Programmers' Picks: Beth Barrett on SIFF 2025
Come See Me in the Good Light
Deeply emotional film about poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley, and love, mortality, life, and how to fully embrace letting go. Luminous, thoughtful, heartbreaking, and uplifting all at the same time.
The Librarians
Meet the courageous book lovers standing on the front lines of intellectual freedom and democracy. It has never been more important to keep access to libraries open, and books (and ideas) free to all.
Color Book
Beautifully shot, this simple story of a father taking his son to a baseball game ripples out into a grand statement about life in America.
Opening & Closing Night
Four Mothers (SIFF Opening Night) is a rollicking Irish intergenerational queer comedy, and Sorry, Baby (SIFF Closing Night) introduces us to a powerful new voice in Eva Victor.
40 Acres
Taut dystopian thriller from Canadian director R.T. Thorne! Danielle Deadwyler and Michael Greyeyes have to protect their clan and ancestral lands from a roving militia of cannibals in a future that sees the world's crops failing and society broken down.
Heightened Scrutiny
Incredibly timely and important doc about ACLU Attorney Chase Strangio's Supreme Court battle to overturn Tennessee's bigoted ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth. Sadly, it is more important every day.
Viktor
When the war in Ukraine starts, Viktor volunteers, though as a Deaf man, he can't serve on the front, instead becoming a war photographer. This immersive documentary is a uniquely intimate portrait of his experiences—the cinematography and sound design are stunning.
The New Year That Never Came
Debut director Bogdan Mureşanu pulls together multiple storylines in the days leading up to the 1989 Romanian revolution. Features one of the best uses of Ravel's "Bolero" in recent history.
