The Lighthouse International Film Festival will return June 10-14 with its 18th edition, unveiling a 2026 lineup that spans world premieres, festival standouts from Sundance and SXSW, and a wide range of narrative, documentary, and genre programming.
The festival will open with Chili Finger, directed by Edd Banda and Stephen Halsted, and close with Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Superhero, directed by Bayan Joonam.
The Long Beach Island-based festival will also feature appearances by Jason Alexander and Tony Shalhoub, along with a 30th anniversary screening of ‘Big Night.’
“We are incredibly proud to unveil the full lineup,” said Artistic Director Amir Bogen, who highlighted the opening and closing night selections as central anchors of the festival. “From our opening night film Chili Finger, to our closing night featuring Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Superhero, this year’s program showcases a diverse collection of features, documentaries, shorts, television projects, Darkhouse elections, and surf films.”
Executive Director Wilhelm Kuhn added, “At a moment of renewed energy for filmmaking in New Jersey, Lighthouse is proud to serve as a meeting point for artists, audiences and the industry at large. As we gather again on Long Beach Island for this 18th edition, our lineup celebrates the vitality and singularity of independent cinema across the world.”
Opening Night Film
CHILI FINGER
Directed by: Edd Banda & Stephen Halsted
Country: US
Runtime: 100 min
Following in the footsteps of the Coen Brothers’ bittersweet, hot-and-cold storytelling style, first-time co-directors Edd Benda and Stephen Halsted craft a sharp crime comedy with a heartwarming twist. The plot unfolds in a small Midwestern town, where a chain of accidental events starting in a bowl of chili, snowballs into a series of surprising turns, suggesting things may not be as casual as they seem.
A star-studded cast is led by the brilliant Judy Greer, as a woman at the center of the story, a mother searching for purpose in her empty nest, alongside her gullible husband, played by Sean Astin. Madeline Wise, Sarah Herrman, and Paul Stanko join the ride, along with veterans Bryan Cranston and John Goodman, in absolutely hilarious performances, proudly adding to their own gallery of offbeat characters on-screen.
Closing Night Film
PHOENIX JONES: THE RISE AND FALL OF A REAL LIFE SUPERHERO
Directed by: Bayan Joonam
Country: US
Runtime: 115 min
In 2010, reports began surfacing of a masked vigilante in a black-and-gold supersuit stopping crime on the streets of Seattle. His name is Phoenix Jones. Armed with pepper spray, a taser, and a team of costumed crime fighters, he quickly becomes an international media sensation. But when his true identity is exposed by the Seattle Police, the heroic image begins to unravel and his team abandons him. Ten years later, as protesters seize six blocks of Seattle and declare a no cop zone, Phoenix reemerges amid legal trouble and public skepticism.
Friday Centerpiece
THE SUN NEVER SETS
Directed by: Joe Swanberg
Country: US
Runtime: 102 min
Wendy finds her life upended when her boyfriend Jack —older, divorced, and with children—asks for space to reassess their relationship. During their separation, Wendy reconnects with her ex, Chuck, sparking an emotionally charged love triangle that forces all three to confront the realities of love, timing, and personal growth.
Saturday Centerpiece
RUN AMOK
Directed by: NB Mager
Country: US
Runtime: 103 min
When Meg (Alyssa Marvin) discovers a commemoration ceremony is being planned for the shooting that took place at her high school ten years ago, she knows she must contribute something. After all, the shooting claimed the lives of three students, and one teacher— her mom. Meg decides to stage a full, musical reenactment of the event. With her cast of high school misfits, She attempts to pull off this bizarre, tender, and unwieldy undertaking – while the adults, armed with denial, dogma, and rubber bullet guns, do everything they can to stop her. Starring Patrick Wilson, Molly Ringwald, Bill Camp, Margaret Cho.
