugural ‘Festival Centerpiece’ screening, as well as the first-ever feature to be included in Sunspots: New Visions of the Avant-Garde, our experimental program featuring dazzling work from renegade film artists you’ll rarely see anywhere else on the big screen. The 35th annual Florida Film Festival truly has something for everyone, and film lovers everywhere should get ready to laugh, cry, and have their minds blown.”
Opening Night on Friday, April 10 will feature a happy hour mixer with filmmakers and film fans, and red carpet entrances for the attending filmmakers, followed by a special Florida premiere presentation of Adam Carter Rehmeier’s Carolina, Caroline. The film follows a small-time hustler (Kyle Gallner, Strange Darling, Smile) who becomes entangled with Caroline (Samara Weaving, Over Your Dead Body, Ready or Not)—charismatic, determined, and unwilling to settle for the life in front of her. What begins as a spontaneous romance gradually reveals deeper tensions, as ambition, insecurity, and competing dreams test their bond. As the relationship intensifies, both are forced to confront who they are, what they want, and how far they’re willing to go to escape their pasts. Rehmeier will attend and participate in a post-screening Q&A.
On Sunday, April 12, the Florida Film Festival will celebrate the one-of-a-kind career of Paul Giamatti and welcome him as a special guest for FFF’s first An Evening With.. event following a screening of Alexander Payne’s sardonic comedy Sideways (2004) for which he earned Golden Globe® and SAG Award nominations. One of the most versatile actors of his generation, Giamatti can currently be seen in Season Seven of Netflix’s Black Mirror, which earned him a 2026 Golden Globe® nomination for Best Actor in a Limited Series. He can also be seen in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and in the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Giamatti can next be seen starring opposite Julianne Moore in Jesse Eisenberg’s feature film No One Cares, as well as in Tom McCarthy’s feature The Statement, opposite Paul Rudd. Additional highlighted films in Giamatti’s legendary career includes the heartwarming period drama The Holdovers, for which he received the Golden Globe® Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Comedy or Musical, the Critics Choice Award, the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor, and The Palm Springs International Film Festival “Icon Award.” Giamatti was also nominated for the SAG, BAFTA, and Academy Award® for Best Actor. The Academy Award®-nominated Barney’s Version in 2011 earned him the Golden Globe® for Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Comedy or Musical. In 2006, his performance in Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man earned him his first SAG Award and a Broadcast Film Critics’ Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as Oscar® and Golden Globe® nominations in the same category. Giamatti also starred in the second season of HBO Europe’s hit Spanish-horror series 30 Coins, as well as in the final season of the Showtime hit Billions, for which he has been nominated for a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and a Critics Choice Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series over the course of the series. Previous television credits include HBO’s Too Big to Fail, which earned Giamatti his third SAG Award as well as an Emmy® and a Golden Globe® nomination in 2011. In 2008, Giamatti won Emmy®, SAG, and Golden Globe® awards for Best Actor in a Miniseries for his portrayal of the title character in HBO’s seven-part, Emmy Award®-winning miniseries John Adams.
Wednesday, April 15 will mark FFF’s first Centerpiece presentation, featuring Jorma Taccone’s delightfully dark Over Your Dead Body. The film stars Jason Segel and Samara Weaving as a slightly deranged and bitterly unhappy Hollywood couple: a director who has never reached his full potential, and an unfulfilled actress trying to get her career back on track. Looking to get away for a weekend retreat at a remote cabin— supposedly to reconnect—each has secret plans to kill the other. But best laid plans go magnificently awry when they run into a trio of fugitives led by Timothy Olyphant and Julliette Lewis.
Friday, April 17, the Florida Film Festival will celebrate the career of Judge Reinhold and welcome him as the special guest of that night’s An Evening With.. following a screening of Amy Heckerling’s beloved generational comedy Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982). Judge Reinhold has been in over seventy-five motion pictures and television roles and enjoys a 35-year relationship with an international audience of all ages. He has left an indelible impression in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, Stripes, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Gremlins, and Disney’s The Santa Clause films. Both Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Beverly Hills Cop were voted by the American Film Institute as two of the “Top 100 American Comedies.” On television, Reinhold received an Emmy nomination for his performance as “The Close Talker” on Seinfeld, and his guest-star appearances in Seinfeld and Arrested Development received two of the highest ratings on both series.
Closing Night on Sunday, April 19, the Florida Film Festival will offer an opportunity to see a true cinema classic on the big screen via a special 75th Anniversary screening of Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. Recognized as one of his masterpieces, the film is a supreme thriller that launched an amazing decade of offbeat, craftily directed suspense classics. When two strangers—amateur tennis star Guy Haines (Farley Granger), whose wife will not grant him a divorce; and charming but psychotic mama’s boy Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), who wants to be rid of his demanding father—happen to meet on a train from Washington to New York, the conversation casually turns to a possibly perfect crime: what if each committed a murder for the other? Laughing off Bruno as an eccentric, Guy takes the “exchange murders” scheme as a bad joke—until his wife ends up dead and Bruno returns for payback!
