Points North announces film slate for 21st edition of Camden International Film Festival
The Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) has announced its slate of features and short films for the 21st edition of the festival, which will take place in person from September 11-14 at venues in Camden, Rockport and Rockland.
"A program of the Points North Institute, CIFF stands among the world’s most influential platforms for cinematic nonfiction, showcasing groundbreaking work from global filmmakers," said Points North Institute. "It draws one of the largest documentary industry gatherings in the U.S., serving as both a launchpad for Oscar campaigns and a gateway for international filmmakers to reach American audiences, distributors and production partners."
YETI, National Geographic Documentary Films, RandomGood Foundation, and The deNovo Initiative return as headlining sponsors, and are joined this year by the LEF Foundation, who has previously supported as title sponsors for the last five years.
This year’s edition includes 26 features and 28 short films from 32 countries. Sixty-five percent of the features in the program are either U.S., North American or World Premieres, including several new works coming straight to Maine following recent premieres at the Venice and Toronto film festivals, along with award-winners and standout films from Sundance, CPH:DOX, Visions du Réel, Berlinale and others. For the third year, CIFF’s two major competitions — the Harrell Award and Cinematic Vision competitions — are comprised entirely of films making their World, U.S. or North American premieres at the festival.
“In this moment of global upheaval, when forces of division and dehumanization seem ascendant, the films in this year’s program demonstrate documentary cinema’s essential capacity to illuminate.” said Sean Flynn, Artistic Director and Points North co-founder. "Against all odds, independent filmmakers continue to defend and reclaim cinema’s expressive power, insisting on bearing witness, building empathy, and reminding us of our shared humanity and dignity.”
Along with Flynn, this year’s festival was curated by Senior Programmers Milton Guillén and Zaina Bseiso and Festival Manager cam howard.
“In my first year as Executive Director, I’m honored to steward CIFF during this moment of extraordinary challenge and urgent opportunity,” said Points North Executive Director Elise McCave. “For four days in Maine, filmmakers and audiences from near and far gather in an act of resistance and renewal—celebrating the power and necessity of freedom of expression. When truth is under siege and independent voices face shrinking resources, the need for documentary storytelling has never been greater. The films at the 2025 festival affirm that even in turbulent times, joy can be found in the most unlikely of places.”
CIFF will officially open with the Maine premiere of Ryan White’s Sundance Festival Favorite winner Come See Me in the Good Light, a poignant and unexpectedly funny love story about Maine-born spoken word poet Andrea Gibson and their partner, poet Megan Falley, as they face an incurable cancer diagnosis with joy, wit and an unshakable partnership. The film will premiere in select theaters and stream globally on Apple TV+ on November 14, 2025. Also screening on opening night is the U.S. premiere of Nuestra Tierra (Landmarks), the first feature documentary from renowned Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel, which surfaces a history of colonial erasure following the murder of an Indigenous community leader.
Nuestra Tierra (Landmarks) by Lucrecia Martel
Across a range of geographies, histories and artistic forms, many of the films in this year’s CIFF program explore the theme of belonging with stories about the timeless search for community and a place to call home in an unstable world.
One of the program’s centerpiece films is Raoul Peck’s Orwell: 2+2=5, which made its debut at Cannes and will be released by NEON. Building on Peck’s impressive decade-long career in bold political filmmaking, this provocative documentary uses George Orwell's own words to explore how the dystopian concepts of 1984—doublethink, thoughtcrime and Newspeak—illuminate the authoritarian currents shaping our contemporary world. Festival attendees will have the rare opportunity to engage with Peck and executive producer Alex Gibney in an intimate masterclass exploring cinema as a tool of resistance in Orwellian times.