HOT WATER
Directed by: Rmazi Bashour
Country: US
Runtime: 97 min
In this unconventional and comedic road odyssey, a Lebanese mother and her American son (Lubna Azabal, Daniel Zolghadri) drive across the United States, revealing the fractures and bonds between them. Poetically shot against the country’s wide-open vistas, Hot Water upends traditional ideas of home and belonging with cutting humor and remarkable beauty.
Narrative Features Competition
BEACHCOMBER
Directed by: Aristotelis Maragkos
Country: Greece
Runtime: 91 min
Elias dreams of building a boat capable of returning him to the sea, despite having little more than scrap materials and fading hope. Living under the shadow of his seafaring father’s legacy, he spends his days constructing the vessel on a quiet shoreline, convinced it will one day carry him toward a better life. Yet as the fragile structure begins to collapse, Elias must confront the illusions he has built around himself. Drawing inspiration from the works of Greek poet and sailor Nikos Kavvadias, director Aristotelis Maragkos creates a visually striking meditation on ambition, failure, and the search for personal meaning.
THE DAUGHTER
Directed by: Pouria Kakavand
Country: Iran
Runtime: 97 min
Faced with the economic strain of raising a child in Iran, Nima and Mahshid choose not to have a biological child. Instead, they create and nurture an imaginary daughter—a being born entirely of love and longing. In their shared imagination, they experience the joys and struggles of parenthood, free from real-world limitations. But as time passes, Mahshid begins to lose her grip on reality. The line between what’s imagined and what’s real starts to blur, pushing her toward emotional collapse.
DON’T CALL ME MAMA
Directed by: Nina Knag
Country: Norway
Runtime: 105 min
Eva, a popular high school teacher and wife to the town’s mayor, faces the ultimate test when she falls in love with a young asylum seeker, sparking a forbidden relationship with shattering consequences for them both. Their relationship reveals complex dynamics of power, privilege and moral ambiguity.
THE GYMNAST
Directed by: Charlotte Glynn
Country: US
Runtime: 84 min
In post-industrial Pittsburgh, a 16-year-old elite gymnast (played by vlogging athlete, Britney Wheeler) and her single father (Ethan Embry) struggle to reorient their lives after a potentially career-ending injury threatens her Olympic prospects.
LONE RIDER
Directed by: Adam Jumba
Country: US
Runtime: 88 min
Twenty-five-year-old Tyler (Jack Alcott) steals back his beat-up ’89 Mustang from his estranged father and takes off with no plan beyond the next mile. Chasing a Facebook post and the fading memory of a teenage crush, he drifts through middle-of-nowhere diners, old stomping grounds, and midnight highways, crossing paths with old friends, strangers, and moments that feel like echoes of another life. Inspired by early-Linklater, Lone Rider turns a spur-of-the-moment theft into a psychological summer odyssey.
MANS BEST
Directed by: Seth McTigue
Country: US
Runtime: 80 min
Lance is haunted by the crash that killed his father and brother. Now he lives in his mom’s basement, broken and drifting, clinging to the only thing that gives him purpose – his dog, Champion. When Champ is diagnosed with cancer, Lance spirals. Desperate, he takes whatever work he can find – fast, dirty, dangerous – risking everything for one last chance to save him. But as time runs out, he makes a fatal mistake.
PESCADOR
Directed by: Harry Domenico Rossi
Country: US
Runtime: 107 min
A two-part story of American siblings adrift in Costa Rica. In part one, a young marine biologist travels through beatific vistas, harsh weather, and social disjunction as she searches for a mythical fish in the jungle. In the second half, a magical lobster grants a lonely fisherman one wish: a son. The fisherman finds the scientist’s erratic brother adrift at sea and nurses him to health, forming a fragile bond. The film asks: What do you sacrifice for isolation? What must you risk to connect?
