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The DUMBO Film Festival 2025 is a celebration of stories in movement, of voices unafraid to cross boundaries. Its swirling forms and vibrant palette reflect the energy at the heart of this year’s edition: bold, diverse, and deeply rooted in community. From November 19 to 23, the festival returns to Brooklyn’s DUMBO district for five days of screenings, encounters, and cinematic discovery in one of New York’s most dynamic cultural landscapes.
With 37 films selected from over 2,500 submissions worldwide, the 2025 program showcases a wide spectrum of independent cinema. Fiction, documentary, animation, and hybrid works will compete for the Best in Category Awards and the festival’s highest honor, the Grand Bridge Award—presented to the film that most powerfully reflects artistic integrity, innovation, and emotional resonance.
DIR. Hikmet Kerem Ozcan
Turkey
BEST FILM OF THE YEAR
DIR. Niccolo Aeed and Marina Tempelsman
United States
DIR. Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev
United States
DIR. Jonah Trilling
United States
DIR. Anna Huix
Spain
DIR. Chap Edmonson
United States
DIR.Sarah Beeby
United Kingdom
Elvira Lind is an award-winning Danish filmmaker and writer and co-founder of the New York based production company Mad Gene Media.
Courtney Marsh is an Academy Award®–nominated filmmaker whose work spans documentary and narrative, with films distributed by Netflix, Amazon, Apple, The Atlantic, Gunpowder & Sky, and Al Jazeera English.
Lesley Loksi-Chan is an award-winning Canadian artist and filmmaker. Her film “Lloyd Wong, Unfinished” (2025) premiered at the 75th Berlinale, where it won both the Teddy Award for Best Short Film and the Golden Bear for Best Short Film.
Sam Cutler-Kreutz is an Oscar-nominated director, writer, and producer based in NYC. His first short film, “Flounder,” premiered in the Clermont-Ferrand International Competition 2022. His second, “A Lien,” was nominated for the 97th Academy Awards.
Jules Rosskam is an internationally award-winning filmmaker, educator, and 2021 Creative Capital Awardee. His most recent feature-length hybrid documentary, “Desire Lines,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received the NEXT Special Jury Award.
Dan Ojari is an Oscar-nominated director, writer, and children’s book author. Dan now lives in Bristol, working at Aardman Animations as a development director.
“This Will Never Work” is about a Black family coming together to have an intervention for Amanda’s drinking problem. They’ve hired a therapist named Trevor, written emotional letters, and now they sit and wait for Amanda to arrive. But when she does, Trevor realizes that the family hasn’t been honest with him. “I think I should leave” he says. But listening isn’t this family’s strong suit, and they’ve already prepared for battle.
Narrative Feature
Country: United States
Runtime: 01:31:30
Directors and writers: Niccolo Aeed, Marina Tempelsman
Producers: Niccolo Aeed, Marina Tempelsman, Fernando D. Maldonado
Key Cast: Marina Anderson, Amandla Jahava, Jerimiyah Dunbar, Portia, Usama Siddiquee, Pete Grosz, Ron Canada, Sarah Stiles
In a historical Aegean village, Hakki struggles to provide for his family by selling statuettes and guiding tours. Ignoring the booming tourist trade, he stumbles upon a valuable artifact in his garden, selling it for a fraction of its worth. Fueled by greed, he digs for more, but finds only darkness. Obsession consumes him, leading Hakki and his family down a perilous path where fortune and ruin collide.
Narrative Feature
Country: Turkey
Runtime: 01:35:00
Director and writer: Hikmet Kerem Ozcan
Producers: Zeynep Santiroglu Sutherland, Oyku Canli, Hikmet Kerem Ozcan
Key Cast: Bulent Emin Yarar, Hulya Gulsen, Cem Zeynel Kilic, Ozgur Emre Yildrim, Duygu Gokhan
Chiara, a young Italian-American boxer from New York’s legendary Gleason’s Gym, seemed destined for greatness. But when a devastating accident in the ring shatters her dreams, her world collapses. Lost in despair, Chiara finds renewed faith — a force that fuels her comeback. Rising from the ashes, she transforms into a modern ‘spiritual warrior’, ready to fight not only in the ring but for her place in the world, on the gritty streets of Brooklyn.
Documentary Feature
Country: Italy
Runtime: 01:10:00
Director: Ulisse Lendaro
Producers: Ulisse Lendaro, Jitendra Mishra, Giannandrea Pecorelli
Key Cast: Chiara Dituri
Days after 9/11, Blerim Skoro was recruited from a Manhattan prison by the CIA.
The Accidental Spy is the story of how one man became tangled in a complex geo-political web, how he risked everything to protect his family, and how he was cruelly betrayed by the country he strived to defend.
