Film Selections

Here are SIFF’s 2024 Film Selections!

  • Woman Rising

    Matilde Simas

    Woman Rising is a documentary that exposes the dark reality of sex and human trafficking in America, and the hope for change that lies within the courage and resilience of survivors. The film follows the journey of Cary Stuart, a young woman from Maine who was trafficked for years, and who managed to break free and rebuild her life with the help of a dedicated network of supporters.

  • Kasheer Kaete (Where is Kashmir)

    Arif Bashir

    A young boy dreams of buying his blind sister a cake, but gets entangled in a situation he can't control.

  • An Open Door

    John Barnhardt

    Dr. Temple Grandin's impact on our world as a Scientist, Educator and Advocate for Neurodiversity.

  • Song of Earthroot

    Aaron Hwang & Joshua Pei

    An orphan of war. An adoptee of a different race. An Eastern body in the West. In search of Home.

  • Ofrenda

    Tyler Garcia

    A young woman finds herself at odds with grief and tradition as she prepares for Dia de los Muertos.

  • Color

    Eva Jakubovska

    In an upside down world, Diana finds herself facing a difficult conversation with her family. Her revelation provokes unexpected reactions. Will love, understanding, acceptance win? Will we, once and for all, speak the same color?

  • Chicho, A Dreamer

    Thomas Morgan

    What does it feel like to live your entire life in limbo?

  • LITTLE SAHARA

    Emilio Martí

    Those who do not know the Sahara think that in the desert there is only sand. But here there are children, who play and draw and make movies, and who would like not to have to think about war.

  • Molasses

    Dash Jo

    A young dancer is willing to do the extreme to break the wall that is blocking her from her career.

  • Black Women and WWII: The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

    Gina Gelphman

    In the throes of World War II, the courageous women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion battled against racial and gender discrimination to sort and deliver a backlog of mail, fueling soldiers' morale and forging an inspiring, overlooked chapter in the fight for civil rights.

  • No Shame in this Game

    Jolene Hernandez

    No Shame in this Game explores themes surrounding the stigma of living with sexually transmitted infections.

  • Refuge

    Claudia Ruiz Capdevielle

    J. fled Haiti because of death threats. He was recognized in Mexico as a refugee, but he is missing something essential: his family.

  • Hope 4 Home: San Diego: Crisis in Numbers

    Ricky Taitt

    An In depth report of the homeless in San Diego.

  • Selling Dreams

    Patrick Sweeney

    "Selling Dreams" follows parents and children maneuvering the Mexican border lanes, peddling their dreams to awaiting cars bound for the USA.

  • Physical Therapy

    Ahuatl Amaro

    A gay, Latino doctor must decide between keeping his low-income clients or taking a job at a private practice for the kids of the mega-rich.

  • Lady!

    Pei Lin Tan

    As a degenerative disease robs her husband’s identity, a devoted wife battles caregiver fatigue and heartache, but eventually discovers a new purpose in life.

  • Femme

    Delsi Moleta

    A short film exploring what it means to be a queer femme person in modern Australia.

  • The Wild Path Home

    Anne-Marie Jackson

    A grassroots movement to embrace mother nature and forge a new way of learning for the prosperity of future generations.

  • Planting Roots

    Erica Negrini

    "Planting Roots" focuses on the multifaceted challenges faced by the youth in San Juan la Laguna, Guatemala. Fransisco Mendez introduces his perspective on growing up in this community

  • SEEDS: Planting Hope Through Education

    Cameron D'Arcy

    'SEEDS', Planting Hope Through Education is a grassroots documentary which transports you to Uganda and spotlights the crucial importance of education in eradicating poverty.

  • Convertible

    Amirah Adem

    A teen hijabi decides whether or not she should tell her parents she has stopped wearing her hijab.

  • At What Cost

    Chritine An

    An Asian-American dancer is forced to confront her trauma in the wake of her immigrant mother's death and in doing so, mends her strained relationship with her younger brother.