UNION COUNTY
Directed by: Adam Meeks
Country: US
Runtime: 97 min
In a pocket of rural Ohio hit hard by the nationwide opioid epidemic, a court-mandated drug rehabilitation program offers help to those hoping to overcome addiction. While wrestling with their own internal struggles, Cody Parsons (Will Poulter) and his brother Jack (Noah Centineo) work toward sobriety with the support of a tireless and a community of fellow locals in recovery. With a cast predominantly made up of non-professional actors sharing their experiences, pain, and hope, Ohio-born filmmaker Adam Meeks blends fiction and documentary for an honest, compassionate portrait of a battle being fought all over America and the solidarity that flowers on its front lines.
Documentary Features Competition
THE ART OF ADVENTURE
Directed by: Alison Reid
Country: Canada
Runtime: 86 min
An inspiring and deeply human documentary about the extraordinary lifelong friendship between world renowned wildlife artist Robert Bateman and spirited biologist Bristol Foster. Through their epic 1957 journey around the world – armed with a 16mm camera and an artist’s brush – the film opens a vivid window onto a planet once wild and unscarred and a bond formed though curiosity, courage and love of nature. At its heart the film weaves together nature, art, and activism, showing how two very different men fought to protect the natural world: one through art, the other through science. Now in their 90’s Bob and Bristol deliver a moving reflection on legacy, mortality and the wisdom of our elders – and a reminder that humanity and nature are inseparable.
THE ASCENT
Directed by: Edward Drake, Scott Veltri, Francis Cronin
Country: US
Runtime: 103 min
The extraordinary true story of climber Mandy Horvath, a bilateral amputee attempting to crawl to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro on her hands and follows an investigation surrounding the night she tragically lost her legs. Years earlier, a night out with friends escalated into tensions at a local bar, and soon after Mandy’s world went black. Her next memory: waking in an ambulance surrounded by paramedics, both legs gone. As Mandy pushes her body to its limits on Africa’s tallest mountain, she must reckon with her past and learn to trust again if she is to succeed.
BLOOD AND GUTS
Directed by: Carlye Rubin, Katie Green & Tina Grapenthin
Country: US
Runtime: 80 min
Through vérité footage, family archives, and excerpts from their own gloriously gory films, Blood & Guts follows the Adams family as parents John and Toby race to complete one final “D.I.Y. ’til you die” horror film before their youngest daughter leaves for college. For over a decade, filmmaking has been the glue holding this unconventional family together—but now Toby and John must confront what it means to let go, not just of their kid, but of a way of life. A love letter to indie horror and one tight-knit family who make them.
A DROP IN THE OCEAN
Directed by: Holo Wang
Country: Taiwan
Runtime: 70 min
Competitive freedivers Hua Yang and Afa push the limits of skill and endurance as they prepare for the prestigious Blue Hole Vertical Blue Depth Competition, one aiming to break Asia’s deepest dive record, the other striving to become Taiwan’s top freediver. This documentary follows their journeys from land to the serene, mysterious blue depths, capturing their contrasting techniques, personalities, and ambitions. Through exquisite underwater cinematography, the film explores the fluidity of gender and the quiet unfolding of queer identity, revealing how courage, grace, and self-discovery intertwine beneath the surface.
ICE GRAVE
Directed by: Robin Hunzinger
Country: France/Finland/Sweden
Runtime: 59 min
11 July, 1897. Three men set off from Spiztbergen in a hydrogen balloon towards the North Pole. They never came back. 33 years later, the remains of the expedition, bodies perfectly preserved, as well as notebooks and rolls of film, are discovered. What do these photographs tell us?
MY NDA
Directed by: Juliane Dressner, Miriam Shor
Country: US
Runtime: 99 min
Bound by non-disclosure agreements that forbid them from even acknowledging they signed one, three individuals risk everything by breaking their silence to expose how NDAs have been weaponized to conceal rape, racial discrimination, corporate crimes, and other unlawful activity – reclaiming their voices from the institutions that tried to bury them.
