Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements will open the 27th San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest) taking place from February 6 to 18, 2025. The documentary chronicles the story of one of the popular 90s bands.
The festival centerpiece film is The Paper Bag Plan directed by Bay Area native Anthony Lucer.
SF IndieFest closes with the Bay Area premiere of Among Neighbors, along with “The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lago” and Timestalker.
“For more than a quarter century, San Francisco Independent Film Festival has sought out new film discoveries for Bay Area film fans to enjoy. IndieFest continues to provide new and unusual alternatives to the Hollywood Industrial Complex,” explains Festival Director Jeff Ross.
“This year we are honored to collaborate with the Jewish Film Institute to co-present one of our Closing Night films and JFI/ Winterfest’s Opening Night. As a way of reaching audiences who appreciate vibrant and important storytelling, human touch and community is needed more than ever to curate a unique cinematic experience.”
2025 San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest) Big Nights and Local Films
OPENING NIGHT
PAVEMENTS
Director: Alex Ross Perry
Documentary Feature
Preeminent indie director Alex Ross Perry (THE COLOR WHEEL, SF IndieFest 2012) captures the story of one of the most important bands of the 90s, Pavement. Perry blends elements of music biopic, Off-Broadway jukebox musical, and pop-up museum exhibition to create an alternate reality of the cult-favorite band’s past and present as they prepare for a reunion tour. The film combines interviews, rehearsals, and behind-the-scenes footage with a movie-within-the-movie that features memorable performances from Stranger Things star Joe Keery and Jason Schwartzman, among others.
CLOSING NIGHTS
THE LEGEND OF THE VAGABOND QUEEN OF LAGOS
Narrative Feature
Director: The Agbajowo Collective
Anchored by a stunning performance from Temi Ami-Williams (EYIMOFE), the debut from Nigeria’s Agbajowo Collective, part thriller, part magical realism, is a riveting indictment of the unchecked development and forced evictions besetting Africa’s largest city. In this gripping depiction of fierce resistance, the filmmakers bring a lively mix of legend and community struggle to a fable grounded in Nigeria’s real-life mass evictions. In 2017, the state government and corrupt police colluded to burn out and bulldoze the waterside shanty town of Otodo-Gbame, leaving thousands homeless. Those who resisted were beaten, jailed, or worse. In the fictionalized version – called Agbojedo – young mother Jawu, living in the floating slums on the lagoon that gives Lagos its name, is compelled by the spirit of the great warrior king Egbaezen to stand firm against these forced evictions, unifying her poor but loyal community behind her in an epic multi-genre adventure containing a stash of extorted money and a magical African Grey parrot.
AMONG NEIGHBORS
Director: Yoav Potash
Documentary Feature
Using beautiful hand-drawn animation to bring the past to life, AMONG NEIGHBORS investigates the story of a small, rural town where World War II shattered the longstanding peace between Jewish and Polish neighbors. The film focuses on the only living Holocaust survivor from the town, and an aging eyewitness who saw Jews murdered there — six months after the Nazis were defeated. Produced and directed by award-winning Bay Area filmmaker Yoav Potash (CRIME AFTER CRIME), AMONG NEIGHBORS is an evocative, heart-pounding murder mystery with urgent political relevance.
TIMESTALKER
Director: Alice Lowe
Narrative Feature
Follow hapless heroine Agnes through time as she repeatedly falls for the wrong guy, dies a grim death, and gets reincarnated a century later, before meeting him again and starting the cycle anew. It is one story told over many periods, all with the messy thrills and spills that come with daring to follow your heart. Or maybe your loins… Agnes’ only hope in avoiding this violent fate is by finally reaching spiritual enlightenment; but how can she ever wise up when she’s destined to be a fool for love? Some lessons are just too hard to learn in one lifetime.
CENTERPIECE FILM
THE PAPER BAG PLAN
Director: Anthony Lucero (Oakland)
Narrative Feature
When a father is diagnosed with cancer, he has a race against time to train his disabled son the intricacies of bagging groceries in hopes of him landing a job and beginning a life of independence. Bay Area native Anthony Lucero (EAST SIDE SUSHI, SF IndieFest 2015) returns with another audience favorite at festivals around the country.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS & EVENTS
Screenplay Panel/Reception
Join SF IndieFest’s Screenwriting Competition Director Jess Waters in conversation with Anthony Lucero (THE PAPER BAG PLAN), Miyoni Nelson (ENCRYPTED), and JP Allen (MEMORIZING ALISON) about their experiences getting their scripts from an idea to a finished film playing in this year’s film festival.