World premieres this year include Ahmed Bouchalga’s The Call which follows Central Florida “arts instigator” Terry Olson, as he travels to Rabat to uncover the human stories behind the 1975 Green March—when 350,000 unarmed Moroccan civilians crossed into the Western Sahara, prompting Franco’s Spain to relinquish its colonial claim. Frogtown, directed by Costas Karalis, is a genre-blurring feature that seamlessly merges narrative fiction with documentary realism. Set in the Panhandle town of Marianna, Florida, the film follows an adult woman’s obsessive quest to prove the existence of a magical swamp creature she claims to have encountered as a child. Woodruff Laputka, and Tehben Dean’s The Man Whom the Trees Loved is an adaptation of Algernon Blackwood’s supernatural novella about landscape painter Dave (co-writer/director Woodruff Laputka) who becomes mysteriously and wildly drawn to the Florida flora while on vacation with his wife Sophia (Avise Narey Parsons). One of the films in FFF’s coveted competition category, Randy Moore’s Return From Tomorrow is the filmmaker’s follow-up to the (in)famously filmed-in-secret Disney World fever-dream Escape from Tomorrow. An absurdist paranoid conspiracy thriller in which a middle-aged dad spirals into a Lynchian crisis of masculinity while on family vacation in Miami after the loss of his father (Udo Keir, in his final role).
Additional films in the narrative competition include Richie James Follin’s Crystal Cross about Dotty, an eccentric aspiring Christian singer who hitches a ride with James, a grief-stricken musician quietly driving cross-country with plans to end his life. When Dotty spots him in a store and decides he looks like Jesus, she takes it as a sign from God: it’s her ticket out of town and a chance to change her fate. Evan Metzold, and Jake Rubin’s Damned if You Do follow the efforts of three former best friends—a fading rock star (Kate Siegel, The Haunting of Hill House), a tech mogul (Paulo Costanzo, Royal Pains), and a high-profile activist (Ginger Gonzaga, “Your Day” FFF 2017)—have to rely on the one friend who didn’t sign the contract (Beth Dover, Orange Is the New Black) to find a loophole to escape Hell’s grasp. If I Go They Will Miss Me, directed by Walter Thompson-Hernández, looks at the relationship between twelve-year-old Lil Ant (Bodhi Jordan Dell), a sensitive artist, enamored with the legends of Greek mythology and yearning to impress his emotionally distant father, Big Ant (J. Alphonse Nicholson), who is embarrassed by the pictures his son draws of him looking heroic. William Means’ Junkie is the gritty debut feature from writer-director William Means. The film follows a haphazard 72 hours in the life of Stevie Chapman (played by real-life recovering addict Rocky Shay) setting out to make amends and reconcile with her estranged gay son, Liam, before she skips town for good.
Jessica Barr’s The Plan is set in a modest Los Angeles apartment over the course of a single unbroken take, where a group of disillusioned young revolutionaries prepare for a radical act they believe will change the world. Josalynn Smith’s Ride or Die follows what happens when introverted film school graduate Paula (Briana Middleton) runs into her high school crush and the sparks instantly fly. Despite a slew of red flags, Sloane (in an electric performance by Stella Everett) seduces Paula into leaving her Christian conservative family and embarking on a doomed road trip to Hollywood. Russell Goldman’s Sender focuses on a recently fired and newly sober woman (Britt Lower, Severance) who attempts a fresh start in a suburban rental owned by her sister (Anna Baryshnikov, Love Lies Bleeding). The film is produced by and co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as David Dastmalchian, Late Night with the Devil), and Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul, Pluribus). Kyle Smith’s Sylvania features a marriage on the brink which becomes the backdrop for a sharply observed and deeply human road trip where Stewart (Morgan Beck) and Gracie (Kerry Bishé, Argo) load their four-month-old baby and 17-year-old, basketball-obsessed son into the car and head to St. Louis to convince Gracie’s estranged father, Frank (Paul Dillon), who is in the early stages of dementia, to accept help. Tatti Ribeiro’s unique documentary-comedy hybrid Valentina traces a 48-hour period at the U.S. and Mexico’s busiest border crossing, where resolving an ordinary parking ticket is derailed by family, friends, Valentina’s own apathy, and the maddening bureaucracy of the system. The film is executive produced by Jessica Alba and stars Keyla Monterroso Mejia (The Studio, Curb Your Enthusiasm).
Florida Film festival’s documentary features competition shapes up with Tasha Van Zandt’s A Life Illuminated taking viewers on a dive with Dr. Edie Widder, trailblazing marine biologist, on a descent 3,300 feet into the ocean’s darkest depths. This stunningly beautiful scientific film features footage of the elusive giant squid in its natural habitat, and the earliest images of deep-sea bioluminescence. Luchina Fisher’s The Dads highlights a group of politically, generationally, and geographically diverse fathers of transgender children as they navigate an ever-changing socio-political landscape and grapple with an impossible choice: stay and fight or flee the country. The film is Executive Produced by former NBA superstar Dwayne Wade. FFF award-winning alum Patrick Xavier Bresnan’s First They Came for My College examines the accelerating battle over academic freedom in the United States with the right-wing, conservative Republican takeover of New College of Florida, the state’s designated honors college, in Sarasota. Tyler Measom, and Craig A. Williams’ If These Walls Could Rock check audiences into the legendary Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood where iconic musicians have checked in, coked up, wrote music, broke the rules, and bonded for decades. David Anthony Ngo, and Stephen Mccallum’s Never Get Busted! recounts the so unbelievable it’s hard to trust it’s true story of Barry Cooper, a charismatic and controversial former narcotics officer, infamous for his “Never Get Busted” DVD series that taught drug users how to hide their stash.