Documentary Feature
Country: United States
Runtime: 01:37:00
Director: Anthony Wonke
Producers: Johnny Howorth, Ivan Mactaggart
The story of Faith Petric (1915-2013), a San Francisco-based political radical, musical organizer, and joyous performer who united folk music and activism through almost a century of American social movements. Over her long and purposeful life, Petric combined group singing and progressive politics, inspiring all to take responsibility for social change, women and elders to defy stereotypes, and everyone she met to sing along.
Documentary Feature
Country: United States
Runtime: 01:00:00
Director: Christie Herring, Estelle Freedman
Producers: Christie Herring, Estelle Freedman
Under roaring fighter jets and missile strikes, Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya, and Andrey choose to stay behind and fight, contending with the soldiers they have become. Defiantly finding beauty amid destruction, they show that although it’s easy to make people afraid, it’s hard to destroy their passion for living.
Documentary Feature
Country: United States
Runtime: 01:27:00
Directors: Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev
Writers: Aniela Sidorska, Brendan Bellomo, Paula DuPre’ Pesmen
Producers: Aniela Sidorska, Paula DuPre’ Pesmen, Camilla Mazzaferro, Olivia Ahnemann
Key Cast: Slava Leontyev, Anya Stasenko, Andrey Stefanov
This documentary explores from its beginnings, production, economy, conservation, future challenges (sustainability and climate change), and the life of the olive landscape in Spain, the world’s leading producer of extra virgin olive oil, liquid gold.
Documentary Feature
Country: Spain
Runtime: 01:16:00
Director, writer and producer: Francisco Javier Fernández Bordonada
Two of the world’s most brilliant creative directors pitch Pepsi executives on a new ad campaign.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:11:28
Directors and Producers: Noam Harary, David Ebert
Writer: Noam Harary
Key Cast: D. Ebert, Krista Jensen, N. Harary, Iman Richardson, Bryan Burton, Nanie Mendez
Desperate to reignite the spark of creative inspiration that made her a Wunderkind, 29-year-old Heather embarks on a quest for heartache to give her artistic voice as writer depth and find an idea for her new novel.
Short Narrative
Country: Germany
Runtime: 00:08:19
Directors, writers, producers: Fabienne Meyer, Danny Feng
Key Cast: Eliza May Lawrence, Bryan Kaime Lomuria
Two teenage boys pull up at a deserted intersection at night. While waiting they make awkward small talk: one reveals his lofty ambitions for the future, while the other doesn’t have a plan – he’s paralyzed by dark predictions of humanity’s future. The red light shows no sign of changing.
Short Narrative
Country: Canada
Runtime: 00:14:18
Director and writer: Joseph Carney
Producer: Rebecca Steele
Key Cast: Ayo Solanke, Nathan Mao
After a coworker is fired for racist remarks, Jeff is assigned mandatory reading by the partners of his company, in which he is informed of the racial structures that plague America. Disturbed by his new knowledge, he decides to make the “noble” gesture of inviting a Black homeless man to spend the night at his house and shit hits the fan.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:30:41
Director and writer: Jonah Trilling
Producers: Alexandra Clayton, Jonah Trilling
Key Cast: Chris Doubek, Torean Thomas, Wendy Rosoff, Sasha Geller
A free spirited 5 year old girl lives in her ancestral home with a nanny(Aaya Didi) to look after her and her siblings.
Her mischiefs land her in trouble and she is punished. But the news of the death of her ailing grandmother and the flow of relatives in her idyllic space leave her perplexed.
Short Narrative
Country: India
Runtime: 00:20:00
Director, writer, producer: Nishi Dugar
Key Cast: Veda Agrawal, Lavya Jain, Manav Hinduja, Manjari Saxena
In this clever Hitchcockian thriller, Sebastian’s life takes a chilling turn when a simple slip in his hotel bathtub renders him paralyzed and mute at the bottom, and with the water steadily encroaching, he must employ every resource to escape the perilous predicament before time runs out.
Short Narrative
Country: Denmark
Runtime: 00:08:09
Director and writer: Tore Frandsen
Producer: Sara Samsøe
Key Cast: Darren Pettie
After time apart, two arsonist rekindle their friendship only to reveal a charred past and terrible secret.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:19:54
Director, writer, producer: Raul Menjivar
Key Cast: Tyler Diamond, Massil Adnani, Gabriela Barrett
A grieving young man falls into the final act of a cult leader’s ritual. Seven friends, each representing a deadly sin, are drawn into a cult, seeking personal growth. Unaware of its true nature, they find their darkest traits magnified, spiraling into chaos.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:15:00
Director and Writer: Annie Marie Elliot
Producers: Angela Laprete, Jillian Nordby, Avery Chung Melino, Annie Marie Elliot
Key Cast: Devin Druid, Hale Appleman, Peyton List, Garrett Wareing, Annie M. Elliot, Brianne Tju, Sarah Yarkin, Andrew Matarazzo, Devin Craig
When modern medicine fails him, a dying man turns to a mysterious healer who prescribes astral projection as his last hope but warns that dark entities lurk beyond, eager to corrupt his soul.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:12:00
Director: Travis Burgess
Producer: Braeson Herold
Laura starts into a new phase of her life when her boyfriend Elias inherits an old house in the suburbs. After some doubts she agrees to go all in, hoping that their relationship will benefit from this. Strange events occur when a couple of guests seem to get somewhat too comfortable in their host’s home.