  • Quandary

  • Uncivilized

    Rawd Almasoud

    After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, certain media outlets sparked a new conversation when they compared refugees from Ukraine with those from third world countries, questioning their civility. The Uncivilized documentary follows the lives of 4 Syrian refugees in Calgary, Canada and uncovers their journey and growth, shedding light on their accomplishments in their new found home

Here’s a look at some of the top SIFF selections from 2023!

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  • Sinda Agha | Elizabeth Woodward

    Exploring the field of “climate psychology,” Everything Wrong and Nowhere to Go is a candid and comedic self-portrait in which the filmmaker turns the camera on herself and goes in search of a cure for her crippling climate anxiety.

  • David Fortune

    A devoted father experiences the highs and lows of teaching his son with down syndrome the sweet science of baseball. However, his patience is stretched as his child struggles to grasp the basic fundamentals of the sport they love.

  • Alejandra Lopez

    In hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, medicine can be hard to come by. A little boy has to grow beyond his limits if he is to help his grandfather.

  • Brut | Experience Camps

    "I love camp but I hate that I had to lose you to find it." For Brut, filmmaker Léo Hamelin takes us to Experience Camps, where children who have lost a significant family member learn to grieve and heal.

  • Carter Oakley | Heather Hogan

    Part of the Death Differently series, WIND PHONE shows us a new way to grieve.

  • Laura Casey | Spencer Parker

    The documentary follows individuals and families impacted by substance use disorder, like Tonia Ahern, a mother from New Jersey who has worked tirelessly for over a decade to educate, support, and empower families while advocating for better and more integrated systems of addiction care.

Documentary Shorts (<20 minutes)

  • Ross Kauffman

    How can we bridge the linguistic and cultural gaps needed to better care for patients? The Language of Care, an amazing story of how a community of Deaf patients are breaking barriers by co-designing their own care with U of U Health researchers.

  • Chen Sing Yap

    A psychotherapist struggling with climate anxiety explores what it means to live in a dying world.

  • Diana Larrea

    The story of the two Guatemalan day laborers in Homestead, FL whose fight against wage theft in their community takes them on a journey of personal transformation.

  • Faith E. Briggs | Dani Reyes-Acosta

    Two women face down the biggest of enemies in the mountains—themselves—as they discover who they are (and who they want to be) on a rugged backcountry ski trip to SE Utah.

  • Jaime Jacobsen | Eric Forbes

    "Beyond the Soil" explores the emotional impact of climate change on farmers and ranchers who are on the frontlines of Colorado’s megadrought, and their innovation and resilience in the face of ecological crisis.

  • Serkan Aktaş

    A man, helplessly sinking to the bottom of the ocean undergoes a resurrection with a symbolic narrative

  • Kyle Sawyer

    A short documentary about the marketing team at a women's shelter who decided to take a bold and entirely different approach to talking about domestic violence.

  • Reeva Billy

    An essential element of maintaining culture in First Nations communities is nurturing the practice of knowledge keepers passing on their cultural wisdom. For the Canoe Cultures program in Vancouver Canada, an Indigenous-lead non-profit carving centre, Mike Billy Sr. and Jr. are an example of the transference of knowledge from one generation of Squamish Nation War Canoe builder to the next. In this short film they both share their experiences of passing and receiving the torch and the future they imagine that keeping this legacy alive can bring. Through this age-old tradition the uninterrupted connection between ancestors and the present generation is maintained and flourishes.

  • Christina Lao

    Mario Roque Garcia's current reality is markedly different from his past experiences. Overcoming his darkest moments, he now faces the daunting task of relearning the world around him. Despite these challenges, he remains unwavering in his determination to succeed. Though he has never held a racquet before, he has turned to tennis, determined to become a champion, no matter what obstacles he may face.