The doc features competition also includes Audrey Olsen’s Punkie, an intimate and unflinching portrait of the first out Black SNL star Punkie Johnson. Seth Porges’ Santacon! looks at the event that lures tens of thousands of drunken revelers to dress like Santa Claus and invade countless cities around the world. Jeremy Workman’s School for Defectors sees the celebrated FFF alum take his camera to Busan, South Korea, where he follows 20 students from the tiny Jangdaehyun Boarding School—all North Korea defectors. Sharon Liese’s Seized looks at the international spotlight resulting from a police raid on the Marion County Record and the death of its 98-year-old co-owner. Khoa Ha, and Victor Velle’s Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon is a portrait of the legendary Vietnamese composer described as “the Quincy Jones of Saigon.
The Florida Film Festival will also, once again, present a robust, yet intensely curated number of short film programs that will span the gamut from narrative, documentary, animated, experimental, and midnight selections.
To purchase passes and tickets and to find more information on the Florida Film Festival, please go to: https://floridafilmfestival.com/.
Florida Film Festival 2026 Official Selections
GALA PRESENTATIONS
OPENING NIGHT PRESENTATION
Carolina Caroline
Director: Adam Carter Rehmeier
Country: USA; Running Time: 105 min
A small-time hustler (Kyle Gallner) and a small-town girl (Samara Weaving) embark on a sexy, kinetic road trip in search of an American dream to call their own. But what begins with a few stolen twenties soon spirals beyond their control.
CENTERPIECE PRESENTATION
Over Your Dead Body
Director: Jorma Taccone
Country: USA; Running Time: 105 min
A dysfunctional couple (Jason Segel and Samara Weaving) head to a remote cabin to supposedly reconnect, but each has secret plans to kill the other in this riotously violent comedy from SNL alumnus Jorma Taccone (Popstar, MacGruber) that co-stars Timothy Olyphant and Juliette Lewis.
CLOSING NIGHT PRESENTATION
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Country: USA ; Running Time: 101 min
Nominated for an Oscar® for Best Cinematography and co-scripted by legendary mystery writer Raymond Chandler from the novel by Patricia Highsmith, this timeless suspense classic is one of Hitchcock’s masterpieces. When an amateur tennis star whose wife won’t grant him a divorce, and a charming but psychotic mama’s boy who hates his father, meet on a commuter train, the conversation turns to a possibly perfect crime: what if each committed a murder for the other? Special 75th Anniversary showing!
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
The Call World Premiere
Director: Ahmed Bouchalga
Countries: USA/Morocco; Running Time: 70 min
Orlando “arts instigator” Terry Olson takes an extraordinary journey across Morocco, retracing the footsteps of the historic Green March—a peaceful call of unity that still echoes 50 years later.
Everywhere Man: The Lives and Times of Peter Asher
Directors: Dan Deller, Dayna Goldfine
Country: USA/UK; Running Time: 118 min
What if the most important person in rock and roll history is someone you’ve never heard of? Meet Peter Asher—Sixties pop star, Apple Records pioneer and behind-the-scenes genius who shaped California’s singer/songwriter era. Even better, he’s the visual inspiration for Austin Powers! This joyous, cabaret-fueled romp through six decades of Asher’s musical history is a time-machine treat that’s impossible to resist. Yeah, baby!
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
(Screening with An Evening With Judge Reinhold)
Director: Amy Heckerling
Country: USA; Running Time: 120 min
Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a pretty, but inexperienced, teen interested in dating. Given advice by her uninhibited friend, Linda Barrett (Phoebe Cates), Stacy gets trapped in a love triangle with nice guy Mark Ratner (Brian Backer) and his more assured buddy Mike Damone (Robert Romanus). Meanwhile, Stacy’s classmate Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn), who lives for surfing and being stoned, faces off against Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), a strict teacher who has no time for the slacker’s antics.
Frogtown World Premiere
Director: Costa Karalis
Country: USA; Running Time: 86 min
Set in a small Florida town and told from the POV of a documentary film crew, Frogtown is a unique genre-bending film blurring fiction and documentary realism, which explores an adult woman’s quest to prove the existence of a magical swamp creature she befriended as a child.
The Man Whom the Trees Loved World Premiere
Directors: Woodruff Laputka, Tehben Dean
Country: USA; Running Time: 73 min
As her husband begins to mysteriously slip away into the trees surrounding their vacation cabin, Sophia descends into grief and fear of losing him forever. Adapted from Algernon Blackwood’s supernatural novella, The Man Whom the Trees Loved is a ghostly tale of the inexplicable horrors of nature.
Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers
Director: John H. Cunnigham
Country: USA; Running Time: 92 min
Sun, salt, and afterparty chaos power this document of Jimmy Buffett and his scruffy first band. Mixing wild tour stories, reefer-soaked “heavy artillery” years, and Jeff Bridges Dude-style narration, even the dark moments feel fun in a buoyant, flip-flop fantasy that fans will want to toast.
Sideways
(Screening with An Evening With Paul Giamatti)
Director Alexander Payne
Country: USA; Running Time: 124 min
A wine-soaked road trip through California’s Santa Ynez Valley provides a pair of affable but mismatched friends—disillusioned writer Miles (Paul Giamatti) and carefree soon-to-be-married actor Jack (Thomas Hayden Church)—with an unexpected opportunity to confront where they are in life and what they truly want before time, and opportunity, pass them by.
Summer Tour
Director: Mischa Richter
Country: USA; Running Time: 82 min
This dreamy love letter follows young Jerry and Annie as they chase Dead & Company’s final 2023 tour in a questionable camper van. Neither was alive when Jerry Garcia walked the earth—yet here they are, barefoot and gloriously unbothered, organizing their lives around the music with an intensity that demands respect rather than mockery. Looking for a miracle? Get on the bus.
SPOTLIGHT FEATURES
The Christophers
Director: Steven Soderberg
Countries: UK/USA; Running Time: 100 min
The estranged children of famous artist Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) approach struggling artist Lori Butler (I May Destroy You’s Michaela Coel) with a brilliant plan: Lori is to pose as Julian’s new assistant while using her art-forging skills to secretly complete his series of long-abandoned paintings known as “The Christophers.” As the two form a tentative connection, the grift is soon threatened in this sharply witty and entertaining new comedy from Oscar®-winner Steven Soderbergh.
Cookie Queens
Director: Alysa Nahmias
Country: USA; Running Time: 91 min
A joyous and funny celebration of girlhood and the complexities that come with it, Cookie Queens is a heartwarming coming-of-age story that follows four tenacious fledgling entrepreneurs—ages five to twelve—and their families as they navigate the annual whirlwind of selling, striving, and succeeding during Girl Scout Cookie season.
I Swear
Director: Kirk Jones
Country: UK; Running Time: 120 min
Funny, frank, and deeply human, I Swear tells the inspirational true story of John Davidson, a trailblazer whose honesty and humor helped the world better understand what it means to live with Tourette syndrome. Winner of the BAFTA for Best Actor (Robert Aramayo) and the latest classic British crowd-pleaser from Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine).
I Want Your Sex
Director: Gregg Araki
Country: USA; Running Time: 90 min
Gregg Araki’s (The Doom Generation) latest film, I Want Your Sex, is a bold erotic comedy-thriller starring Olivia Wilde as a transgressive artist whose new assistant (Cooper Hoffman) becomes her muse. Premiering at Sundance, this provocative, darkly funny tale of art, obsession, and power marks a vibrant comeback for the iconic indie auteur.
Normal
Director: Ben Wheatley
Countries: USA/Canada; Running Time: 90 min
In this darkly comedic action thriller from director Ben Wheatley (High-Rise, FFF 2016) and the writer of John Wick, Bob Odenkirk stars as a new sheriff whose simple assignment unravels after a botched robbery proves that everything in the quiet town of Normal, Minnesota, is anything but!
Obsession
Director: Curry Barker
Country: USA; Running Time: 108 min
From YouTuber Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) comes Obsession, the twisted tale of Bear (Michael Johnston) who uses a seemingly innocuous “One Wish Willow” trinket to win the love of his crush (Inde Navarrette). But be careful what you wish for…
Poetic License
Director: Maude Apatow
Country: USA; Running Time: 117 min
Two inseparable best friends (Cooper Hoffman and Andrew Barth Feldman) see their lives start to unravel when they compete for the affection of the middle-aged married mom (Leslie Mann) auditing their college poetry class. Deeply affectionate and laugh-out-loud funny, this delightful comedy is the directorial debut of Maude Apatow.
Tuner
Director: Daniel Roher
Countries: Canada/USA; Running Time: 109 min
Oscar®-winning documentarian Daniel Roher’s (Navalny) first narrative feature, Tuner, dazzles with its whip-smart script and delightful mix of genre elements—odd-couple friendship, tense high-concept thriller, and charming romance. Leo Woodall (Nuremberg) stars as Niki, a gifted young piano tuner with a unique auditory condition, who draws the attention of criminals who see his talents as useful for opening safes. Dustin Hoffman, Tovah Feldshuh, and Jean Reno co-star in this quick-witted heist flick.
You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way)
Director: Nick Davis
Countries: Canada/USA; Running Time: 98 min
This fascinating and hilarious documentary takes us back to the legendary 1972 Toronto production of Godspell, the “hippie musical” about the life of Jesus, that ignited a comedy revolution since the cast included Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Victor Garber, and musical director Paul Shaffer.
