Here’s what you need to know about 2025 Phoenix Film Festival

PHOENIX — The 2025 Phoenix Film Festival won’t just be giving a platform to independent and upcoming filmmakers, but it will also act as a celebration of a quarter-century of arts programming.

It’s a weight and responsibility not lost on festival director and CEO Jason Carney, who has been working in this year’s event with his team since the end of the 2024 festival.

“We have two full-time employees, around 70-75 leadership and programming teams leading teams of volunteers, and around 100-150 volunteers that we bring on just for the festival,” Carney said. “They give us so much of their time and their work is so impressive in putting this together as a nonprofit.”

Carney said the final lineup of feature and short film selections is “over 200 easily.” The number is slightly down from last year but still based in around 1,300 worldwide submissions, with around 1 in 10 of those selected being from Arizona filmmakers.

When and where is the 2025 Phoenix Film Festival?

The 2025 Phoenix Film Festival starts Thursday and runs through April 6 at the Harkins Scottsdale 101 theaters at 7000 E. Mayo Blvd. in Phoenix.

The festival offers a variety of ticket options, from $17 single showings to multifilm flex passes to full access tiers.

The big-ticket item on opening night will be “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” a musical comedy drama from the UK’s James Griffiths. Based on his BAFTA-nominated 2007 short film, the movie stars Tim Key as a lottery winner who convinces a broken-up folk duo (played by Carey Mulligan and Tom Basden) to perform on the titular Wallis Island.

“It’s the perfect opening film, I think, … at least for our festival,” Carney said. “It’s a funny, charming movie, a great way to make people feel good right out the gate. Once I saw the trailer come out of Sundance and I heard a few things, it was my number one draft pick for opening night, and I got it!”

In fact, Carney said that almost every feature he wanted to screen this year got the go-ahead to do so. That includes documentaries on figures such as John Lennon and actor Danny Trejo, as well as the Marlon Brando biopic “Waltzing with Brando” and the baseball drama “The Prospect.”

As for local talent, the Arizona Feature section of the 2025 Phoenix Film Festival includes selections such as Randall Lee Smith’s crime drama “Dark Side of Night,” Miguel Duran’s road trip drama “Adventure Tom” and Alan Williams’ thriller “10 Ft Down.”

Many of those films, as well as others and several of the short film blocks, have multiple screening options. Carney said the decision, rolled over from past years, helps make the festival more appealing to both curious fans and out-of-town filmmakers.

“These filmmakers, this might be their first public screening. They’ve put their heart and soul into these films,” Carney said. “If you’re in New York and you want to come to the festival, you want to make sure it’s worth your time. Having three screenings over a weekend or a week is huge, and not many festivals do that.”

Oliver Stone set to appear at “Platoon” reunion screening

The festival also has several events lined up, including Kids Day, a free all-ages event on March 30 featuring a screening of the animated “A Sloth Story.” Panels on screenwriting, behind-the-scenes talent, and female Gen X filmmakers are also on the agenda.

Another highlight is a special reunion screening of 1986’s “Platoon” with a Q&A featuring director Oliver Stone plus cast and crew members.

“We’ll have Oliver Stone, Keith David, some of the military advisors from the film,” Carney said. “I love the movie, and we’ve been working on getting this set since last summer. It all kind of settled once Mr. Stone agreed he’d be coming.”

For anyone new to the festival, Carney said his most sincere advice is to “see films that you wouldn’t see otherwise. Go see a documentary, go see some shorts. You’ll find some really exciting projects you may not have been looking for.”

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