Arlington International Film Festival

2025 Program

Thursday, Oct 23rd (Theater 2)

Image from The Vestibule

8-10pm Tourist (Feature)

Angela Bedekovic, Matthias Grunsky | Germany | 2025 | Documentary Feature

The documentary follows the path of tourists to cities, vacation resorts, and events in Europe. The filmmakers observe from a certain distance with a deliberate abstinence of words or comment, reflecting on personal longings and the touristic machinery.

Opening short: The Wayfarer

Special Event

7-10pm CineMash: Kickoff Party for the Arlington International Film Festival

What happens when 'The Monster Mash' meets the silver screen?

Location: Copley Society of Art, 158 Newbury St Boston MA 02116

Get Tickets on Eventbrite

Friday, Oct 24th (Theater 3)

Image from Le Fardeau de la mémoire

6 - 7:30 pm Community & Cinema (shorts) + talk with filmmakers

Mayor of Lowell
35,567 Yup’ik Stories
Self Portrait
Le Fardeau de la mémoire
Sanctuary of Her (Safarani Sisters)

7:45 - 9pm Gone Guys (Feature) + panel with director

Chad Ervin | USA | 2025 | Documentary Feature

Over the past fifty years, boys and young men have steadily disengaged from school, work, and broader society. They’re falling behind academically, struggling with loneliness and isolation, and facing rising rates of substance abuse and suicide. This 46-minute documentary draws on the influential work of Richard V. Reeves’ Of Boys and Men, illuminating these challenges through powerful data and compelling personal stories. Many of us have experienced these issues first-hand, but it can be difficult to talk about them. It’s not zero-sum: caring more about men and boys does not mean caring less about women and girls. Set in rural Vermont, the film brings national data to life with engaging animation accompanying lived experience featuring young men, educators, mentors, and trailblazing programs that are working to re-engage boys and young men in their communities and reshape their futures.

Image from Blue Land

9:15 - 9:30pm Teen Angst Shorts

Blue Land
Life of the Party
Flowers by my Window

10 - 11:30pm The House That Stood (feature)

Antonella Spirito | Italy | 2023 | Narrative Feature

San Pietro Avellana, southern Italy, 1943. Camillo, a teenager, sees his life being turned upside down when, one day, some retreating German soldiers begin using his family's inn as a base of operation. Amid a war that seems never-ending, Camillo has much more in mind; and first things first, to ask Bianca, his longtime crush, on a first date. The world seems a little less ugly, even for a moment, until something changes their lives forever.

Opening short: Ugly Chickens

Saturday, Oct 25th (Theater 2)

Image from 2054 Seele

Image from Babylonia

3:45 - 5:50pm A Garden Variety Mystery + talk with filmmaker

D.R. Hudson | USA | 2025 | Narrative Feature

A Garden Variety Mystery follows Ivy, an average college student who if it was up to her she would just go to class and smoke weed, while working her side hustle as an amateur private investigator catching cheating boyfriends for extra cash. Unfortunately, she is pushed out of her comfort zone when a freshman student Delilah shows up at her door begging Ivy to find out who framed her for plagiarism. Now Ivy with the help of her trusty best friend and roommate, Paul, is on the case.

Opening short: Afters

6 - 7:30pm Piggy Duster (feature)

Jesse Stewart | USA | 2024 | Narrative Feature

On a rocky camping trip at 10,000 feet, a teenage girl and her step-father struggle to repair their fractured relationship when they're interrupted by a curious grizzly bear.

7:45 - 9:20pm - Jamary (feature)

Begê Muniz | Brazil | 2025 | Narrative Feature

Ane, a 12-year-old influencer, spends her afternoons playing in the Jamary village, located in the Amazon region. One day, after being challenged by her cousins, Ane ventures into the forest
and encounters the Anhangá, a mystical indigenous spirit devoted to protecting the rainforest.

Image from Antigone

Saturday, Oct 25th (Theater 3)

Image from Something Beautiful In the Daylight

12 - 1:15pm WIFVNE Film Funding Panel + 2 shorts

Motion
Something Beautiful in the Daylight

Image from Garu + Ponki

Image from Mango

Image from Lavenza

Image from She Is Called Aurora

8:30 - 9:45pm Transformation (feature)

Saeed Mayahy, Miriam Carlsen | Turkey | 2023 | Documentary Feature

In the following months after the USA withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, a young Kabul couple, have found their way to the dark and dodgy Afghan neighborhood, Zeytinburnu,in Istanbul. Malika - a transgender woman who together with Mohamed, the love of her life, have fled their families honor killing plan and Taliban's fatal punishments to be able to cultivate their forbidden love for each other, in the hope of achieving a new and better life in Turkey.

Image from The Clock Painter

Sunday, Oct 26th (Theater 2)

Special Event

9:30-11am Teatime with Filmmakers

Tea, desserts, connecting with fellow filmmakers...what more could you ask for?

Location: Vintage Tea & Cake Co, 677 Mass Ave, Arlington MA 02476

RSVP on Eventbrite

Image from The Swim

1 - 1:45pm NEREID Ocean Conservation Panel

NEREID leads innovative community projects across New England, serving as a conservation resource for scientists, engineers, and volunteers united in their love of the ocean.

2 - 4:15pm Third Degree Burnout (feature) + talk with filmmaker

Nivi Jaswal, Darren Suffolk | USA | 2025 | Documentary Feature

Narrated by renowned meteorologist John Morales, Third Degree Burnout uncovers the hidden connections between personal burnout and the climate crisis, revealing them as symptoms of a larger socio-economic metacrisis. With world-class animation, engaging interviews with over 20 experts, and playful humor woven into thought-provoking skits, the film breaks down complex ideas into something accessible, relatable, and impactful. From the history of our food systems to the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the intersections of healthcare, politics, and society, this documentary offers a fresh lens on the systemic forces shaping burnout. More than a film, it’s a call to action—delivering urgency, hope, and solutions for those seeking justice in nutrition, climate, and health equity.

Image from Arca

Image from Amarela

6:30 - 7:30pm The Struggle (shorts)

Kidney Trial
Amarela
Nuestro Barrio, Our Neighborhood

Sunday, Oct 26th (Theater 3)

12 - 1:30pm Intro to Law (workshop)

Hosted by Luke Blackadar, this workshop will introduce attendees to common legal issues faced by film and AV creatives, including copyright, contract, business entities, privacy rights, and the difference between independent contractors and employees.

Luke’s an arts and entertainment attorney and the manager of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts & Connecticut. He counsels artists, creative small businesses and nonprofits on contracts, intellectual property, legal entities, and nonprofit governance. In addition to his work at the Arts & Business Council, Luke teaches at BU Metropolitan College and Northeastern University School of Law.

1:45 - 3:45pm Violent Butterflies (feature)

Adolfo Davila | Mexico | 2024 | Narrative Feature

A graffiti artist and the singer of a punk band, meet in an atmosphere of profound social crisis and discontent. Their idealist and revolutionary minds seek a world of justice and they are willing to fight for it.
Music and street art, unite them and serve as their weapons. Naive and innocent, they are unaware of the power of impunity and injustice until they fall victims to police brutality. When justice is absent, revenge is an act of faith.

Opening shorts: Cura Sana and The Livid Roof

Image from Sweet Tooth

2026 Monthly Programming

January: World Fusion

Bunka Means Culture (60min)

Omar Young | USA | 2025 | Documentary Feature

Peruvian-Japanese cuisine has transcended fusion to become culture. This is the story of those who today push it forward, serving their identities on every plate.

Opening short: Out of the Blue

February

Flamingos: Life After The Meteorite (83min)

Lorenzo Hagerman | Mexico | 2024 | Documentary Feature

Finding the right mate, the right place and the right time to create a family is the most critical quest in nature. This miraculous tale follows the Caribbean Flamingos through the most delicate period of their existence. Over nine years in the making, this film breaks new ground in natural history storytelling, blending unique narration with humor and breathtaking imagery. Narrated by Julieta Venegas and featuring a soundtrack by Bryce Dessner, it promises a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience.

March

The Therapy (113min)

Stanislav Hristov | Bulgaria | 2024 | Narrative Feature

Eccentric psychologist, Elisaveta Petrova, has hidden love of painting but her childhood trauma inhibits her from pursuing a career in the arts. Resentful to turning her back on her dream she tries to cure her own fears by devising experimental therapy sessions with other blocked artists but her life takes an unexpected turn when former child-prodigy painter, Oliver, joins her therapy group.

April

The Solution (96min)

Andrew J. Bullard IV | USA | 2024 | Narrative Feature

Allen returns home to help his father, Oscar, recover from a stroke, all while mending their strained relationship and reviving the family dry cleaning business.

May: Documentaries - Creative Past and Present

NADO (68min)

Daniele Farina | Italy | 2025 | Documentary Feature

NADO is an intimate and powerful journey through the life and work of one of the greatest Italian sculptors of the twentieth century. A story of resistance and courage, a human parable of will and joy that spans a whole century. Nado Canuti has faced the difficulties of life since he was young with tenacity and vision, transforming every obstacle into material to be sculpted. The story of a man who with three fingers shaped his destiny.

Opening short: Nechir

Dancing with Muni: A San Francisco Public Art Success Story (51min)

Kim Susan Epifano | USA | 2025 | Documentary Feature

Dancing with Muni is a documentary that tells a public art success story of an unlikely 20 year collaboration between Epiphany Dance Theater, an arts non-profit and the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). An annual free dance theater event which spanned two decades from 2004—2024, San Francisco Trolley Dances (SFTD) was a curation of diverse performing genres amplified by large scale, site-specific public or private spaces. The film explores the powerful impact of this steadfast collaboration upon a city, a community, its artists, and audiences consisting of all ages, social-economic and cultural backgrounds. Dancing with Muni celebrates the journey of a cherished event, showcasing a record of a changing city in which we love, live and dance, while also acknowledging the abiding power of public art in an age of increasing privatization.

June

Light Memories (80min)

Misha Vallejo | Ecuador | 2024 | Documentary Feature

Misha, a young photographer, inherits his grandfather’s camera and sets out to recreate his family’s missing photographs, exploring a legacy marked by absence, discrimination, and resilience. Inspired by the director’s discovery of a troubling lack of images from his own family’s past, this film examines how photography—or its absence—shapes family memory and identity. Through quiet, shared moments with his grandmother, Misha finds that memory, fragile as it is, offers a chance for connection and healing. Light Memories is a meditation on the power of photography, the persistence of family, and the resilience needed to reclaim what was lost.

September

Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution (98min)

Bill Haney | USA | 2025 | Documentary Feature

Cracking the Code, narrated by Mark Ruffalo, is an inspiring story of vision, perseverance, and the power of science to change the world. Phil Sharp’s journey from a Kentucky farm boy to Nobel laureate embodies the American Dream and the triumph of entrepreneurial spirit. His 1977 groundbreaking discovery of RNA splicing rewrote the rules of molecular biology and ignited a life-saving scientific revolution, laying the foundation for an industry that has become a cornerstone of global innovation and economic growth – and transformed the health of billions of patients worldwide.