25th annual Phoenix Film Festival brings hundreds of flicks to the Valley

Starting this week, Harkins Theatres Scottsdale 101 will host the 25th annual Phoenix Film Festival. Between the opening night screening of "The Ballad of Wallis Island" on Thursday, March 27, and the closing night premiere of "The Wedding Banquet" on Sunday, April 6, there will be over 275 screening events, including about 25 groups of short films screened together, as well as many panels and other events.

The Phoenix Film Festival aims to appeal to a wide range of film aficionados.

“We’re not a thematic-type festival, and we’re not too heavy on international films,” says Phoenix Film Foundation Executive Director Jason Carney, “but otherwise our demographic is all over the place.” Carney and team have made a concerted effort to select films both new (some premiering at the festival) and old, by nationally known and local filmmakers, in a variety of genres, so that people of many backgrounds and ages are all sure to find something to enjoy at this year’s festival.

The festival’s opening night premiere event begins at 6 pm, featuring food and drinks from Brat Haus, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Tea Light Café, Tikka Shack, The Herb Box and The Melting Pot, and a musical performance from Tucson singer-songwriter Lizzie, finalist in the 2024 Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Competition and winner of Alice Cooper’s Proof Is in the Pudding last year. NBMA Photography will be on hand to take portraits. And all proceeds from the evening’s silent auction will benefit the Phoenix Film Foundation and its efforts to promote independent film in our state.


The festival’s screenings will then commence with "The Ballad of Wallis Island," an official selection at SXSW and Sundance, about an eccentric lottery winner living alone on a remote island who books his favorite folk duo (long since broken up) for a reunion performance with himself as the only audience member.

Those hoping to meet Arizona filmmakers, whether as fellow professionals or fans, will have a chance to do so during industry night the following evening. Filmmakers from across the state, including many involved in any of the two panels on each of the festival’s weekend days, will be in attendance, with food provided by Dough Riders and musical performance by acoustic duo Desert Flower.

On Saturday, March 29, there will be two concurrent screenings of "Waltzing with Brando." Billy Zane, looking and sounding more Brando-like than one would have thought possible even with makeup, and Jon Heder star in this film as actor Marlon Brando and architect Bernard Judge, respectively. In the 1960s and 1970s, at about the same time as his "Godfather" period, Brando bought an atoll in Tahiti and began developing, with Judge, an environmentally sustainable village and resort. Problems of all kinds ensued, which are played to comic effect in the movie, itself an adaptation of Judge’s memoir of the same name. Zane is also scheduled to appear at the festival.

How does one grieve the loss of a dear friend? Such is the question at the heart of "The Friend," an official selection at Telluride, New York Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, starring Bill Murray and Naomi Watts (and a black and white Great Dane named Bing). In "The Friend," New York writer Iris (Watts) finds herself the reluctant owner and caregiver for the dog once owned by her late friend Walter (Murray). Even viewers who don’t consider themselves dog people may find themselves charmed and surprised by the acting range of a nonverbal canine actor who is Watts’ scene partner for much of the film.

Running simultaneously with, and in the same space as, the Phoenix Film Festival will be the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, which has made its annual home in Arizona for over 20 years. Several feature-length films and short film compilations will screen in Harkins 101 over the course of 11 days, with a particular focus on documentary.

“Our festival is known for documentaries,” says IHSFF Festival Director Monte Yazzie. There may be a particular focus this year on "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," with two documentaries related to the 1974 classic. In "Chain Reactions," Patton Oswalt, Stephen King and others analyze the film, its cultural impact and its influence on their own work.

And in "Dinner with Leatherface," viewers will learn about the life and work of Gunnar Hansen, the Icelandic-American actor who played the villain Leatherface. There are also narrative feature films, perhaps most notably "Freaky Tales," starring Pedro Pascal in a quartet of intertwined stories set in Oakland in 1987, and "Sister Midnight," a Hindi film with accolades from Cannes and British Independent Film Awards that tells the story of a woman who undergoes a bizarre transformation after entering an arranged marriage.

“You can find your next favorite movie here,” Yazzie says.


Regarding this year’s horror and sci-fi selections, Yazzie says that although he does not select films according to a theme, one often emerges from the way filmmakers address social, cultural and political issues in the mediums of horror and sci-fi.

“The best sense of the world can come from just watching these films,” says Yazzie. He says that many films this year have to do with loneliness and isolation, responding in their own ways to how the coronavirus pandemic dislocated so many of our lives. In contrast, the prevailing theme in many of last year’s movies was, he says, “anger at injustice and feeling let down by the people you put in charge.”

The Phoenix Film Festival comes to a close on Sunday, April 6, with a screening of "The Wedding Banquet" from director Andrew Ahn. The film, which depicts a gay couple and lesbian couple who concoct a complicated plan that requires masquerading as straight for an elderly Korean grandmother’s approval, had its premiere at Sundance earlier this year and has already earned accolades from Collider, The Hollywood Reporter and Out, among others.

Following this final screening will be the Copper Wing Awards with awards in categories such as Best Picture, Best Director and Best Asian-American-Pacific-Islander-Directed Short Film.

Whether you're interested in widely known actors in their latest film, local films, short films, networking, attending panels or the food and music, there's sure to be something for you at the 25th annual Phoenix Film Festival.