Short Films One
Whether you’re a baby chick who’s flown the coop, a budding Lego master, or just out for a movie, there’s lots to get into in Short Films One.
Festival Year: 2025
Short Films Two
Spending the week at a new house? Traveling the land with your ties and guitar? Waiting for the bus? Let Short Films Two take you away.
Short Films Three
Shorts for our older crowd: teens and grown-ups only.
Celebrating Black Stories
Shorts from around the world that embrace the joy, resilience, and complexity of being young and Black.
Followed by Science on Screen® Chat: Urban Ecologies
What makes for healthy and happy homes and habitats for the many members of a community? How do we decide who, or what, makes up the community; what obstacles or questions need to be considered for a healthy urban ecology, and who gets a say? Bat Boy filmmaker Aaron Lemle will discuss his neuroscience background and how he rolled important issues around healthy urban environments into his short film. Aaron will walk young audiences through the film’s themes and ideas around how to create positive social, environmental, and cultural connections for inhabitants of all backgrounds, ages, and even species!
Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Followed by Science on Screen® Chat: Urban Ecologies
What makes for healthy and happy homes and habitats for the many members of a community? How do we decide who, or what, makes up the community; what obstacles or questions need to be considered for a healthy urban ecology, and who gets a say? Bat Boy filmmaker Aaron Lemle will discuss his neuroscience background and how he rolled important issues around healthy urban environments into his short film. Aaron will walk young audiences through the film’s themes and ideas around how to create positive social, environmental, and cultural connections for inhabitants of all backgrounds, ages, and even species!
Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Girls’ POV
Not just for girls! These shorts feature stories of girls breaking the mold.
Heebie Jeebies Shorts
Wild, spooky, freaky, and bizarre…prepare to have your mind blown.
¡Hola Cine!
Latinx stories from around the world, and not just in Spanish, celebrating the many Latinx cultures, histories, identities and languages.
Best of the Fest
Drumroll, please…these are the highest-rated shorts of NYICFF 2025! Even we don’t know what’s going to be in this program—but we do know it’s going to be great! Join us for a special program of this year’s audience favorite and award-winning shorts!
Winners
After arriving with her Kurdish family in Berlin, Mona is struggling to find her footing. Her hair is wrong, her accent’s wrong, and she misses home. Home is Syria, or at least it was before she was forced to flee. They’re safe now, but busy Berlin offers a different kind of chaos. Kids challenge teachers, mean girls pick fights, and Mona barely knows any German. What she does know is soccer, even if she vowed never to play after leaving her Syrian team and her cherished aunt Helin. Things don’t get any better when her new teacher and coach convinces her to join the team. Mona and her mates know that teamwork doesn’t come easy, but there’s only one way to win. Winners, a coming-of-age story with a fresh, 2025 perspective, comes to NYICFF after a world premiere at Berlinale and taking home the German Film Award for Best Children’s Film.
Note: As mean girls are wont to do, they use some harsh language in this film.
Moominvalley
Just in time to celebrate their 80th anniversary (and they don’t look a day over…however old they’re supposed to be!), our Moominfriends return for more all-new adventures. In Moominpappa and Aunt Jane, Moominpappa mustn’t let a surprise visit from his formidable Aunt spoil his book launch party. Then, Little My and Snorkmaiden head to the Lonely Mountains to confront a solitary bogeywoman in Song of the Groke. Finally, an SOS from an old friend sends Moominpappa and Moomintroll on a rescue mission into the frozen wilderness in Moominpappa the Great Explorer.
Home Court
The Legend of Ochi
See it before it hits theaters! In a remote northern village, Yuri is raised to never go outside and to fear the reclusive forest creatures known as the ochi. When a baby ochi is left behind by its pack, she embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to reunite it with its family. The latest feature from A24 (NYICFF favorite Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) and the producers of Everything Everywhere All at Once is written and directed by Isaiah Saxon and features Finn Wolfhard, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, and Helena Zengel.
¡Salta!
