SF Film Fest: 11 Days, 150 Films, 50 Countries – You Ready?
The S.F. International Film Festival (hereafter “SFFILM Festival”) may be turning 68 this year, with most of its activities at the Presidio Theatre, the Marina Theatre, the Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive, and the Premier Theater at One Letterman. But over the 11 days of this year’s run from April 17-27, 2025, the festival will show over 150 films from over 50 countries, which is no mean feat.
As a friend of this writer’s once said, “You can’t see everything.” The following suggestions for SFFILM Festival items to catch are offered as starting points for interested readers.
SFFILM Festival kicks off with Max Walker-Silverman’s timely drama “Rebuilding.” Thanks to a devastating wildfire, mild-mannered cowboy Dusty (Josh O’Connor, “Challengers”) has lost not only the family ranch but his reason for being. Rebuilding his life will require not only figuring out his new place in the family but also reconciling with his daughter Callie-Rose.
An innocent search for water fatefully changes a young shepherd’s life in Lotti Achour’s drama “Red Path.” Achraf and his cousin Nizar had gone far from home in search of water. When they accidentally run into Mujahideen forces, Achraf is left alive to take a warning to his village. While the boy struggles to process what happened to him, his family mourns and wonders if they can obtain justice.
What’s the connection between Sardinia and the inaccurately named “cowbell?” For the unexpected answer, interested viewers must turn to Pietro Mereu’s documentary “Sonaggios.” What Christopher Walken and others throughout the years have referred to as cowbells are actually handcrafted bells worn by sheep. In the Sardinian town of Tonara, the last two family-run shops making these items still exist. But in order to keep their businesses going for many more years, these families must find inventive ways to expand their customer base.
A far less pleasant tale of the collision between capitalism and the working poor describes Athina Rachel Tsangari’s (“Chevalier”) new drama “Harvest.” The film adapts Jim Crace’s Middle Ages-set novel. When local landowner Master Kent invites a map-maker to survey his locality, there’s nothing innocent about the project. Kent’s serfs don’t realize that their master intends to convert most of his property to pasture…and eliminate the serfs’ livelihoods.
The “40 Acres” that happens to be at the center of R.T. Thorne’s titular post-apocalyptic thriller is a family farm that’s been in the Freemans’ control for generations. The farm’s arable land has become a precious commodity, especially in the wake of a mass die-off of most animals and worldwide famine. Matriarch Hailey keeps her family and her land safe with a combination of electric fence, video surveillance, and a well-stocked arsenal. But when teenage son Emanual rashly brings in an outsider, trouble isn’t that far away.
The state of disrepair afflicting a family farm in Cesar Augusto Acevedo’s Colombian post-war drama “Horizon” is connected to more recent trouble. As the son who’s returned to his home village and family farm remembers, his getting conscripted by the government to fight the guerillas led to his committing a number of unforgivable acts. Is forgiveness possible for him? If so, what form should this forgiveness take?
Remember “Saigon Execution?” That was the name of Eddie Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph depicting South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing Viet Cong Captain Nguyen Van Lem. In Naja Pham Lockwood’s short documentary “On Healing Land, Birds Perch,” the director brings together the children of General Loan, Captain Lem, and the son of a family Lem executed. They discuss their contradictory feelings regarding the iconic photograph and its legacy. Including how the children felt about their respective father’s act
Cherien Dabis’ historical drama “All That’s Left Of You” may begin in 1988 in the Occupied West Bank. But the heart of the story is an extended flashback to 1948 and the constant Israeli oppression that wound up leaving its long-term mark on apparently diffident protagonist Salim.
Ukrainian newlyweds Taras and Olya may be taking their “Honeymoon” in their high-rise apartment in Zhanna Ozirna’s electric feature debut. But things take an unwelcome turn when the war in Ukraine escalates and Russian soldiers invade the couple’s building. Can they maintain their love and also survive this personal invasion?
“Folktales,” the new documentary from Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, follows a group of rural Norwegian high school students spending a year north of the Arctic Circle without access to any sort of technology The aim is for the teens to use their thinking about the natural world and their place in it to hopefully become more self-reliant and engaged adults. The students’ curriculum includes learning leatherwork, getting lessons from dogs, and dancing in the forest.
In Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh’s dystopian tale “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” unhappily married Angine develops an intimate bond with naive young salesgirl Malaise. But in their repressive world, kissing means death while currency is measured in slaps. Can their secret relationship survive? Narrated by Vicky Krieps.
