The 28th edition of Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF), themed Pause, unveiled the film lineup of 145 features and shorts from 34 countries. The full lineup includes 15 narrative features and 10 documentary features, highlighted below. The festival runs May 30th through June 8th, 2025.

On May 30, BFF will open the festival with the World Premiere of This Will Never Work starring Marinda Anderson, Amandla Jahava, Jerimiyah Dunbar, Portia, Usama Siddiquee, Pete Grosz, Ron Canada and Sarah Stiles. It is about a family coming together to hold an intervention for a loved one’s drinking problem. They’ve hired a therapist named Trevor, written emotional letters, and now they sit and wait for their loved one to arrive. But when she does, Trevor realizes that the family hasn’t exactly been honest with him. The intervention turns into a whodunnit of all the family’s drama and trauma. As we flash back and forth from contested family memories to the claustrophobic intervention room, we’ll piece together the mysteries that haunt this family.

Along with the film screenings, BFF will offer additional events – both on social media and on the festival website.

Narrative Features

ALICE-HEART | USA | East-Coast Premiere
Set in black-and-white Philadelphia, an aimless college senior navigates shallow artists, genuine friendships, and homework.

DIFFERENCE & REPETITION, 2020 | USA | World Premiere
In March 2020, an Argentine woman flees New York with her Peruvian husband for his family’s empty beach house outside of Lima, whereupon an unplanned pregnancy precipitates the destruction of her marriage. In the present, she rips the moments of this narrative from their context and reconstructs her story to reckon with her profound feeling of loneliness and the experience of time in which it has trapped her.

DOMESTIC ANIMALS | USA | World Premiere
On the brink of their thirties, five longtime friends reunite for a farewell getaway, but their idyllic retreat turns sour when they lose their beloved dogs in the woods.

ERA | Kosovo | World Premiere
Set in Kosovo in 1990 at a time of political volatility as Yugoslavia is breaking apart, Era tells the story of 17-year-old Era, a rebellious Albanian girl who has fallen in love with Betim, a man stuck between two worlds on account of his having an Albanian father and a Serbian mother.

FOUL EVIL DEEDS | United Kingdom | East-coast Premiere
A dark comedy showcasing the wide variety of evil behaviour human beings are capable of.

I SEE THE DEMON | USA | East-Coast Premiere
After seeing a strange object floating in the sky, Lucy comes home to a surprise birthday party with all of her favorite people. She’s overjoyed, but when asked about her day, she realizes she can’t remember anything about it. As the evening descends into madness, Lucy must discern reality from illusion, and who of her friends are really on her side.

INTRUDERS | France | New York Premiere
Some foreign minors take refuge on the farm of a caring lady. They are looking for a home but get involved in the story of a broken family. The situation escalates when the lady mysteriously disappears. A family investigation suspects the young migrants, who are hiding something out of fear and ignorance of their rights. During a traditional initiation ceremony, secrets come to light.

MOUSE | USA | World Premiere
Denny, a petty thief living with his mother, signs up for a pen pal service in hopes of finding a friend, or maybe more. Unfortunately for Denny, his pen pal has other plans.

STATIONED AT HOME | USA | US Premiere
Ona clear and frigid Christmas Eve in 1998, in a small, forgotten city, a solitary taxi driver on the graveyard shift breathlessly awaits the sight of the International Space Station. As the hours count down, a parade of off beat misfits derail his plans, propelling the story to its exhilarating climax.

THE COURAGEOUS | Switzerland | New York Premiere
In a small town on the edge of wild country, an eccentric and delinquent mother has had enough of the rules. Crushed by her mistakes and by a society that doesn’t give a damn—or a second chance—to people like her, she’ll do anything to prove to her children, and to herself, that she still is a good person.

THE RABBIT HOLE | USA | World Premiere
Isaac, a neurotic tree-hugger, builds a god-like supercomputer in order to save the natural world. But, when the machine comes to life and his existence begins to crumble, Isaac is forced to choose between destiny and the person he loves most.

THE SNARE | USA | East-Coast Premiere
When straight-A student Dani is caught with a small amount of drugs, the police give her a brutal choice: become an informant or risk losing everything she’s worked for. Pulled into a dangerous double life, she must decide whether to protect the people she loves—or the future she’s sacrificed everything to achieve.

VIOLENT BUTTERFLIES | Mexico | US Premiere
A graffiti artist and the singer of a punk band meet in an atmosphere of profound social crisis and discontent. Their idealist and revolutionary minds seek a world of justice, and they are willing to fight for it. Naive and innocent, they are unaware of the power of impunity and injustice until they fall victims to police brutality. When justice is absent, revenge is an act of faith.

WHITE FLASH | Netherlands | US Premiere
This is the story of Aagje, Toon, and their son Rick (42). Rick suffers from psychotic episodes, depression, and severe headaches. We follow their journey in the last six weeks leading up to the death of Rick. A journey proving that letting someone so close to us go is the most extreme expression of love.

Feature Documentaries

CYCLE | United States | NY Premiere
CYCLE is a film that deconstructs the systemic cycle of police brutality in America, is being released at an interesting and important time.

DESERT ANGEL | United States – Mexico | NY Premiere
Forty years ago, Rafael Larraenza took his life into his hands to cross into the US from Mexico. After building a successful career and gaining legal status.

HARKNESS | Canada – United Kingdom – United States | US Premiere
An enigmatic musician disguised in an alien-looking cloak and visor, is on a mission to launch an artistic revolution against the commodification.

I LOVE YOU, ALLWAYS | United States | NY Premiere
Have you ever seen a burlesque dancer have sex with a watermelon? What about Bob Ross twerking with his butt covered in paint?

LARRY (THEY/THEM) | Canada – United States | NY Premiere
Young non-binary trans photographer Laurence Philomène has emerged as one of the most original and inspiring voices of their generation and an LGBTQ.

LOVE CHAOS KIN | United States – India | NY Premiere
An unexpected pregnancy leads an Indian immigrant mother to help her adopted twin daughters reconnect with their struggling White birth mother.

ROADS OF FIRE | United States – Colombia | NY Premiere
ROADS OF FIRE examines the global migrant crisis through the lens of the $35 Billion migrant smuggling trade, tracking a smuggler as he transports a family.

SHE CRIED THAT DAY | United States | NY Premiere
She Cried That Day is the story of a sister’s love and the spirit, strength and will of Indigenous Women refusing to let their loved ones remain invisible.

TIGHT LINES | Iceland | World Premiere
Four young girls take their first steps guiding anglers on the banks of Laxá in Aðaldalur, Iceland´s biggest salmon river.

WE CAN BE HEROES | United States | NY Premiere
Sometimes, finding your tribe requires a bit of magic. For attendees of a live action role-playing (LARP) camp in upstate New York.