COMPETITION NARRATIVE FEATURES
Crystal Cross
Director: Richie James Follin
Country: USA; Running Time: 88 min
In Richie James Follin’s Crystal Cross, an adorable Christian singer and a suicidal dad drive cross-country, forging an oddball bond through bad decisions, bizarre roadside attractions, and a terrific all-original soundtrack. A bittersweet tale of two lost souls finding comfort, but not salvation, in each other’s messes.
Damned if you Do
Directors: Evan Metzold, Jake Rubin
Country: USA; Running Time: 107 min
Years after selling their souls to the devil, a fractured group of friends reunite for their 25th high school reunion to exploit a loophole and escape Hell’s grasp before the contract’s deadline expires. An all-star cast makes this hilarious horror-comedy a bloody good time!
If I Go Will They Miss Me
Director: Walter Thompson-Hernández
Country: USA; Running Time: 92 min
Twelve-year-old Lil Ant is a sensitive artist, enamored with the legends of Greek mythology and yearning to impress his emotionally distant father, Big Ant. Writer-director Walter Thompson-Hernández sets this mesmerizing, lyrical portrait of masculinity and tenderness against the backdrop of a busy LAX flight path.
Junkie
Director: William Means
Country: USA; Running Time: 105 min
Junkie tracks a haphazard 72 hours in the life of Stevie, a loveable, charismatic, but meth-addicted mom, extraordinarily played by Rocky Shay, who escapes court-ordered rehab to embark on an odyssey through the underbelly of the South to redeem her son’s love.
The Plan
Director: Jessica Barr
Country: USA; Running Time: 75 min
Inside a modest Los Angeles apartment over the course of a single unbroken take, a group of disillusioned young adults prepares for a radical act they believe will change the world. But as paranoia builds, one question lingers: is everyone truly committed?
Return From Tomorrow World Premiere
Director: Randy Moore
Country: USA; Running Time: 117 min
After the loss of his father, a middle-aged dad has a crisis of masculinity while on family vacation in Miami in this audacious and subversive follow-up to Randy Moore’s Escape from Tomorrow (2013).
Ride or Die
Director: Josalynn Smith
Country: USA; Running Time: 85 min
Paula reconnects with her high school crush and, as the sparks fly, is pulled into her chaotic orbit, embarking on a doomed road trip. Award-winning director Josalynn Smith’s feature directorial debut explores the attraction of fixing “broken” people, despite the cost to oneself.
Sender
Director: Russell Goldman
Country: USA; Running Time: 94 min
Newly sober and attempting a fresh start, a woman (Britt Lower, Severance) begins receiving packages she never ordered—each more unnervingly personal than the last—in this stylish paranoid thriller about addiction, recovery, and the crushing expectations for normalcy in a consumer-driven world. Rhea Seehorn, David Dastmalchian and Jamie Lee Curtis co-star.
Sylvania
Director: Kyle Smith
Country: USA; Running Time: 85 min
In Kyle Smith’s tender and funny Sylvania, Gracie and Stewart, on the brink of divorce, embark on a family road trip to visit Gracie’s estranged father Frank who is in the early stages of dementia. Once there, Gracie mines her father for stories of the long-dead mother she never really knew.
Valentina
Director: Tatti Ribeiro
Country: USA; Running Time: 85 min
During a 48-hour period at the U.S. and Mexico’s busiest border crossing, resolving an ordinary parking ticket is derailed by family, friends, Valentina’s own apathy, and the maddening bureaucracy of the system. This unique documentary-comedy hybrid is executive produced by Jessica Alba and stars Keyla Monterroso Mejia (The Studio, Curb Your Enthusiasm).
COMPETITION DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
A Life Illuminated
Director: Tasha Van Zandt
Countries: USA/Australia; Running Time: 89 min
Join Dr. Edie Widder, trailblazing marine biologist, on a descent 3,300 feet into the ocean’s darkest depths. This stunningly beautiful scientific film features footage of the elusive giant squid in its natural habitat, and the earliest images of deep-sea bioluminescence.
The Dads
Director: Luchina Fisher
Country: USA; Running Time: 72 min
Executive produced by NBA legend Dwyane Wade, Luchina Fisher’s inspiring documentary highlights a group of politically, generationally, and geographically diverse fathers of transgender children as they navigate an ever-changing socio-political landscape and grapple with an impossible choice: stay and fight or flee the country.
First They Came for My College
Director: Patrick Xavier Bresnan
Country: USA; Running Time: 105 min
Patrick Xavier Bresnan (Grand Jury Award: Documentary Short “The Rabbit Hunt,” FFF 2017; Naked Gardens, FFF 2023) examines the accelerating battle over academic freedom in the United States with the right-wing, conservative Republican takeover of New College of Florida, the state’s designated honors college, in Sarasota.
If These Walls Could Rock
Directors: Tyler Measom, Craig A. Williams
Country: USA; Running Time: 93 min
What do Slash, Springsteen, Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow, Dave Grohl, Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons, Cyndi Lauper, and Morrissey, among other famous rockers have in common? The Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood! This is the place where iconic musicians have checked in, coked up, wrote music, broke the rules, and bonded for decades.
Never Get Busted!