Debut feature “Hot Milk” sees Rebecca Lenkiewicz adapting Deborah Levy’s acclaimed novel. Young Sofia (Emma Mackey, “Sex Education”) has been stuck caring for her demanding wheelchair-bound mother Rose (Fiona Shaw, “Killing Eve”). On a summer trip to Spain to check out a possible cure for Rose’s condition, the teen meets and falls for a free-spirited German seamstress (Vicky Krieps). But such obstacles as a chained-up dog, stinging jellyfish, and Sofia’s meddlesome mom might very well sink her plans for emotional escape.
Rural India is the setting for Rohan Parashuran Kanawade’s tender drama “Cactus Pears.” Anand begins to regret returning to his mountainous hometown to mourn his father’s passing. Relatives’ demands and annoying rituals soon leave him feeling smothered. He finds emotional respite by reconnecting with childhood friend Balya. But when those feelings deepen into a relationship, can it survive their conservative society’s reluctance to recognize gay couples?
The Centerpiece Film, Rachael Abigail Holder’s debut feature “Love, Brooklyn,” is part of the festival’s tribute to the film’s lead actor, Andre Holland. The film’s story concerns a sort of love triangle among three Brooklyn residents. Writer Rodger (Holland) may be entering middle age, but he’s not a fan of either deadlines or serious emotional commitments. Casey, Rodger’s ex-, is a gallery owner struggling with both gentrification pressures and her own fear of failure. Masseuse Nicole, Rodger’s current squeeze, has her own problems with both personal loss and being a single parent. Hookup culture, social apathy, and urban isolation are all themes that crop up in the film. Steven Soderbergh serves as the film’s executive producer.
Andre Gaines’ “The Dutchman” re-imagines Amiri Baraka’s Obie winning play “Dutchman.” Successful Clay (Andre Holland) is traveling on the subway to a party for friend Warren (Aldis Hodge), who’s using the occasion to launch his political campaign. However, his life threatens to be upended when he encounters the tempestuous racial provocateur Lula (Kate Mara). Can Clay avoid falling victim to the usual social dynamic between Black men and white women?
Is it possible to decolonize a bastion of colonial culture? Shiro and Wachuka think so, for these two female literature lovers have taken on the task of renovating Nairobi’s long-neglected McMillan Memorial Library. Maia Lekow and Chris King’s “How To Build A Library” follows their eight-year-long journey as they attempt to turn this former whites-only space into a place accessible to all. The challenges the two women face range from deciding what’s worth preserving from the existing stock of books to raising funds for their project to even bureaucratic resistance.
Ready for a trip to the outer limits of narrative? Then you’ll want to check out Kahlil Joseph’s debut film “BLKNWS: Terms And Conditions.” Using the framework of an undercover journalist on board the Afrofuturist ocean liner Nautica on its trip to Africa, the film introduces viewers to work from Senga Nengudi, Garrett Bradley, and Alex Bell among others. Joseph himself looks at the Black experience through a skillful weaving together of archival footage, social media content, personal reminiscence, and more to create an uncategorizable blend of documentary and fiction.
Seth and Peter Scriver’s animated documentary “Endless Cookie” starts out as an attempt by director Seth Scriver to record the stories of his indigenous half-brother Pete. But thanks to interruptions from a variety of sources ranging from friendly neighbors to one of Pete’s dozen dogs, new stories wind up getting started before old ones end. Let’s just say the result involves anti-colonialism, a timespan from the 1980s to 2028, and the supermarket frozen food section.
“Decidedly strange” might describe Joaquin Cocina and Cristobal Leon’s “The Hyperboreans.” Actor/psychologist Antonia Giesen (sort of playing herself) wants to recover the missing negative of a film she once starred in. But that quest will force Giesen to contend with the legacy of Chile’s fascist history, weird stuff beneath the Antarctic ice, and fascist thinker Miguel Serrano’s ideas.
In the Greek refugee camp that’s the setting for Noaz Deshe’s “Xoftex,” Syrian and Palestinian refugees await word of their fate. To pass the time, Nasser and his friends do everything from performing satirical sketches to making a zombie horror film. Yet rising tensions and the reality of camp conditions soon make the escapism of the theater projects feel hollow. Filmed with actual asylum seekers and based on real-life experiences.
Kristina Grozeva’s “Triumph” is a comedy of errors based on unfortunately real events. It’s set in Bulgaria in the 1990s after communism has fallen. Pirina, a general’s ambitious personal psychic, claims that if the general finds a buried artifact to communicate with aliens, he’ll achieve glory. Dubious Colonel Plantnikov has been stuck supervising the search while also caring for his impetuous daughter Slava. Matters get complicated when it turns out Slava has actual psychic powers and truly understands the alien’s plans.