PUBLIC ACCESS
Directed by: David Shadrack Smith
Country: US
Runtime: 106 min
Before the internet and social media, Public Access television gave ordinary people something radical: their own channel. The film explores New York City’s radical experiment in open media, drawing on rare archival footage and firsthand accounts that chart how Public Access TV became a space for marginalized voices and fierce public debate. The result was chaotic, raw, and ephemeral. A mesmerizing rediscovery of a media revolution that tested the limits of expression, provoked legal battles, and revealed enduring tensions between freedom, power, and self-expression.
SEIZED
Directed by: Sharon Liese
Country: US
Runtime: 94 min
When the small town of Marion, Kansas, is thrust into the international spotlight after a police raid on the Marion County Record and the death of its 98-year-old co-owner, a fierce debate ignites about the abuse of power, journalistic ethics, local journalism, and the United States Constitution. Blending the juicy intrigue of a classic muckraking narrative with a clear-eyed exploration of power, politics, and the fragility of a free press, Seized transforms a headline-grabbing event into a deeply human story that is urgent, unsettling, and impossible to ignore.
SPOTLIGHT
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JOSEF MENGELE – US Premiere
Directed by: Kirill Serebrennikov
Country: Germany/France/Spain
Runtime: 135 min
Out of the Cannes Film Festival comes the latest film by Kirill Serebrennikov. The acclaimed filmmaker, whose previous biopic Limonov: The Ballad had its U.S. premiere at LIFF 2025, turns to a stark examination of the utmost human evil, retelling the story of Josef Mengele, known as “Dr. Death” at Auschwitz.
In his multilayered adaptation of Olivier Guez’s best-selling book, the Russian-born auteur follows the fleeing fugitive across South America under a false identity. Brilliantly portrayed by German actor August Diehl, the infamous tormented scientist hides from Nazi hunters and the Mossad agents, yet cannot escape his past, shaped by racist ideology and unspeakable, sadistic crimes. Trapped in paranoia, repression, and guilt, redemption remains out of reach. Serebrennikov offers no relief to the aging character, instead confronting contemporary audiences with the human-monster, lurking within us, which can always be unleashed by fascism in authoritarian regimes, like the one that banished him from his own country.
EDIE ARNOLD IS A LOSER
Directed by: Megan Rico & Kade Atwood
Country: US
Runtime: 73 min
Timid dork Edie accidentally takes the spotlight when she starts a punk band with her fellow “turds”, becoming an icon to the rest of the losers at her all-girls Catholic school while managing to piss off the hot girls, the nuns, and the horniest altar boy you’ve ever seen.
MY BROTHER’S KILLER
Directed by: Rachel Mason
Country: US
Runtime: 95 min
In 1990, the severed head of Bill Newton, also known as Billy London, a gay adult film performer, was discovered in a dumpster in West Hollywood. After three decades, this documentary ignited an investigation which ultimately led to a resolution to the murder. The answers to this gruesome crime shed new light on one of the most violent chapters in gay history.
OUR COLORS NEVER FADE – World Premiere
Directed by: Jim McSherry
Country: Germany/Ukraine
Runtime: 84 min
Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Our Colors Never Fade follows LGBTQIA+ civilians who leave behind their everyday lives to defend their country. Told through intimate, gradually unfolding portraits, the film resists easy labels, revealing its characters first as people, then as soldiers, and ultimately as individuals navigating identity, duty, and survival under extraordinary circumstances. With a restrained observational style and a soundscape shaped by the rhythms of daily life in a war zone, the film invites audiences across perspectives into a deeply human story.
YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE
Directed by: Sara Robin
Country: US
Runtime: 98 min
A quiet revolution is underway: As the real-world consequences of social media come into focus, a new generation of parents and teens step forward to challenge the systems shaping their lives and fight for a different future.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
ADMISSION POSSIBLE
Directed by: Matthew Syrett & Bowie Alexander
Country: US
Runtime: 93 min
This intimate documentary follows high-achieving, first-generation students at a NYC public high school as they navigate the college admissions process and pursue futures their immigrant families once thought impossible.
