Syracuse International Film Festival
22nd Syracuse International Film Festival
Saturday, October 18, 2025
Catherine Cummings Theatre
22 Lincklaen St Cazenovia, NY
- General Admission: $25
- VIP: $40
- 3 Day General Admission Pass $95
A full lineup of screenings — narrative, documentary, shorts, and more.
“Germaphobia”
Two janitors are tasked with cleaning their high school over winter break, but the building isn’t as quiet, or as empty, as it seems.
No Trailer Available
“Massissippi” Social Justice Short Film
Three formerly incarcerated Black Bostonians tell of their experience of harm in the Massachusetts Department of Correction.
“Father & Son” Indigenous Cinema Showcase
A Native American father gets precious time to visit with his son moments before his own landmark trial would begin in Omaha, Nebraska, 1879. Based on a true story.
“Morning Hate” War
On the Western Front during the First World War, allied soldiers send for Stretcher-bearers. Through the arterial web of trenches, they must decide who is likely to survive the journey back. As enmeshed front lines impede their advance, the demands of their job are overshadowed by the futility of the conflict.
No Trailer Available
“Huli”
After a boxer relocates from New York to Hawai’i, a friendship with his coach expands his awareness of ancestral connection, purpose, and power. Created on the island of O’ahu Hawai’i.
Invitational Short Film
“Tapir Memories” Animation
A tapir mother reveals her tragic story in an embroidery after a violent attack. Exhausted by all means in the search for her missing son, she still remains hopeful when she joins forces with other mothers.
“Gath and K’iyh” Indigenous Cinema Showcase
Gath and K’iyh is a poetic visual exploration of a community-led creative arts project aimed at better understanding and restoring our relationship with gath (king salmon) and k’iyh (birch) relatives as we navigate our feelings around climate change in Alaska. Gath and K’iyh are words from the Benhti Kokhut’ana Kenaga’ (Lower Tanana) dialect spoken in the Interior Region of Alaska. Guided by the voice and wisdom of Ahtna Elder Fred John, this film invites viewers to pause, to listen, to sing and dream together and ask how we might be in better relationship to the natural world around us.
Trailer Coming Soon
“Melodies of War” War
In 1944 rural China, two young musicians, trapped inside an abandoned building by enemy soldiers, share one last song together.
No Trailer Available
Saturday, October 18, 2025 1:15pm
at Catherine Cummings Theatre
Goddess of Slide: The Forgotten Story of Ellen McIlwaine offers an intimate look at a pioneer performer who’s road trip to stardom and long career deserves a rightful place in music history.
Invitational Documentary
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 3:11 pm
at Catherine Cummings Theatre
A man has a psychological break following his father’s death.
Narrative Feature Film
No Trailer Available
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 5:06 pm
at Catherine Cummings Theatre
Video Ocean is an experimental documentary by Courtney Rile about the origin story of a cultural microclimate of video art in Syracuse, NY, in the 1970s. Through interviews with contemporary artists, curators, and journalists, along with archival documentation and excerpts of works of video art, Video Ocean explores the inception of video art as a medium, the creation of Synapse at Syracuse University, the establishment of a degree program dedicated to art video at Syracuse University, and the hiring of the first Curator of Video Art at a museum in the world at the Everson Museum of Art. Video Ocean establishes Syracuse as a center for innovation and explores the question of where video art stands today in a moment where video is ubiquitous and AI is propelling us into the next iteration of the moving image. This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by CNY Arts.
Made in NY Feature Film
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 6:07 pm
at Catherine Cummings Theatre
Across four nations, military veteran suicides outpace combat deaths 19 to 1 with over 155,000 suicides since Sept 11, 2001. Dr. Harch’s hyperbaric neurological discovery becomes the target of a global conspiracy to protect medical profits over human lives.
Documentary
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:05 pm
at Catherine Cummings Theatre
Invitational Short Film- Thriller
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 8:05 pm
at Catherine Cummings Theatre
We all know the familiar tale of Ebenezer Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol.” How he spent Christmas Eve being guided through a reflection of his life by three spirits, how he repented, and when he awoke the next morning, he was a changed man. At least that is what we are led to assume since that’s where the tale ends.
However, sometmes an ending is just the place for an all-new beginning… and this is where the untold twist in the life of Ebenezer Scrooge continues. The day after Christmas finds him suddenly much less merry, and much more… dead. Reunited with his old partner Jacob Marley, a not so tiny Tim and his beloved sister Fan; they are tasked with earning their redemption by helping others to find their own. Their first adventure brings them to modern day Oklahoma where a young mother and her family’s dream has turned into a nightmare. Our foursome must work together like their souls depend on it… because they do. This holiday movie is not just another re-telling of “A Christmas Carol”. Instead, it continues the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, diving deeper into the world-renowned characters we have all read about and love.
This film immerses itself into the Ebenezer Scrooge Universe focusing on family, redemption and forgiveness while literally being filled with “Christmas Spirit(s)”.
This film was shot in New York, New Jersey and Oklahoma.
Christmas