  • Noah Berlow

    "Who We Are" is an inspirational short documentary that delves deep into the raw, unfiltered stories of young women emerging from the shadows of their past, conquering adversity, addiction, and homelessness, and discovering an unbreakable spirit that propels them towards empowerment and a brighter tomorrow.

Scripted Shorts (<20 minutes)

  • Samantha D Lavin

    A first responder suffering from agoraphobia after a sexual assault at work, must walk through the flames of a past trauma to step into a new life.

  • Brian Ríos

    A father and daughter must cross the southern border, but the daughter cannot speak.

  • Heidi Miami Marshall

    A young boy's desire to get his mother back, and a father's struggle to make things right collide.

  • Augusta Palmer

    An incarcerated woman reaches out to her daughter after 20 years of silence.

  • Assia Lau'ren

    Bad Mom is a day in the life of a mother suffering from Postpartum Depression (PPD).

  • Dana E. White | Christopher Knoblock

    Carlton, a man in his 70s suffering from Dementia, is moved from a nursing home in the middle of the night.

  • Vivian Cheung

    Inspired by true events, an imaginative Asian-Canadian girl attempts to fold a thousand cranes as she learns to lose her father during his final days in the hospice.

  • Roman Duneshenko

    The story of a woman who was once again abused by her husband. Like many victims, she is at a loss, because it is difficult for her to make a decision about the final breakup of the relationship.

  • Jordan K. Paul

    In LA, a young man from the US Virgin Islands navigates a racist LAPD encounter after his white roommate sparks a volatile altercation, leading to a transformative journey exposing the flaws in the American policing system.

  • Temirbek Amanzhol

    "Eva. Hero Girl" is an inspiring documentary film about Eva Zhigalina, who became a trailblazer in the world of Kokpar in Kazakhstan—a traditional male game of nomadic peoples.

Docs (20-80 minutes)

  • Pieter De Vos

    Colombia, the most dangerous country in the world for activists.

  • Victoria Alonso Noujaim

    In Florida, a Guatemalan Maya community struggles to survive in inhumane conditions. A high school club in Miami steps in to help, sparking a powerful journey of hope and resilience.

  • Antonio Spano

    Amuka is a journey into the present day of Congo, depicting the resistance, the courage and the hope of Congolese farmers against poverty and starvation.

  • Bernadette Klausberger

    Migrant Lives in Pandemic Times is a digital storytelling project produced by CERC Migration and Migration Matters. Recorded during the summer of 2021, the project presents both personal testimony and expert analysis to explore how the everyday realities of 12 migrants from across the globe have changed during the pandemic. From a Chilean pandemic home-school tutor in Oakland, California, to a Senegalese street seller in Bilbao, Spain, our stories give voice to those missing in media and public debate with the aim to build solidarity and inform policy across borders.

  • Anja Strelec

    Thousands of people are leaving their homes in Nepal each year to pursue their dreams and happiness abroad. Hoping for a better life and economic prosperity, Nepali workers move to foreign countries to earn money and help their families. However, in the destination countries they are often mistreated and deprived of their human rights.

  • Sarah Howard

    After experiencing the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria in 2017, the Caribbean island of Dominica chose to take radical action in the face of climate change: to become the most climate resilience nation in the world. Five years later, they have the plan to make this vision a reality.

  • Rachel Shulhafer Haeseley

    Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, about 50 percent of Kentucky was already considered a “childcare desert,” meaning there is more demand for the service than there are available spots, and many childcare teachers and providers were already earning poverty wages, even as strapped parents struggled to afford childcare tuition. "A System on Life Support" highlights a unique grassroots effort in Owensboro, KY determined to find a local fix. This group, the Greater Owensboro Partnership for Early Development (GOPED), is comprised of parents, teachers, community leaders, philanthropists, and business partners with one common goal: to not only keep Kentucky’s shaky childcare infrastructure afloat, but to find local solutions that will strengthen the system – for good.

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