ANDY KAUFMAN IS ME
Directed by: Clay Tweel
Country: US
Runtime: 98 min
This revealing documentary offers unprecedented access to the private world of comedy’s most enigmatic provocateur, Andy Kaufman, through a treasure trove of never-before-heard audio recordings. Created during the height of his fame, these audio diaries serve as personal journals, capturing Kaufman’s inner thoughts, performance ideas and reflections. Featuring intimate interviews with family members Michael and Carol Kaufman, along with close friends and collaborators including David Letterman, Carol Kane and Tim Heidecker, the film peels away the layers of performance to reveal the thoughtful, complex man behind the provocative public persona.
CELLULOID W-W-WARS – World Premiere
Directed by: Alla Holzman
Country: US
Runtime: 73 min
A stutterer since the age of 6, Peabody and two-time Emmy Award winning director/editor Allan Holzman unravels his deeply repressed past uncovering family secrets held for decades, revealing not only the cause of his speech disability but. more importantly, the source of his creative obsession.
V. MARIA – US Premiere
Directed by: Daisuke Miyazaki
Country: Japan
Runtime: 95 min
Maria, distant from her late mother, discovers her past through old belongings. Her quest for answers leads her to a live music club, where she uncovers the world of Visual Kei.
DARKHOUSE FEATURES
THE DRIFTLESS
Directed by: Tim Connery
Country: US
Runtime: 108 min
Deep river valleys, tall limestone bluffs sawing through the sky… thousands of years ago, this unique portion of the Midwest escaped the crushing effects of the giant Ice Age glaciers. But with its scenic beauty, this preserved primal landscape also conceals unimaginable terrors: Mississippi River cults, accursed liquor, time-altering artifacts, and blood-thirsty vengeance from beyond the grave-four disturbing tales of the macabre Midwest.
ERICA – US Premiere
Directed by: Tarô Miyaoka
Country: Japan
Runtime: 82 min
Tatsuki, a 23-year-old man who has never had a girlfriend, falls in love at first sight with Erica 20, a café employee he meets by chance. But she is trapped in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Ryo. Determined to save her, Tatsuki tries to pull her away from him. Soon, the lives of those around them – Tatsuki’s sister Yuka, his co-worker Mutsumi, and Ryo’s older brother Toru – become entangled in their fragile relationships. As their emotions collide, their fates begin to spiral out of control. A shocking suspense story unfolds.
HEART OF DARKNESS
Directed by: Rogério Nunes
Country: Brazil
Runtime: 82 min
An animated feature film aimed at teenage and young adult audiences, adapting Joseph Conrad’s classic into a Brazilian dystopia. Marlon, a young lieutenant in the Rio police force, is tasked with finding Captain Kurtz, a shadowy figure who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the sprawling outskirts of the city.
RED FLAG – World Premiere
Directed by: Matthew Giaquinto
Country: US
Runtime: 71 min
A toxic relationship spirals into a surreal nightmare where a couple is trapped in a cycle of domestic horror, forced to confront their destructive patterns with increasingly violent consequences, ultimately revealing the insidious nature of their co-dependency.
SURF FILMS
ANTARCTICA: DOMAIN ONE
Directed by: Julián Azulay & Joaquin Azulay
Country: Argentina
Runtime: 94 min
Join Gauchos del Mar brothers on a daring surfing expedition across the White Continent in this powerful call to action to establish a Marine Protected Area that ensures the ecological balance of Antarctica and the survival of its extraordinary marine life.
GUTS
Directed by: Patrizia Bruno
Country: Italy
Runtime: 64 min
Patrizia and Marie set off on a 20,000 km journey from France to Guinea-Bissau: with an old car, four surfboards, and a mission: to capture stories of women reshaping society. GUTS is a raw, empowering ode to freedom, sisterhood, and inner strength.
PERMANENT DREAM – World Premiere
Directed by: Xav Langton
Country: US
Runtime: 65 min
Permanent Dream explores surfing as an expression of impermanence, traveling through California, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Morocco, and Indonesia while speaking with locals, monks, tribal communities, and spiritual leaders.