The CIFF slate features three World Premieres in this year’s edition. Sama Waham’s multimedia personal essay Ki-Bé -Giš recounts Iraq’s 2019 uprisings from the perspective of an Iraqi-Canadian filmmaker living in exile. Andres Livov’s The Blueberry Blues captures the fading tradition of blueberry picking in northern Canada, as demographic shifts bring seasonal workers from Mexico to sustain the harvest amidst a changing climate. In Kaitlyn Schwalje and Alex Wolf Lewis’s charming and eye-opening feature debut, Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong, a motley crew of unlikely heroes battles aging infrastructure, forever chemicals and public misconceptions about the critical importance of wastewater management.
This year’s slate includes three alumni of Points North’s Artist Programs, which help emerging filmmakers develop their projects and careers: the Sundance Grand Jury prize-winning Seeds by Brittany Shyne, 2018 North Star Fellow; Remaining Native by Paige Bethmann, 2022 American Stories Fellow and 2023 4th World Media Lab Fellow, and winner of the Audience Award and the Documentary Feature Special Jury Award at SXSW; and the aforementioned Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong by Kaitlyn Schwalje and Alex Wolf Lewis, 2023 LEF/CIFF Fellows.
The festival will present North American and U.S. Premieres from some of the most innovative and adventurous documentary filmmakers working across the globe. The relationship between conflict and image-making are explored through Kamal al Jafari’s With Hasan in Gaza, an archival recollection of a 2001 road trip across to Gaza; Alisa Kovalenko’s My Dear Theo, a cinematic love letter from the Ukrainian filmmaker-turned-soldier to her son back home; and Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s National Geographic release Love+War, which follows the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Adarrio as she travels between conflict zones and her family in London.
Rural life and changing landscapes are centered in Deming Chen’s CPH:DOX winner Always, Canadian multidisciplinary artist Amalie Atkins’s 16mm feature debut Agatha's Almanac, and Shifting Baselines, Julien Elie’s portrait of Boca Chica, Texas, where Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket launches symbolize the rush to colonize space.
Finally, the power of scientific knowledge and the value of environmental conservation are highlighted in Tasha Van Zandt’s TIFF-premiering A Life Illuminated, about the pioneering marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder, Camden-based director Ian Cheney’s Observer, and The Last Dive by Cody Sheehy. Van Zandt’s film will be featured on Closing Night, including an extended Q&A with Dr. Widder.
CIFF’s showcase of creative and innovative cinematic nonfiction extends into its slate of short films, including World Premieres of Robert and June (and all the time in the world) by Jem Cohen, Dragica, Danica, Duška by Iva Radivojević and Memento Mori (zinc) by Ainara Vera. The shorts program includes North American or U.S. premieres of Daria’s Night Flowers by Maryam Tafakory, Their Eyes by Nicolas Gourault, L'Mina by Randa Maroufi and Objects Do Not Randomly Fall From the Sky by Maria Estela Paiso, winner of the Special Youth Jury Award at Visions du Reel.
Also featured in the shorts program is the festival’s annual Dirigo Docs showcase of short films by Maine-based filmmakers.
This year marks the debut of the Ben Fowlie Audience Award, supported by longtime patrons Ann & Dick Costello, which honors CIFF’s founder and his enduring impact on the festival’s spirit and community. The Fowlie Award winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize and the winner will be selected by audience ballot, celebrating storytelling that connects powerfully with festival-goers.
For the first time, CIFF will span four full days, with screenings beginning Thursday morning and continuing through Sunday night at the Camden Opera House and The Strand Theatre in Rockland. The expanded program will also incorporate a free community screening of Ian Cheney’s Observer at The Strom Auditorium on Wednesday, September 10th, the night before the festival's official kick-off. In addition to its slate of films, CIFF 2025 will feature a series of film-inspired experiences, including an immersive “observation walk” inspired by Observer and a community run connected to Paige Bethmann’s Remaining Native.
