The Stony Brook Film Festival revealed the full lineup for its 30th anniversary edition taking place from July 17–26 at Staller Center for the Arts. The 2025 Festival will showcase 36 films from 19 countries, including world premieres, U.S. debuts, and exclusive screenings.
The festival will open with the East Coast Premiere of The Ties That Bind Us, directed by Carine Tardieu and starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Pio Marmaï and Vimala Pons, about a set-in-her-ways 50-something single woman who finds herself in a slowly shifting relationship with two children who live in her apartment building.
And closing night will feature the American premiere from Spain of Gala Gracia’s first feature film, The Remnants of You. The film follows a woman putting her career as a jazz pianist on hold following the sudden death of her father.
The theme of family continues with many of the films at this year’s festival, including the action-drama Way Home, that features a father struggling to bring his radicalized son back home from war-torn Syria; the challenging and inspiring drama Nawi, in which a young Kenyan teenage girl’s dreams of attending High School are jeopardized by her father’s plans to marry her off; the hilarious Mazel Tov, where a quick-talking, neurotic man who has been estranged from his siblings, returns to Argentina to mend his broken relationships – if he could only keep his big mouth shut; and from India, The Umesh Chronicles, that follows a woman from a privileged background considering the very different life of the servant-boy that grew up with her.
Three American independent dramas on the lineup are Westhampton, La Gloria and Mad Bills to Pay: (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo). Finn Wittrock gives a finely layered portrayal of a filmmaker plagued by his past in the offbeat and witty Long Island-based feature Westhampton by LI-native Christian Nilsson. Shot on location at his grandfather’s scenic ranch near the border of Mexico, JT Walker’s epic La Gloria stars David Morse as an aged rancher struggling to earn the trust of an immigrant woman he accidentally wounded. Director Joel Alfonso Vargas has created a work of art that harkens back to the 70’s heyday of independent cinema with Mad Bills to Pay: (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo), a film that explores the struggles of a 19-year-old man-child navigating his new responsibilities after bringing his pregnant girlfriend to live with his family in the Bronx.
Other films include the period drama Mistura, in which a privileged French-Peruvian woman embarks on a daring culinary venture with the very people she had been raised to disregard. In the documentary Ali Eats America, a teenage cancer patient plots a map with his mother of all the restaurants he wants to visit across the country. In Animale, the western/horror/mystery from the South of France, featuring Oulaya Amamra of Divertimento and Hard Shell, Soft Shell, a bull-racer notices disturbing changes occurring around her following an injury.
Schedule (subject to change)
OPENING NIGHT | Thursday, July 17, 2025
7:00 PM
Hearts of Stone 30 min
The Ties That Bind Us 106 min
Following the films: Opening Night Party – Elaine’s
For Gold Passholders, Filmmakers & VIP’s only
Friday, July 18, 2025
7:00 PM
Resaca 11 min
Mistura 96 min
9:30 PM
Quick Fix 8 min
Way Home 98 min
Saturday, July 19, 2025
7:00 PM
A Guest in My Country 15 min
Westhampton 94 min
9:30 PM
We Do Our Best 14 min
Long Story Short 107 min
Sunday, July 20, 2025
7:00 PM
Blackmoll 19 min
Never Alone 85 min
9:30 PM
We Buy Houses 8 min
La Gloria 120 min
Monday, July 21, 2025
7:00 PM
Miracle 7 min
Nawi 103 min
9:30 PM
The Traveler’s Prayer 9 min
Real Estate 109 min
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
7:00 PM
My name is Dania 22 min
Mazel Tov 97 min
9:30 PM
Chatter 11 min
Midas Man 112 min
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
7:00 PM
Ebb & Flow 18 min
Ali Eats America 91 min
9:30 PM
Crab Claw 8 min
A World Apart 113 min
Thursday, July 24, 2025
7:00 PM
3 Minutos 5 min
The Umesh Chronicles 124 min
9:30 PM
Wait To Tell Mother 12 min
Animale 98 min
Friday, July 25, 2025
7:00 PM
Baquine Friends Forever 13 min
Mad Bills to Pay 101 min
9:30 PM
Sweet Cesspool 6 min
Uncle Vanya – Bubble Waltz 90 min
CLOSING NIGHT | Saturday, July 26, 2025
7:00 PM
Place Under the Sun 20 min
The Remnants of You 92 min
Following the films: Awards Ceremony
Closing Night Party – SāGhar
For Gold Passholders, Filmmakers, VIP’s only