Short Narrative
Country: Austria
Runtime: 00:22:22
Directors: Felix Krisai, Pipi Fröstl
Writers: Felix Krisai, Pipi Fröstl
Producer: Felix Krisai
Key Cast: Henrietta Rauth, Sebastian Wendelin, Anna Rot, Achmed Abdel-Salam
The desire to be loved pulls four strangers through newspaper ads, drugs, and daytime television, as they place their fate in the power of Loveline.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:08:34
Director, writer: Maci Parker
Producer: Julia Safrin
When 10-year-old Jake (Magnus Newville, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Saturday Night Live) is left home alone again by his workaholic parents, he answers the call of the open sky and ventures through chaotic New York City, searching for his own space to dream.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:14:41
Director: Andrew Lucido
Writers: Jiahui Liang, Andrew Lucido
Producer: Jiahui Liang
Key Cast: Ben McHugh, Danielle Augustine, Smüth
Residents of the world’s northernmost town, which is steeped in darkness four months per year, grapple with why they inhabit such a hostile place—and how their unique relationship to the sun changes the meaning of light and darkness within their own lives.
Short Documentary
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:32:50
Directors: Kristopher Roller, Alex Broadstock
Producers: Nick Girard, Joe Hill
An emotional journey through the struggles, corruption, and lack of support Black women entrepreneurs in the booming cannabis industry encounter as they fight for their place in a landscape fraught with obstacles. A spotlight on the resilience and determination of these trailblazing women, and the urgent need for reform and equity in the industry.
Short Documentary
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:15:00
Directors: Mary Pryor, Mara Whitehead
Producer: Justin Benoliel, Luke Anderson, Saki Fenderson
Key Cast: Hope Wiseman, Wanda James
On the notorious border of El Paso, Texas and Cd. Juárez, Mexico, an off-road culture thrives in the untamed dunes of the Chihuahuan desert. “Red Sands” is about the singular identity of an intergenerational community and the scene they’ve created in a desert known for its red hues, using the dunes as a canvas to imprint their unique identities.
Short Documentary
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:20:05
Director: Romina Cenisio
Writers: Romina Cenisio, Andrea Cruz
Producers: Romina Cenisio, Sean Mattison
Every winter monks across India travel to the Thiksey Monestary to participate in a ceremonial dance called “Cham”, a sacred ritual transporting viewers into the divine realm.
Short Documentary
Country: India
Runtime: 00:07:42
Directors: Raunak Kapoor, Gen Liu
Karishma is the role model of the girls in the mountains: the co-founder of the Gilgit-Baltistan Girls Football League – an annual female soccer championship taking place in the Karakoram Mountain Range, Pakistan – she defines herself as an indigenous woman from the Wakhi tribe, which values are togetherness and unity.
Short Documentary
Country: Spain
Runtime: 00:19:57
Directors: Anna Huix
Writers: Carlos Prieto, Anna Huix
Producers: Guille Cascante, Anna Huix, Tono Folguera
Geneviève Rioux, a doctoral student in psychology and survivor of feminicide, uses art as a healing tool. The film celebrates the strength and courage of this woman, exploring how she finds resilience in the face of adversity and breaks the silence through poetry.
Short Documentary
Country: Canada
Runtime: 00:10:33
Director and Writer: Haqq Brice Adéoyé
Producer: Spira, Ficfa
Key Cast: Genevieve Rioux
Pink came into Blue’s life. Blue came into Pink’s life.
But, that had to be kept secret.
Experimental
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:03:42
Director, writer, producer: Will Kim
Burn-in is an experimental short about a request to be forgotten, the messy deletion of bodies from photo albums, the faint remains of digital ghosts from the late 2000s, the impossibility of invisibility, and the permanence of the internet.
Experimental
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:02:25
Director: Charles Dillon Ward
This short experimental navigates the journey of a Black boy coming of age in America. The story is an exploration of identity and the expectations that weigh on a boy learning to navigate a world that often sees him before he truly sees himself.