Come See Me in the Good Light by Ryan White
Similar to prior years, the festival will run concurrently with Points North’s Artist Programs fellowships, which support 20 documentary films in development from around the world through mentor-led creative retreats and industry access opportunities. In total, nearly 40 early-and mid-career filmmakers with works-in-progress will attend CIFF through Points North programs and partnerships with an array of mission-aligned artist development organizations, including Bay Area Video Coalition, American Documentary | POV and Untitled Filmmaker Organization. The confluence of these programs make the CIFF weekend the most dynamic, intimate, and globally representative documentary market experience in the U.S. A full announcement of this year’s Points North supported filmmaker fellows will be made later in August.
A complete list of the program’s features and short films can be found below.
2025 Camden International Film Festival Features
Features
Agatha's Almanac | Amalie Atkins | Canada | U.S. Premiere
Defying modernity, 90-year-old Agatha forges a solitary existence on her ancestral farm, preserving heirloom seeds in her handmade universe.
Always | Demin Chen | USA, France, China, Taiwan | U.S. Premiere
A cinematic allegory of a boy becoming a teenager in rural China. Searching through an emotional landscape of growth, he reflects on the poetry of his solitary childhood.
The Blueberry Blues | Andrés Livov | Canada | World Premiere
Amidst wildfires and a fleeting blueberry harvest, workers in northern Quebec find comfort in music and camaraderie as they race against the frost.
Come See Me in the Good Light | Ryan White | USA
An unexpectedly funny and joyful love story, poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley navigate life and mortality in the face of an incurable diagnosis.
Evidence | Lee Anne Schmitt | USA | North American Premiere
Evidence is both an analysis of corporate spending and the impact of dark money on US politics and ideology and a personal meditation on ideas of family and care.
I am Night at Noonday | Gaspard Hirschi | France | North American Premiere
A docudrama, mockumentary in which the story of Don Quixote comes to life in a contemporary Marseille. Marseille is an archipelago. A third of the city's housing stock is now made up of closed residential complexes. Against this backdrop, Manolo Bez plays the role of Don Quixote. The performance takes the form of a ride through the city, with our knight and his squire Sancho-Saïd battling against the fences and other obstacles in their way.
Iron Winter | Kasimir Burgess | Mongolia, Australia | North American Premiere
A young Mongolian nomad, responsible for herding one thousand horses through perilous mountain terrain, faces a difficult choice — honour the ancient winter tradition alongside his best friend, or leave it all behind for life in the city.
Khartoum | Anas Saaed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed, Phil Cox | Sudan, UK, Germany, Qatar
Khartoum follows five residents of Sudan’s capital whose lives are upended by civil war, filmed in Sudan and in exile by a collective of Sudanese filmmakers. Through inventive reconstructions and poetic memories, this collaborative documentary captures both the pain of displacement and the enduring beauty of a beloved city.
Ki-Bé -Giš | Sama Waham | Canada | World Premiere
In the aftermath of Iraq’s silenced uprising, a forgotten fable reawakens—woven from hidden talismans, fractured memory and a river’s lullaby of return.
The Last Dive | Cody Sheehy | Mexico, USA
A legendary diver who has spent decades living on—and in—the water embarks on one final journey to a remote island in hopes of reuniting with his old friend.
Les Voyageurs | David Bingong | Cameroon, Spain, Morocco | North American Premiere
On the border between Morocco and Spain, a group of travelers is eagerly waiting to cross over to Europe. One failed attempt after another, they survive — singing, filming and keeping the flame of hope alive.
Life After | Reid Davenport | USA
A gripping personal investigation that exposes the tangled web of moral dilemmas and profit motives surrounding assisted dying.
A Life Illuminated | Tasha Van Zandt | USA | U.S. Premiere
After a lifetime of unveiling the deep sea’s most mysterious secrets, pioneering marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder descends 3,300 feet into the ocean's depths on her most groundbreaking mission yet — to capture a bioluminescent phenomenon that could transform our understanding of life on Earth.
Love+War | Jimmy Chin, Chai Vasarhelyi | USA | US Premiere
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Lynsey Addario risks her life in the male-dominated world of conflict photography, capturing the realities of war. But each assignment means stepping into danger and leaving behind her husband and two young sons. Behind the camera, Addario is torn between her commitment to the essential work of journalism and the powerful, competing demands of motherhood.
