Programmers' Picks: SuJ'n Chon on SIFF 2025

Slanted

This feature debut, which follows a Chinese American teen undergoing a transformative racial surgery to become white and blonde—essentially the “perfect” prom queen candidate—could have easily veered into camp. Instead, it delivers a sharply written, funny satire that consistently hits its marks. The jury for this year’s SXSW Narrative Feature competition agrees, awarding it the top honor.

Meeting with Pol Pot

This powerful historical drama by renowned filmmaker Rithy Panh follows three French journalists invited to interview Pol Pot during the early months of the Khmer Rouge takeover, when the atrocities in Cambodia were still hidden to the outside world. It unfolds like a horror film, slowly revealing the terrors lurking just beyond their view.

Happyend

Like SIFF 2023's Plan 75, this film takes place in the near future. Set in a Japanese high school with a high percentage of immigrant students, it explores the rise of a Big Brother surveillance society and the use of technology for social control. It reminds me of how thin the line we tread between realistic science fiction and dystopian reality is.

Between Goodbyes

I was deeply moved by this beautifully told story about Mieke, a gay Korean Danish adoptee, and her birth family—and how hope, acceptance, and over a decade of patience helped them build their post-reunion family bonds. Many tissues were used.

Color Book

This is a simple yet beautifully told story, in black and white, about a grieving father and his son with Down syndrome spending a day trying to get to an Atlanta Braves game. Their mishaps highlight the fragility of their relationship and the depth of their shared loss of the boy’s mother.

Sorry, Baby

It's remarkable how this film skillfully moves between humor, anger, and grief while exploring the slow process of moving through trauma. Surprisingly light for a weighty topic, this 2025 Sundance hit avoids cliched catharsis—refreshingly un-Hollywood and painfully realistic.

Summer's Camera

This absolutely charming coming-of-age feature debut follows a gay teen navigating her first high school romance while coping with the grief of her father’s death. The warm cinematography offers an inviting backdrop to the themes of love and loss, culminating in a contemplative closing shot.