Based on the NYICFF 2017 short film Einstein-Rosen! Óscar and Teo get along, but they have their share of little arguments: who’s messing with the other’s stuff, how to spend the holiday, whether or not their mother got lost in time after finding a hidden wormhole—typical brotherly subjects. Their differences are only more pronounced among the other neighborhood kids. Teo’s out playing soccer, going to dances, and hanging out at the cinema, while Óscar’s more content sorting through their scientist mother’s notes looking for clues. Things reach a boiling point when a fight leads Teo to sneak out in 1989, only to return to their shared bedroom…in 2022. Once they both settle from the shock of reuniting (Óscar finally understanding Teo’s disappearance, Teo in awe of his Óscar’s smartphone), they can focus on getting Teo back home. The problem? They’ll need to find a completely different wormhole to get him there. Luckily, Óscar is now a physicist. The brothers, together with some familiar faces from their (sometimes distant) past, must find their way to each other across timelines in order to set things right.
Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Jippie No More!
Jippie’s sister is getting married, and the whole family is helping with the celebration. The good dishes are out, decorations are set, and Jippie is ready for the performance of a lifetime. Unfortunately, Jippie’s parents insist he sit this one out and leave the attention for the bride. No matter—there’s plenty to do on Grandpa’s rural estate. Plus, love is in the air, and it’s not just the bride and groom who are feeling it. When Lily arrives to help train Grandpa’s horse, it’s butterflies immediately for Jippie. And what better way to win her over than a song-and-dance show-stopper? If only Lily could stop staring at Jippie’s little sister long enough to look his way…Jippie No More! captures the chaos of one big family, where each member is so deeply entrenched in their own beliefs. But a genuine warmth and admiration for each other ensures that there’s no issue they can’t overcome.
This program is supported by the Dutch Culture USA’s Future 400 program of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York.
Living Large
Like most 12-year-olds, Ben’s life is filled with his many passions. At home, he’s a true gourmand, cooking up elaborate meals for himself and his mom. At school, he’s a charmer who’s always ready with a quick one-liner. After school, he fronts a rock band with his friends and video chats with his dad. But when the school nurse sends him home with a note about his weight, being well-rounded takes on new meaning. The bullies at school who tease them only make matters worse—in front of his crush, no less! Ben’s parents encourage his healthier habits, though Grandma has her doubts, and his friends just want him to focus on the upcoming talent show. He’ll need to quiet all the voices but his own in order to find out what truly matters to him. Living Large has all of the hallmarks of a classic teen comedy, right down to a cafeteria food fight and a wardrobe malfunction at the local pool. But this quietly empowering film takes its Freaks and Geeks vibes to new depths with cleverly animated characters and an original soundtrack (hip-hop! moody rock!) that captures the ups and downs of growing up.
Savages
From the director of NYICFF 2017’s My Life as a Zucchini, comes yet another deeply moving stop-motion story of a found family. Keria lives on the edge of Borneo’s tropical rainforest with her father, where aggressive deforestation has become the backdrop of their daily life. When an orangutan is killed by loggers, they take him under their care. Then another visitor comes to upend Keria’s life: her Penan cousin, Selaï, who is temporarily leaving behind hunting and gathering for reading and writing. At school she tries to cast him off, embarrassed by his not-so-smooth transition to modern life. But her father reminds her that “family is sacred,” so when he slinks off into the forest, she follows after him. It isn’t long before they’re lost, and Selaï only knows the way back to his indigenous home. Soon Keria learns the ways of her people and reconnects with her relatives. When the loggers threaten her new home, she is determined not to let them destroy it. The forest, her aunt explains, is like their mother—and family is sacred, after all.
Home Court
This 2025 answer to Hoop Dreams follows a high school basketball phenom on her quest for college superstardom. High school is hard enough, but Ashley must face a pandemic, a knee injury, and a lack of understanding from her Cambodian immigrant parents as she rises through the ranks of the local basketball scene. On top of all that, she is constantly battling contradictions: squaring her modest home life with her elite private school persona, reconciling a love of sports while her parents work long days at the family donut shop, and curbing her passion (and sometimes fury) in order to effectively lead her team to victory. Luckily, she has the support of the dedicated and compassionate Coach Jayme and the community of local Asian American basketball leagues that date back to the 1930s. Ashley might just have what it takes to make it to the big time.