Directors: David Anthony Ngo, Stephen Mccallum
Countries: USA/Australia/UK; Running Time: 109 min
Barry Cooper is a charismatic and controversial former narcotics officer, infamous for his “Never Get Busted” DVD series that taught drug users how to hide their stash. After exposing police corruption in a series of online videos, he becomes a folk hero on the run—his whereabouts unknown, even by the filmmakers today.
Punkie
Director: Audrey Olson
Country: USA; Running Time: 72 min
Raw and real, director Audrey Olson’s intimate and unflinching portrait of the first out Black SNL star Punkie Johnson gives audiences a chance to follow the powerhouse comic on the road as she preps for a stand-up special and contends with mounting pressures in her personal and professional life.
Santacon
Director: Seth Porges
Country: USA; Running Time: 87 min
From the founders of Burning Man and the inspiration for Fight Club comes SantaCon! Sometimes referred to as Santarchy, Santapalooza, Santa Rampage, and the Red Menace, it’s the event that lures tens of thousands of drunken revelers to dress like Santa Claus and invade countless cities around the world.
School for Defectors
Director: Jeremy Workman
Country: USA; Running Time: 97 min
Celebrated documentarian Jeremy Workman (Secret Mall Apartment, FFF 2024; Lily Topples the World, FFF 2021) takes his camera to Busan, South Korea, where he follows 20 students from the tiny Jangdaehyun Boarding School—all North Korea defectors.
Seized
Director: Sharon Liese
Country: USA; Running Time: 94 min
Marion, Kansas, erupts after a police raid on its local newspaper and the death of its 98-year-old owner, exposing abuses of power, First Amendment violations, and deep town divisions in an infuriating, entertaining documentary about journalism, retribution, and small-town secrets.
Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon
Directors: Khoa Ha, Victor Velle
Countries: USA/Vietnam; Running Time: 91 min
Legendary Vietnamese composer Y Vân is rediscovered by his granddaughter in this story that spans three generations and two continents. Described as “the Quincy Jones of Saigon,” he composed some of Vietnam’s most popular and treasured tunes. Part history lesson, part travelogue, this vibrant film is more than just a legacy project.
INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASE
Chopin, Chopin!
Director: Michał Kwieciński
Countries: Poland/France/Spain; Running Time: 113 min
Nominated for five Eagles Polish Film Awards, Michal Kwieciński’s period biographical drama opens with the energized world of 1835 Parisian high society at a play-off event featuring Fryderyk Chopin and his friend Franz Liszt, rising action for this aurally and visually rich telling of Chopin’s life story.
Kikuyu Land
Directors: Andrew H. Brown, Bea Wangondu
Countries: Kenya/USA; Running Time: 93 min
For Kenya’s Kikuyu people, a fight to protect their land, culture, and future is inexorably intertwined with Western corporate interests in the country’s tea plantations and complex post-colonial African politics, all probed by Nairobi-based journalist and co-director Bea Wangondu and Andrew H. Brown (Kifaru, FFF 2019 and Path of the Panther, FFF 2022).
The Last Viking
Director: Anders Thomas Jensen
Countries: Denmark/Sweden; Running Time: 116 min
Anker, recently released from prison, entrusted stolen money to his autistic brother, Manfred (the one-and-only Mads Mikkelsen), who, having changed personalities and name, no longer knows where the money is. Cleverly balancing humor, darkness, and heartfelt moments that delve into the scars of childhood and how they shape us and our relationships for life, this outrageous black comedy is the latest bit of mayhem from FFF award-winner Anders Thomas Jensen (Riders of Justice, FFF 2021).
The Marching Band
Director: Emmanuel Courcol
Country: France; Running Time: 103 min
Conductor Thibaut, needing a bone marrow transplant, discovers he is adopted and has a previously unknown brother, Jimmy. Through their love of music, the brothers overcome feelings of disbelief, resentment, and privilege to come to terms with their past and present. With delicate humor and heartfelt moments, this bittersweet class-comedy entertains while provoking thought about our ability to live together and create meaningful connections. Nominated for seven César Awards (“French Oscars”).
MIDNIGHT FEATURES
Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt
Director: Tom Stern
Country: USA; Running Time: 105 min
Never sacred, always profane, this wild doc hurls you into Butthole Surfers’ chaotic psych-punk circus—puppets, drugs, fire, and all—as Richard Linklater calls their live shows “a changing point in your life,” and Gibby’s unhinged mayhem somehow lands on something tender, transformative, and unforgettable.
Frogman Returns
Director: Anthony Cousins
Country: USA; Running Time: 75 min
Frogman . . . RETURNS!!! Plunging back into cryptid legend and camcorder paranoia, a disgraced filmmaker hunts proof of the viral amphibious monster, spiraling into flooded woods and conspiracy-soaked lore. Blending found-footage chaos with practical creature effects and a streak of absurdist humor, escalating the mythology while skewering our obsession with internet fame and manufactured myth.
Hokum
Director: Damian McCarthy
Countries: Ireland/USA; Running Time: 101 min
When novelist Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott, Severance) retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, he is consumed by tales of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite. Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance force him to confront dark corners of his past. From Damian McCarthy, director of Oddity.