Experimental
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:09:24
Director: Chap Edmonson
Producer: Chap Edmonson
Key Cast: Tahj Winston, Bree A. Dotson, Chase Newton, Maudejanei’ Alero, Mtalazia Stone, Vick Ogbogu, Oliver Stubblefield, Mad Mac
“Pacific Vein” takes us through a painterly panorama of the US West. Media and fictional scenes merge hypnotically with documentary footage. The empire is diligent (fitness, self-optimization) and nervous (military, weapons), the American Dream glitched into a ghostly autosuggestion.
Experimental
Country: Germany
Runtime: 00:11:58
Director, writer, producer: Ulu Braun
Key Cast: Niina Lehtonen Braun, Joachim Stargard, Lily Cummings, David Ristau, Valentin Lorenz
A single woman in a desolate house designed a life-like stuffed manakin that projects videos of single men reciting words of lust, absurd confessions and the desire for human connection. She then begins to weave her own web crafted by the same material as the doll, growing as an entity outside this house. The director uses found audio prompts from the dating app Hinge.
Experimental
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:03:30
Director: Kasey Oldford
Producer: Cassie Archdeacon
“Stoned for Christmas” is a multimedia whirlwind and a love letter to weed. This short film follows the adventures of one cannabis courier delivering at Christmastime.
Experimental
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:14:21
Director, writer, producer: Morgan Young
Key Cast: JJ Moon, Evan Thompson, Sarah Cuneo, Zayna Quader, Rosa Ferreira-Rodi, Sir Babygirl
‘X’ embarks on a surreal and mesmerising journey into the vastness of space exploring existential isolation, connection and the profound power of the cosmos.
Animation
Country: United Kingdom
Runtime: 00:09:24
Directors: Victoria Watson, Sacha Kyle
Writer: Sacha Kyle
Producer: Rhona Drummond, Giles Lamb
An animated allegory navigating pregnancy, exploring the connection between a mother and her unborn child. Set in a melancholic and enchanting world, the film beautifully captures the essence of love, and the poignant nature of loss.
Animation
Country: Spain
Runtime: 00:11:58
Director, writer: Esther Casas Roura
Producers: Esther Casas Roura, Juan Carlos Concha
A strange creature living in a bottle of alcohol is captured by a little girl, and in her hour of need he must remember who he is and why he is stuck.
Animation
Country: Japan
Runtime: 00:13:11
Director: Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi
Writers: Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, Akihiro Nishino
Producer: Noriko Matsumoto
Key Cast: Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, Nodoka Kumeda, Hajime Takagi
Big, bright shooting stars, zooming across the night sky, are in fact, having a competitive race of their own.
Animation
Country: South Korea
Runtime: 00:01:30
Director, writer, producer: Jun Koh
In an autobiographical movie, Marie-Esther has just arrived in the Yukon. After sneezing, her nose began to bleed very intensely. She started panicking and made questionables decisions.
Animation
Country: Canada
Runtime: 00:01:55
Director, writer, producer: Marie-Esther Durocher
Are you looking for a place to stay? Diva Sicanella is pleased to give you a tour of her manor.
Reviews (1):
Location: 5/5
Cleanliness: 5/5
Friendliness: 5/5
Overall impression: 5/5
Animation
Country: Switzerland
Runtime: 00:05:01
Director, writer: Rachelle Anaïs Talitha Furrer
Producer: Jürgen Haas
Key Cast: Heidi Maria Glössner
An interview with Astronomer Jonah Weisman; the man who discovered “The God Man” – a seemingly 20km tall alien corpse that is slowly drifting toward earth. But is it what we think it is?
Animation
Country: Canada
Runtime: 00:09:27
Director, writer, producer: Andrew Foerster
Key Cast: Andrew Foerster, Pazit Cahlon
In the aftermath of sexual assault, a woman retreats into the garden of her mind. Searching for answers and struggling to do ‘the right thing’, she realises that she must regain her voice and find new paths to healing, before she and her garden are destroyed completely.
Animation
Country: United Kingdom
Runtime: 00:13:54
Director: Sarah Beeby
Writer: Louisa Wood
Producer: Jo Lewis
Key Cast: Evanna Lynch, Freddie Fox, Simon McBurney
The 20th Century was still young when Italian mountaineers conquered Germany with a sensation: gelato! Tiny stalls developed into beautiful ice cream shops. But suddenly sunny days of childhood turned into dark years of war.
Animation
Country: Germany
Runtime: 00:12:18
Director: Daniela Opp
Writers: Kai Rönnau
Producer: Daniela Opp
Key Cast: Béatrice Barth, Astrid Schulz, Aliyah Obid, Tobias Schaller, Marit Persiel, Kai Rönnau, Lilly Tamm