TONY SHALHOUB: MINI-RETROSPECTIVE
The festival will also spotlight actor Tony Shalhoub with a mini retrospective and an onstage conversation moderated by actor Jason Alexander, a member of LIFF’s advisory board. Organizers said the discussion will explore Shalhoub’s decades-long career across film, television, and theater, including his Emmy-winning role in ‘Monk’.
As part of the retrospective, LIFF will host a 30th anniversary screening of ‘Big Night’, the 1996 film directed by Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci. The film stars Shalhoub, Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, Minnie Driver, and Marc Anthony.
BIG NIGHT – 30th Anniversary Screening
Directed by: Campbell Scott & Stanley Tucci
Country: US
Runtime: 109 min
New Jersey, 1950s. Two brothers run an Italian restaurant. Business is not going well as a rival Italian restaurant is out-competing them. In a final effort to save the restaurant, the brothers plan to put on an evening of incredible food. Starring Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, Marc Anthony, Minnie Driver, and Live Schreiber.
BOLIO: THE SPIRIT OF THE MUSTANG – World Premiere
Directed by: Jim Issa
Country: US
Runtime: 93 min
Dale, an unlucky workshop teacher, finds himself entangled with Chuck, an aspiring life coach. Accepting his positive philosophy, Dale begins to move forward, until he discovers that Chuck might not be who he appears to be.
FEED THE FISH
Directed by: Nichael Matzdorff
Country: US
Runtime: 92 min
Follows the journey of Joe Peterson, a burned-out children’s book writer who is approaching a midlife crisis.
Darkhouse Special Tribute: Norbert Pfaffenbichler
2551 TRILOGY – North American Premiere
Directed by: Norbert Pfaffenbichler
Country: Austria
2551.01: The Kid (Runtime: 65 min)
2551.02: The Orgy of the Damned (Runtime: 82 min)
2551.03: The End (Runtime: 80 min)
In a hellish underworld ruled by an oppressive dictator and steeped in perversion, primal violence, and despair, a rare act of kindness emerges: a compassionate man determined to save a child from a horrific fate. But can this fragile spark of light break through the darkness and dismantle a corrupt social order of a decaying society? Not in Norbert Pfaffenbichler’s 2551 Trilogy, where he performs a ruthless post-mortem on civilization itself with his sharpest scalpel. Drawing on silent cinema, German Expressionism, and puppeteering, the Austrian visionary artist crafts a layered nightmare of striking intensity. LIFF proudly presents this masterful horror opus in three parts on the big screen, with the filmmaker in attendance.
Industry Events
Acting Masterclass with Jason Alexander
A five-day acting intensive leading up to opening day, with an on-stage showcase with the students.
Masterclass with Ron Leshem
A candid conversation with the creator of the original series Euphoria.
Low-Budget Genre Films in a Different Time, Different Place
Masterclass with Allen Holzman and Norbert Pfaffenbichler.
FESTIVAL JURORS
Narrative Features Competition:
Gina Duncan (CEO of The Moth, former president of BAM, and former Sundance festival producer)
Frank Hall Green (filmmaker, producer)
Nicholas Kemp (SVP of Theatrical Distribution and Marketing at Kino Lorber)
Documentary Features Competition:
Lisa Hoen (Artistic Director of the Tromsø International Film Festival in Norway)
Allan Holzman (director, editor, and educator)
Rachel Mason (documentary filmmaker)
Shorts Competition
Meira Blaustein (Executive Director of the Woodstock Film Festival)
Kate Chamuris (filmmaker, producer)
Kate Geller (casting director)
TV and Web Series Competition
Ron Leshem (screenwriter, showrunner, creator of the series Euphoria)
Miriam Spritzer (film journalist, treasurer of the Golden Globe Foundation)
Darkhouse Features and Shorts Competition
Lauren Cohen (Head of Programming of the Miami Film Festival)
Norbert Pfaffenbichler (artist, filmmaker)
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