Mermaid
Director: Tyler Cornack
Country: USA; Running Time: 105 min
Tyler Cornack’s Mermaid plunges into swamp-soaked surrealism when a financially strapped and drug addicted dockworker (Johnny Pemberton, Fallout) believes a wounded mermaid hides in the drainage canal behind his apartment. Equal parts creature feature and Florida noir, Mermaid is sticky, sunburned, and defiantly strange.
NARRATIVE SHORTS
Afufu
Director: Ellie Foumbi
Country: USA; Running Time: 18 min
All at Once
Director: Maggie Brill
Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min
All the Real Boys
Director: Ohad Ira Amram
Country: USA; Running Time: 11 min
American Cheese
Director: Kate Thulin
Country: USA; Running Time: 10 min
Are You Fucking Kidding Me?!
Director: Zen Pace
Country: USA; Running Time: 12 min
Betty St. Clair
Directors: Syra McCarthy, Kyle Casey Chu
Country: USA; Running Time: 12 min
Cake
Director: Caro Ribeiro
Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min
Candy Bar
Director: Nash Edgerton
Country: Australia; Running Time: 6 min
The Catcher
Director: Luka Galle
Country: Belgium; Running Time: 30 min
CHÄIR
Director: Chris McInroy
Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min
The Daughter
Director: Mary Ann Anane
Country: USA; Running Time: 7 min
Dear Shop Girl
Director: Nira Burstein
Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min
DISC
Director: Blake Winston Rice
Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min
Doctor Death Grip
Director: Amber Schaefer
Country: USA; Running Time: 21 min
Esther
Director: Joey Hunt
Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min
Fantasma
Director: Ulbrecht Tomas
Country: USA; Running Time: 11 min
Fruithead
Director: Mike Diva
Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min
Gloria
Director: Kim Blanck
Country: USA; Running Time: 10 min
Grampa
Director: Justice Smith
Country: USA; Running Time: 19 min
House Cat
Director: Kyle Spleiss
Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min
I Gaze at the Sky
Director: Alexandra Strunin
Country: Poland; Running Time: 24 min
I Walked Through the Wall
Director: Pablo Larcuen
Countries: USA/Spain; Running Time: 8 min
Idyll
Director: Austin Cauldwell
Country: USA; Running Time: 18 min
Imago
Director: Ariel Zengotita
Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min
In Lieu of Flowers
Director: Stacey Torkelson
Country: USA; Running Time: 18 min
Iron Lake
Director: Grant Swanson
Country: USA; Running Time: 20 min
It Means Hope
Director: Shadi Karamroudi
Country: Iran; Running Time: 15 min
It’s Easy to Forget (Es Fácil Olvidar)
Director: Yamile Abuid
Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min
Jit
Director: Samuel Correa
Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min
The Last Day of Byron Bray
Director: Michael Borrelli
Country: USA; Running Time: 20 min
The Last Ride
Directors: Vijesh Rajan, Yashoda Parthasarthy
Country: India; Running Time: 24 min
Man in Motel
Director: Faryl Amadeus
Country: USA; Running Time: 12 min
Neuman
Director: Timothy Jacob Elledge
Country: USA; Running Time: 16 min
Norheimsund
Director: Ana A. Alpizar
Countries: Cuba/USA; Running Time: 12 min
Nut Milk in May
Director: Brooke Trantor
Country: USA; Running Time: 17 min
Peace Corps
Director: Jessica Li
Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min
Photo Play XX
Director: Zolomon Zelko
Country: USA; Running Time: 16 min
Scissors
Director: Hannah Alline
Country: USA; Running Time: 12 min
Scout’s Honor
Director: Isabel Pask
Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min
The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much
Director: Eric Jackowtz
Country: USA; Running Time: 17 min
September, All Over.