Is the Taco Gary’s chain doing something a lot more than cranking out delicious tacos? That’s what conspiracy oddball Danny (Simon Rex) believes. Under the guise of joining younger brother Luke on a road trip to Ottawa, the conspiracy nut is determined to save his sibling from a coming global cataclysm connected to the fast food chain. But if there’s nothing to Danny’s increasingly wild stories, why are weirder and more absurd things happening to the duo the farther they go? Find out in Michael Kvamme’s screwball SF comedy “Operation Taco Gary’s.”
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s newest chiller “Cloud” concerns online reseller Ryosuke Yoshii. His business has done well enough over time that he’s able to move out of his drab Tokyo apartment to a countryside mansion. But his success has heavily depended on cutting more than a few ethical corners to get there. As a spate of unusual and unsettling occurrences suggests, the bill for his unscrupulous acts is coming due.
Presenting no easy answers is Julie Forrest Wyman’s documentary “The Tallest Dwarf.” The director deeply digs into viewer attitudes regarding people who suffer from dwarfism. In Wyman’s case, this involves getting into her parents’ mindset regarding her dwarfism, finding out what the current state of medical research is regarding dwarfism, and how people in the little people community view themselves and taller others.
SFFILM Festival’s Mel Novikoff Award has always gone to a person or institution that increased public appreciation of world cinema. This year’s recipient is the beloved Roxie Theater, the local treasure which would show such things as the aforementioned Kurosawa film and the dwarf documentary. Not only will there be a discussion concerning the Roxie’s history, but there will be a screening of the Akira Kurosawa classic “Rashomon” on its 75th anniversary.
Alexandre O. Philippe’s new documentary about film, “Chain Reactions,” discusses the cultural and personal significance of Tobe Hooper’s classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Among the interviewees are Japanese horror film maestro Takashi Miike, best-selling horror novelist Stephen King, and Australian film critic Alexandra Heller-Nichols. This film is part of an SFFILM Festival mini-series of seminal horror films including “Carnival Of Souls,” “The Babadook,” and of course “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
Ready for an ensemble comic fantasy inspired by Dante’s “Inferno” which features lots of trans and queer characters? Then you need to see Gala del Sol (aka Natalia Hermida Gutierrez)’s debut feature “Rains Over Babel.” Babel is a neon-lit bar where it seems the party never stops. Babel’s owner waits for his missing headliner to show up to keep him from facing a loan shark’s retribution. A preacher’s son nervously prepares to make his drag debut. An ex-soldier hopes to finally be free of a long period of servitude. A young woman risks her life to save that of her sick daughter. Expect lots of afrofuturism, surrealism and even a touch of steampunk.
Cristina Constantini’s inspiring documentary “Sally” recounts the life of Sally Ride, the first American female to reach outer space. Blatant sexism stood in Ride’s way before she could reach the stars. Ironically, it’s through the stories Ride’s life partner Tam O’Shaughnessy tells that the viewer sees that though Ride was willing to risk her life riding a rocket booster that could just as easily explode, the challenge that daunted her was coming out of the closet in a still homophobic American culture.
Oakland’s Highland Hospital is the setting for Jessica Zitter’s documentary “The Chaplain And The Doctor.” Here a white Jewish physician (Zitter) works closely with 80-year-old African American chaplain Betty Clark in the Palliative Care Unit. Zitter learns from Clark about the spiritual and emotional aspects of healing. But what happens when Clark herself has serious health struggles?
Legendary film editor Vivien Hillgrove turns the camera on herself to recount her film career in her cinematic memoir “Vivien’s Wild Ride.” Hillgrove was there to watch Bay Area filmmaking evolve from making just simple experimental shorts to creating major feature-length films. Not only are there conversations with the renowned directors she worked with over the years, but Hillgrove also rediscovers hidden parts of her past.
Sinead O’Shea’s “Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story” offers a portrait of the maverick writer whose sexually explicit novels would inspire decades of readers and also anger those who support the Orange Fascist and his predecessors. But O’Brien turns out to be more than somebody whose rebellion was limited to the printed page. She held wild parties, had passionate affairs, and counted among the people she knew Jane Fonda and Paul McCartney.
SFFILM Festival’s Closing Night Film is Elena Oxman’s San Francisco-set “Outerlands.” San Francisco newcomer Cass starts to rebuild her life in the City by the Bay. But her disciplined plans don’t account for a desire for connection. She seems to find connection in the vivacious Kalli. But when Cass’ lover disappears after saddling Cass with caring for her daughter Ari, the child’s understandable anger and frustration soon triggers Cass’ personally unwelcome memories.
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