Note: Like many passionate, hotheaded teenagers, our protagonist uses some harsh language.
Note: Like many passionate, hotheaded teenagers, our protagonist uses some harsh language.
Hola, Frida
March 15th screening will be in English, and is recommended for ages 6+ Little Frida is the sunlight of her small Mexican village, where she spends her days carousing through the market, befriending a neighborhood street dog, and playing class clown. When a polio diagnosis casts a cloud over her spirit, she is forced into the solitude of her bedroom. But it’s there that she finds solace in her imagination, a world brimming with color, flowers, and possibilities. When she is finally well enough to reenter the world, it’s this inner spirit that guides her through the hardships in her life. Hola Frida recreates the early life of Frida Kahlo with the brightness and whimsy of her famous oeuvre alongside some unexpected plot points (like an athletic training montage!) to paint a portrait of the artist’s childhood. A true Girls’ POV story if there ever was one, this biopic frames freedom, feminism, and the zeitgeist of 20th century Mexico through the eyes of one sparkling, vibrant young girl.
A Boat in the Garden
1950, France. François doesn’t quite understand his stepfather, Pierre. He’s serious, but not cold. He’s quiet, but holds strong opinions. The two don’t know how to talk to each other. One day, François observes Pierre working in the garden on a massive structure. Some light snooping reveals Pierre’s master plan, a boat. Not just any boat: it’s an exact (well, almost exact) replica of Spray, the sloop legendary sailor Joshua Slocum took on the first solo trip around the world. Soon François is obsessed with Slocum’s story. Noticing their shared interest, Pierre enlists him to help with construction. So begins a yearslong quest to finish the grand vessel. Though interspersed with epic scenes from Slocum’s original journey, A Boat in the Garden is less a swashbuckling adventure than a tender slice-of-life story. Fans of Jean-François Laguionie’s The Painting (NYICFF 2012) and The Prince’s Voyage (NYICFF 2017) will recognize his trademark, brush-stroked animation. A score of jaunty accordion music provides the soundtrack to this mediation on a young man’s journey to find his father, and himself.
Opening Night: Hola Frida
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window
“Sit down! Stop talking. Pay attention!” School is hard enough, but little Totto-Chan just can’t seem to be still. Inquisitive by nature, she’s constantly inspired by the world around her—and in 1940s Japan, the wonders of Western modernization bring new and exciting ways to traditional Japanese life. When her behavior proves to be too distracting to the rest of the class (according to her teachers, at least), her parents make it their mission to find the right place for her. Totto-Chan is no ordinary child, and her new school takes place in no ordinary classroom but in an old street car. Her classmates are equally extraordinary, each with their own abilities and ways of thinking. With a schoolmaster that affirms rather than tamps down their joyous curiosity, Totto-Chan and her classmates flourish in an environment filled with acceptance and freedom of expression. The coming changes to Japan will make adjusting to new life all the more challenging, but Totto-Chan, charming, chaotic, sometimes troublemaking, and often irrepressible, will be just fine as long as she can be herself. Based on the best-selling memoir of famous Japanese television personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-Chan is a tender reminder the things that make us different are the very things that make us special.
A Boat in the Garden
Jippie No More!
Centerpiece: The Legend of Ochi
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Kensuke’s Kingdom
When a violent storm befalls his family’s sailing trip, Michael and his dog, Stella, are swept overboard. They awake dazed on a beautiful remote island where they must quickly find their wits and the resources to survive—a challenge no less steep for all the island’s beauty. Upon their return from an unsuccessful expedition, they may not be alone; someone has left water near their camp. Soon he meets his mysterious benefactor: an ornery Japanese man named Kensuke, who has been the island’s sole inhabitant since World War II. Despite Kensuke’s rigid boundaries and rules for the island, a friendship begins to form. It couldn’t come at a more fortuitous time, as dangerous invaders begin to threaten their secret world and they must work together to preserve their fragile paradise.