Click here to leaf through the WFF2025 Festival Program!
- Documentary Film Competition
A Phantom Song
Directed by: Michael Gorman, Donna Daly
Country: United States
Minutes: 45
Premiere:
NYC Premiere
Haunted by the ghosts of Moby Dick and the memory of all those lost to the opiate epidemic, A PHANTOM SONG takes us down to “the crossroads” where the past and future collide in a dramatic struggle for the soul of a long-abandoned theater and its surrounding community.
In a blues opera cast directly from the recovery, reentry, and unhoused community, playwright and advocate Michael Gorman and his “Phantoms” create an inspiring chorus of faces and voices that are often unseen and unheard to confront the bias and resistance that often lead to the destructive power of stigma.
- Feature Film Competition
A Wonderful Way with Dragons
Directed by: Delfine Paolini
Country: United States
Minutes: 112
Premiere:
North American Premiere
Warning:
There is an old house, surrounded by a dense forest, set in the middle of a vast lake. One can find no way into or out of the property, except by boat, and there is no boat to speak of. Beyond the lake, there are no signs of human life: no sounds of distant trains, no emissions coming from factories, no smoke wafting from far away chimneys and no church bells sustaining notes during evensong.
Within this house there are six children of varying years. They were brought to the property by their parents to be kept safe from a deadly pandemic that has swept the world. However, years of isolation has begun to affect the children. Disagreements sprout out of nothing and nowhere. Until finally, their paradise is on the verge of destruction.
- Music Video Competition
Albina Dream Survey
Directed by: Spencer Garland
Country: United States
Minutes: 3
Premiere:
NYC Premiere
A mystical being receives the dreams of Black children via a mysterious phone number. The Dream Collector, the dashing “Honk-Shoo Hero,” does what he can to protect them from the forces that seek to destroy them. If you have a dream worth sharing, please call the Dream Collector’s hotline at 971-266-0341 to share it anonymously.
This film is supported by a grant by Oregon Film. Visit https://oregonfilm.org/ for more information.
- Winter FEAR Horror Film Competition
Anémone
Directed by: Mila Lignel
Country: Belgium / Greece
Minutes: 11
Premiere:
North American Premiere
Warning:
Anemone is a modern mermaid. Every night, she sings at a bar, seduces a man and invites him over to her place, where she kills him. Her seven roommates have the same routine, as they all share the same mission: ridding the world of as many cishet men as possible, by killing them, one by one.
- Music Video Competition
Ayala
Directed by: Guy Hayout, Harel Etzion
Country: Israel
Minutes: 3
Premiere:
NYC Premiere
Music video for the song “Ayala” by Yehudit Ravitz, based on the illustrations of the singer. The gazelle wanders around the house from the coffee table to the music studio. The gazelle is the song,that writes itself. Yehudit Ravitz is an Israeli cultural icon – she has created the soundtrack of our lives, being the most beloved, well-known, and admired singer in the country for over five decades.
- Music Video Competition
Back and Forth
Directed by: Clara Gallagher
Country: United States / Serbia
Minutes: 4
Premiere:
NYC Premiere
The music video for Allie Young’s “Back and Forth” – filmed over the course of two days in Belgrade, Serbia, forged in blues and reds, dredged in silk and smoke and glass.
- Short Film Competition
Birthday Blues
Directed by: Zinha Morgan-Bennett
Country: United States
Minutes: 10
Premiere:
World Premiere
Tony has just turned 26 and is feeling blue … that is until he follows his mysterious neighbors through a mystical closet and onto a dance floor where you never have to grow up.- Winter FEAR Horror Film Competition
Bring Me the Head of a Smiling Pig
Directed by: Wooje Chang
Country: Korea
Minutes: 23
Premiere:
North American Premiere
Right before the opening ceremony of the newly opened Ilsung Art Museum, the museum director says that the pig’s head on the ceremonial table is not smiling. A member of the museum staff must find the best smiling pig head, while battling his nervous breakdown.
- Short Film Competition
Children of Light
Directed by: Minkyu Kang
Country: United States / Korea
Minutes: 21
Warning:
In the 1960s, a Korean boy (16), kidnapped and assaulted at a juvenile center on a remote island, must escape with his rival to survive.
- Short Film Competition
Chocolate With Sprinkles
Directed by: Huriyyah Muhammad
Country: United States
Minutes: 19
On their 25th wedding anniversary, a bickering couple is given one day to do something they haven’t done in 25 years – work on their marriage.- Animated Film Competition
Circle
Directed by: Yumi Joung
Country: Korea
Minutes: 7
Premiere:
NYC Premiere
The girl draws a circle on the ground. Passersby step into it, one by one. Soon the circle is full of people, struggling to stay within. Once the girl returns and erases the circle, people start heading their way.- Winter FEAR Horror Film Competition
Deathless
Directed by: Stacey Maltin
Country: United States
Minutes: 19
Premiere:
NYC Premiere
Warning:
10 years after people have stopped dying, Florian, a self destructive porn star, tries desperately to understand the point of life after his twin sister announces her pregnancy.- Short Film Competition
Desync
Directed by: Minerva Navasca
Country: Canada
Minutes: 12
Ana, a young Filipina filmmaker, shoots a re-enactment of a fight she once had with her mother – a fight brought on by mutual refusals to communicate. Spurred on by the obsessive need for perfection, Ana “fixes” the fight by rewriting every veiled insult into a chance for forgiveness. As her perfect story diverges further from the reality of what happened, she begins to realise what her mom has been trying to say all along.- Documentary Film Competition
Dreamful
Directed by: Sarko Meené, Vahan Khachiyan
Country: Armenia / Greece
Minutes: 14
DREAMFUL is a short documentary that explores life and death through the lens of ease and courage, celebrating the simplicity and beauty of existence. The film follows 80-year-old Persian art collector Farhad, who embarks on a grand project to create an art island in Greece with his friend, artist Fereydoun Ave. Set on the small island of Chiliomodi, owned by the St. John Monastery of Patmos, Farhad hopes to make the island a destination for pilgrims and artists. The documentary captures their enthusiasm and reflections on life’s lessons, focusing on peace, exile, and the joy of pursuing dreams despite age and challenges.