Saturday Night Jump
After the world premiere of KCSM 91.1 THE BAY AREA’S JAZZ STATION TO THE WORLD head to The Rite Spot for a live performance from The Cottontails, a super-group of local music titans: pianist and bandleader Michael McIntosh, vocalist Karina Denike, guitar- and bassist Vic Wong, drummer Randy Odell, and Tom Griesser on reeds.
BAY AREA FEATURES
ENCRYPTED
Director: Miyoni Nelson (Vallejo)
Narrative Feature
Miyoni Nelson highlights the importance of treating mental health, specifically in Black households. We follow Gia, a young woman with too much weight on her shoulders, as she scathes her way through a brand new journey of self-discovery, which forces her to face her inner child for the first time. The story warns its audiences of the potential effects that follow negligence of the self and lovelessness. The story threads a needle through every life that has been altered—or taken—as a result of untreated and/or undiscovered mental health illnesses.
KCSM 91.1 THE BAY AREA’S JAZZ STATION TO THE WORLD
Directors: Wade Shields, Jasmine Wang, Danny Monico (San Francisco)
Documentary Feature, World Premiere
As America’s only original art form, the cultural relevance of jazz is at risk of being forgotten – if not for the dedicated announcers at KCSM Jazz 91.1.
MAXXIE LAWOW: DRAG SUPER-SHERO
Director: Anthony Hand (San Jose)
Animated Feature
When drag queens start disappearing, a shy young barista must summon his inner super-shero to rescue them from an ambitious evil drag queen bent on harvesting their magical anti-aging tears in this animated feature featuring SF’s Drag Laureate Darcy Drollinger and other local drag luminaries.
MEMORIZING ALISON
Director: JP Allen (San Francisco)
Narrative Feature
A man with an extraordinary but failing memory tries to solve the mystery of what happened to a woman killed by a hit-and-run driver. Bay Area indie film stalwart JP Allen (THE GIRL IN GOLDEN GATE PARK, SF IndieFest 2021) returns with this neo-noir tale.
Features
AMONG NEIGHBORS
ANXIOUS
BABY FEVER
BOUND
BRITNEY LOST HER PHONE
DIRTY BOY
ENCRYPTED
FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS
INFINITE SUMMER
KCSM 91.1 THE BAY AREA’S JAZZ STATION TO THE WORLD
MAXXIE LAWOW: DRAG SUPER-SHERO
MEMORIZING ALISON
PAVEMENTS
PROTECTED MEN
SCARLET BLUE
SIDEWAYS FOR ATTENTION
SILENT NOTES
STRANGERS
THE 4 OF US
THE KARAMAZOVS
THE LEGEND OF THE VAGABOND QUEEN OF LAGOS
THE PAPER BAG PLAN
TIMESTALKER
TOUCHDOWN
VAMPIRE ZOMBIES… FROM SPACE!
Shorts
APOCALYPTIC SOUND
APOLOGY
BLOSSOM OF CHOICE
BUTT CREW – A FILM ESSAY
DRAFT NIGHT
EARTH IS FOR LOVERS
FAIR TRADE
HOLDING ON FOREVER
HOUSE OF THE MONSTER
IN THE FOLD
KISMET
LIKE ME
MANNEQUIN
MAUD ET LUNA
MONDEGREEN
MY BACK PAGES
NICO
NO VACANCY
ON THE RAIKS
OTHERS
PIGS FLY (AND GODS CRY)
PLEASE SEND HELP
PREMIUM CASKET
REWARD IF FOUND
SANDRA
SLEEP TRAINING
SO TO SPEAK
SPROUTS IN CONCRETE
STAINS
SUBURBAN STORY
THE LAST BITE
THE SUN IS IN MY EYES
THE WHITE RABBIT
TO THE MOON
UNIVERSE 24
YOU AND I ARE A WORK OF ART