Programmers' Picks: Kasi Gaarenstroom on SIFF 2025
The Balconettes
The dream team behind Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Noémie Merlant and Céline Sciamma, are back, baby! However, if you were hoping for something similar, I'm sorry, but you will not find sapphic yearning here. You will find bright colors, the vibrant south of France, three beautiful, nosy neighbors, and a little bit of murder! The Balconettes is silly, sweaty, and an all-around fun girly pop grizzly romp from second-time director Merlant. See it with your girlies!
New Jack Fury
The midnighter to end all midnighters. High energy, big violence, and maybe the most green screen I've ever witnessed. This high-octane love letter to the Blaxploitation films of the ’80s is sure to keep your interest well into the wee hours of the morning. Don't watch if you hate fun.
Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
A beautiful restoration of the ’70s queer cult classic Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers has arrived from AGFA. One of the very first feature films to be built around a trans actor, with an all-star cast (including voice acting from Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin), this film is weird and wonderful and freaking rocks. It's incredible to see that things really have not changed; there always was, and always will be, queer folks making weird, punk, and important art. See one of the first on the big screen! Everyone say, “Thank You, AGFA!”
By Design
Praise the film gods! Juliette Lewis is weird again! And she craves to be a chair. Yes, a chair. A beautiful, perfect, perpetually admired chair—isn't that what we all want? To be admired and sought after? Amanda Kramer takes on these big questions with a pitch-perfect cast, big visual numbers, and lots of furniture.
Spermageddon
Yes, you read that right. Spermageddon. Animated sperm, going to sperm school, singing sperm songs, living their sperm lives. There is a colon song. I'm not sure what else to say here. See this. Will you like it? How should I know? It's singing and dancing sperm—aren't you a little curious? I'll see you there, sperms!
She's The He
A true coming-of-age teen comedy made by and for trans folx is finally here. Following two teens in the weeks before their high school graduation, they devise a plan to infiltrate the girls locker room to get closer to a crush. Instead, it leads one of them to the revelation that she is trans—what shenanigans could possibly come from that!? She’s the He is the classic high school comedy in a modern lens, à la But I’m a Cheerleader or Bottoms, and the cast just gets it—everyone here is fully committed to telling this story the best they can. It's a tender story for teens and adults alike to enjoy.
Chain Reactions
Alexandre O. Philippe has once again gathered some of the greatest minds in horror to explore one of the most influential, lasting films in the genre, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Discover why we as a people are so drawn to horror and violence, and why Massacre captured audiences the way it did.
Come See Me in the Good Light
A profound exploration of life, love, and death, subjects Andrea Gibson and their wife Megan Falley navigate Gibson's grim cancer diagnosis. They take us with them to doctor appointments and behind closed doors, and are absolutely raw and authentic with us. It's a beautiful look into an incredibly kind, empathetic, and supportive relationship. Facing questions you hope to never discuss, planning for a life with or without your partner, and figuring out how to remember to live in the moment. It's shockingly funny, sometimes devastating, always hopeful. This is a must-see documentary.