Director: Kali Kahn
Country: USA; Running Time: 21 min
Skin on Skin
Director: Simon Schneckenburger
Country: Germany; Running Time: 30 min
Somewhere to Be
Director: Christy Chan
Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min
The Spectacle
Director: Bálint Kenyeres
Countries: Hungary/France; Running Time: 17 min
Squall Mouth
Director: Eva Chaitman
Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min
Stairs
Director: Riley Donigan
Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min
Study Hall
Director: Sterling Hampton IV
Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min
TEOTWAWKI
Director: Cristin Stephens
Country: USA; Running Time: 7 min
This Blows
Director: Talia Smith
Countries: USA/South Africa; Running Time: 13 min
To-Go
Director: Bryan Poyser
Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min
Tub
Director: Kathreen Khavari
Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min
Ultra Juice
Director: Carl Conway Maguire
Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min
Vultures
Director: Dian Weys
Countries: South Africa/France; Running Time: 15 min
Wall Udder
Director: Alexandra Hayden
Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min
Xolo
Director: Matthew Serrano
Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
A Man Who Takes Pictures of Flowers
Director: Yoo Lee
Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min
The Baddest Speechwriter of All
Directors: Ben Proudfoot, Stephen Curry
Country: USA; Running Time: 29 min
The Baker’s Hotline
Directors: Dave Schuman, Emily Schuman
Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min
Being Bublé
Director: Dan Perlman
Country: USA; Running Time: 21 min
The Book of George
Director: Danny Schmidt
Country: USA; Running Time: 15 min
Chasing the Passage of Time
Directors: Dennis Scholl, Ed Talabera
Country: USA; Running Time: 7 min
The Chimney Sweeper
Director: Jack Raese
Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min
Correspondence
Director: Paul Oh
Country: USA; Running Time: 5 min
Drag Me to Church
Director: Isabella Sullivan
Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min
Free Fish
Directors: Bisan Owda, Carolina Pereira
Countries: Palestine/Portugal; Running Time: 22 min
Hollywood’s Mermaid: The Esther Williams Story
Director: Brian Gersten
Country: USA; Running Time: 20 min
If You Really Love Me, Outlive Me
Directors: Alejandro Ruax, Saskia d’Altena
Country: USA; Running Time: 20 min
In God’s Hands
Director: Modar Kajo
Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min
Oh Whale
Director: Winslow Crane-Murdoch
Country: USA; Running Time: 26 min
One Last Order
Directors: Lauren DeFilippo, Sam Soko
Country: USA; Running Time: 20 min
Panther Pat
Director: Ashley Brandon
Country: USA; Running Time: 12 min
Same Water
Director: Martine Granby
Country: USA; Running Time: 21 min
Screw Lucy
Director: Mary Pilon
Country: USA; Running Time: 19 min
Swim Sistas
Director: Catherine Joy White
Country: UK; Running Time: 11 min
Trapped
Directors: Joe Purtell, Mads Engel
Country: USA; Running Time: 11 min
Welcome
Director: Justin Whittingham
Country: USA; Running Time: 22 min
EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS
Advice for Immigrants #1
Director: Saif Alsaegh
Country: USA; Running Time: 1 min
Allegory of the Cave
Directors: Huang Weipeng, Wang Yajing
Country: China; Running Time: 8 min
As Told by a Corpse
Director: Yace Sula
Country: USA; Running Time: 5 min
The Call
Director: Kelly Sears
Country: USA; Running Time: 7 min
Dance Film
Director: Kelly Gallagher
Country: USA; Running Time: 1 min
Everything that Fell from the Mourning Dove’s Nest as She Built It
Director: Noah Engel
Country: USA; Running Time: 1 min
explant/implant
Director: Josh Weissbach
Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min
My Grandma Still Cleans My Uncle’s Room (Mi Mamita Todavía Mantiene el Cuarto de Mi Tío)
Director: Alex Guerra
Countries: USA/Guatemala; Running Time: 5 min
The Stars Watch from Long Ago
Director: Stacey Steers
Country: USA; Running Time: 24 min
The Story of the Cricket Queen
Director: Natalie Peracchio
Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min
Tourniquet
Director: Marceline Chevako
Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min
Tuktuit: Caribou
Director: Lindsay Aksarniq McIntyre
Countries: Canada/USA; Running Time: 15 min
Wetland Impulse
Director: Jimmy Schaus
Country: USA; Running Time: 2 min
ANIMATED SHORTS
1981
Directors: Carolyn London, Andy London
Country: USA; Running Time: 8 min
Ashen Sun
Director: Camille Monnier
Countries: France/Belgium; Running Time: 13 min
Beetle Summer
Directors: Jian Yuan, Anyu Chen
Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min
Busy Bodies
Director: Kate Renshaw-Lewis
Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min
Crab Diane
Director: Ryan McCown
Country: USA; Running Time: 18 min
Dreams
Director: Eddie Mauldin
Country: USA; Running Time: 5 min
Girls Night Out
Director: Ashley Sengstaken
Country: USA; Running Time: 3 min
Hell
Director: Parker Croft
Country: USA; Running Time: 5 min
Horde
Director: Janina Księska
Country: Poland; Running Time: 7 min
Juicy and Sweet
Director: Sasha Uijeong Shin
Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min
Merrimundi
Director: Niles Atallah
Countries: Chile/France; Running Time: 21 min
Mother’s Child
Director: Naomi Noir
Countries: Netherlands/France; Running Time: 9 min
Once in a Body
Director: María Cristina Pérez González
Countries: Colombia, USA; Running Time: 11 min
Paper Trail
Director: Don Hertzfeldt
Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min
Perfect City: The Mushroom
Director: Shengwei Zhou
Country: USA; Running Time: 14 min
Praying Mantis
Director: Joe Hsieh
Countries: Taiwan/Hong Kong; Running Time: 18 min
Sorrow Doesn’t Sleep at Night
Directors: Josefina Montino, Martín André
Country: Chile; Running Time: 9 min
Trading Cards
Director: Radheya Jang
Countries: Australia/UK; Running Time: 15 min
Tuna Tartare
Director: Lena Greene
Countries: USA/France; Running Time: 11 min
Um
Director: Nieto
Country: France; Running Time: 8 min
Venezia Diorama
Director: Nicolas Piret
Countries: Belgium/France; Running Time: 6 min
Winter in March
Director: Natalia Mirzoyan
Countries: Estonia/Armenia/France/Belgium; Running Time: 16 min
Yearn
Director: Ben Smith
Country: USA; Running Time: 4 min