My Dear Theo | Alisa Kovalenko | Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic | North American Premiere
Ukrainian volunteer soldier, filmmaker and mother Alisa Kovalenko creates a testament to the power of love in the time of war — by balancing frontline routines, the horrors of the battlefield and tender poetic letters to her little son, Théo.
Nuestra Tierra | Lucretia Martel | Argentina, USA, Mexico, France, Netherland, Denmark | US Premiere
A leaked video of the 2009 murder of Indigenous leader Javier Chocobar during a land dispute in northern Argentina sets justice in motion. Nine years later, the trial begins and the film weaves courtroom footage with community voices and images to uncover the deep colonial roots of land dispossession.
Observer | Ian Cheney | USA
In Observer, filmmaker Ian Cheney embarks on an experiment in which he brings a series of keen-eyed observers — scientists, artists, a hunter — to a range of locations around the world, often without telling them where they are going, and asks them simply to describe what they see.
Orwell: 2+2=5 | Raoul Peck
Orwell: 2+2=5 examines George Orwell’s final months and most visionary works, tracing the origins of the urgent and unsettling ideas his prescient writing brought to light.
The Perfect Neighbor | Geeta Gandbhir | USA
Using bodycam footage from dozens of police visits, The Perfect Neighbor bears witness to a tight-knit community navigating one neighbor’s relentless harassment. But her hostility takes a sinister turn when it escalates into a fatal crime. A Netflix release
Powwow People | Sky Hopinka | USA | US Premiere
Powwow People is a vérité-style documentary grounded in the rhythms, relationships and lived experience of contemporary Native powwow culture. Told through the lens of artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk/Pechanga), the film is an intimate portrait of a powwow organized, hosted and documented through the production of this film.
Remaining Native | Paige Bethmann | USA
Remaining Native is a coming-of-age documentary told from the perspective of Kutoven (Ku) Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggling to navigate his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete as the memory of his great-grandfather's escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present and future.
Seeds | Brittany Shyne | USA
A look into the lives of Black generational farmers, unveiling the challenges of maintaining legacy and the value of land ownership.
Shifting Baselines | Julian Elie | USA | U.S. Premiere
Where the Rio Grande meets the sea, the rockets of SpaceX are launched; astronomers gaze skyward, hawkers shill their wares and environmentalists survey the damage. Welcome to Boca Chica, USA.
Under the Flags, the Sun | Juanjo Pereira | Paraguay, Argentina, USA, France, Germany | U.S. Premiere
Under the Flags, the Sun weaves unseen archival footage to chronicle Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year dictatorship in Paraguay, exposing propaganda and control whose imprint on national identity endures today.
Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong | Kaitlyn Schwalje, Alex Wolf Lewis | USA | World Premiere
About Points North
Established in 2016, Points North Institute is the launching pad for the next generation of nonfiction storytellers. Building on the success of the Camden International Film Festival, Points North brings together a unique, interdisciplinary community of filmmakers, artists, journalists, industry leaders, and audiences, forming a creative hub on the coast of Maine where new stories and talent are discovered, collaborations are born, and the future of nonfiction media is shaped. Programs include the annual Camden International Film Festival and Points North Forum, as well as a year-round calendar of artist development initiatives that nurture the careers of diverse nonfiction storytellers and help them develop a stronger artistic voice. Founded in 2005 and recognized as one of the top documentary film festivals in the world, the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) brings innovative nonfiction cinema to the coast of Maine, showcasing 50+ documentary films and immersive works from around the globe each fall. The 2025 Camden International Film Festival will take place September 11-14. Major support for this year’s CIFF and Artist Programs is provided by National Geographic Documentary Films, YETI, The deNovo Initiative, RandomGood Foundation, LEF Foundation, ESPN Films, Apple TV+, MacArthur Foundation, Perspective Fund, Lesher Family Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts.