Provincetown International Film Festival announces 2025 lineup

Celebrating its 27th year, the Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) announced its lineup of narrative, documentary, and short films, as well as honorees for this year’s Filmmaker on the Edge, Excellence in Acting and Next Wave Awards.

Acclaimed director Ari Aster will be named 2025’s “Filmmaker on the Edge.” Writer-director-producer Ari Aster’s debut feature HEREDITARY, starring Toni Collette, became a critical and box office success for A24 in 2018. Aster continued his genre-challenging work for A24 with his 2019 thriller MIDSOMMAR, starring Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor, and again in 2023 with BEAU IS AFRAID, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Patti LuPone. Aster will be in Provincetown to receive the award in conversation with resident artist John Waters on Saturday, June 14, ahead of the nationwide release of his new film EDDINGTON on July 18th.

“Ari Aster’s films weave grief, beauty and dread into unforgettable cinematic experiences,” said Anne Hubbell, PIFF’s Executive Director. “We’re excited to welcome Ari to Provincetown for a thrilling conversation about his dynamic filmography.”

It was also announced that Murray Bartlett, the Emmy Award-winning actor and Provincetown local will be honored with this year’s Excellence in Acting Award. The star of The White Lotus, known for his expansive work in HBO’s The Last of Us, Looking and Hulu’s Welcome to Chippendales, has most recently been seen on screen in A24’s thriller OPUS and Searchlight’s musical drama O’DESSA. Bartlett will next star alongside Nicole Kidman in the second season of Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu and in Kornél Mundrouczó’s AT THE SEA opposite Amy Adams. He will receive the honor in conversation with Academy Award-nominated producer and prior PIFF Filmmaker on the Edge honoree Christine Vachon on Saturday, June 14.

“Murray Bartlett has distinguished himself as a remarkable talent, bringing depth and authenticity to every role,” said PIFF’s Director of Programming, Andrew Peterson. “From PONYBOI (PIFF 2025) to The Last of Us to Welcome to Chippendales and his Emmy Award-winning performance in The White Lotus, Murray demonstrates a rare ability to connect with audiences through vulnerability, humor and strength. We’re thrilled to honor him this year.”

PIFF announced that Eva Victor and River Gallo will receive this year’s Next Wave Awards. Eva Victor is a writer-director and actor who has established themselves as a singular emerging cinematic voice with their feature directorial debut SORRY, BABY (PIFF 2025), which world premiered to acclaim at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. The film, which will close Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, features writer/director Victor as a college literature professor reeling from trauma, starring alongside Naomi Ackie and Lucas Hedges. Victor will be in town to support the film ahead of its theatrical release on June 27th and to receive the award.

River Gallo is a GLAAD Award-winning filmmaker, actor, writer, model, and intersex rights activist whose groundbreaking work is redefining queer representation in cinema. Gallo wrote, produced, and stars in PONYBOI, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and won NewFest’s Grand Jury Award. Their performance as a young intersex sex worker on the run from the mob earned them the Best Performance Award at the Torino Film Festival. Marking a historic first, PONYBOI is the first narrative feature film created by and starring an intersex person in an intersex role. The film, also starring Dylan O’Brien, Victoria Pedretti, and Excellence in Acting honoree Murray Bartlett, will screen at PIFF 2025 before its June 27th theatrical release, with Gallo in attendance to receive the honor.

“Eva Victor and River Gallo represent the very essence of independent artistry. With our Next Wave Awards, we are incredibly proud to celebrate their diverse talents as both creators and powerful leads in each of their original debut features,” said PIFF Artistic Director Lisa Viola.

STRANGE JOURNEY: THE STORY OF ROCKY HORROR, from director Linus O’Brien, is set to open the festival. From humble origins as a London fringe theater play to its meteoric rise, fall and resurrection as the biggest cult film of all time, this is the definitive story of the Rocky Horror Show. With intimate access to its creator Richard O’Brien and other major players such as Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Lou Adler, the documentary explores what makes the play and film so singular: its groundbreaking and transgressive themes, iconic performances and epic songs that took over popular culture. The cult phenomenon that sprung around ROCKY HORROR is unparalleled, and created not only the midnight screenings which continue to this day, but also a safe haven for all those who ever felt different or marginalized.

This year’s festival will close with the U.S. premiere of Michael Koehler’s SPIRITUS: NO BUSINESS LIKE DOUGH BUSINESS. The documentary explores the rich history of one of the oldest family-run businesses in Provincetown: SPIRITUS Pizza and Ice Cream. It highlights the challenges faced by the business, the queer community, and the AIDS crisis, all against the backdrop of the conservative Puritanical attitudes in the town during the 1970s and 1980s.

This year’s spotlight selections include JIMPA, directed by returning filmmaker Sophie Hyde, Annapurna Sriram’s FUCKTOYS, and the World Premiere of HURRICANNA, directed by Francesca Gregorini, which chronicles the final days of pop culture icon Anna Nicole Smith’s life.

This year’s festival lineup is below:

OPENING NIGHT

STRANGE JOURNEY: THE STORY OF ROCKY HORROR – directed by Linus O’Brien

CLOSING NIGHT

SPIRITUS: NO BUSINESS LIKE DOUGH BUSINESS – directed by Michael Koehler

SPOTLIGHT SELECTIONS

FUCKTOYS – directed by Annapurna Sriram

HURRICANNA – directed by Francesca Gregorini

JIMPA – directed by Sophie Hyde

NARRATIVE FEATURES

THE BALTIMORONS – directed by Jay Duplass

CACTUS PEARS (SABAR BONDA) – directed by Rohan Kanawade

DREAMING OF LIONS – directed by Paolo Marinou-Blanco

DREAMS (SEX LOVE) – directed Dag Johan Haugererud

EAST OF WALL – directed by Kate Beecroft

FAMILIAR TOUCH – directed by Sarah Friedland

JIMMY – directed by Yashaddai Owens

MESSY – directed by Alexi Wasser

OH, HI! – directed by Sophie Brooks

OPERATION TACO GARY’S – directed by Michael Kvamme

PLAINCLOTHES – directed by Carmen Emmi

PONYBOI – directed by Esteban Arango

QUEENS OF THE DEAD – directed by Tina Romero

QUEERPANORAMA – directed by Jun Li

SAUNA – directed by Mathias Broe

SISTERS – directed by Susie Yankou

SORRY, BABY – directed by Eva Victor

TWINLESS – directed by James Sweeney

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

ARE WE GOOD? – directed by Steven Feinartz

COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT – directed by Ryan White

CREEDE U.S.A. – directed by Kahane Corn Cooperman

ENIGMA – directed by Zackary Drucker

EVERYTHING MOVES – directed by Michael Cestaro

FOLKTALES – directed by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady

FOREVER HOME – directed by Allison Argo

HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY – directed by Sam Feder

IT’S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY – directed by Amy Berg

KEROUAC’S ROAD: THE BEAT OF A NATION – directed by Ebs Burnough

THE LIBRARIANS – directed by Kim A. Snyder

MARLEE MATLIN: NOT ALONE ANYMORE – directed by Shoshannah Stern

MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE – directed by Elegance Bratton

MY MOM JAYNE – directed by Mariska Hargitay

SAINTS AND WARRIORS – directed by Patrick Shannon

SALLY – directed by Cristina Costantini

SEEDS – directed by Brittany Shyne

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

John Waters Presents: PINK NARCISSUS – directed by James Bidgood

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW – directed by Jim Sharman

SHORT FILMS

NARRATIVE SHORTS

13 CEMETERY ROAD – directed by Daniel Gómez Llata

AFTER WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LIBRARY – directed by Syra McCarthy

ANYWAY, I PISS SITTING DOWN – directed by Zak Slattery

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! – directed by Zen Pace

THE ART OF SURVIVAL (UNAFRAID) – directed by Lauren Elizabeth Wolk, Jackie Reeves

BEACH-O – directed by Karen Lawler, Leah Smith

BELLY BELLY – directed by Gabriel Carnick

CALAMITY JANE – directed by Robin Cloud

CLOSE TO THE BONE – directed by Jenny Byrne, Katy Miller

CUMING OUT – directed by Jasmine J. Johnson

EVERY OTHER WEEKEND – directed by Mick Robertson, Margaret Rose

F*CK THAT GUY – directed by Hanna Gray Organschi

YÚ CI (FISH BONES) – directed by Kevin X. Yu

GENDER REVEAL – directed by Mo Matton

GRANDMA NAI WHO PLAYED FAVORITES – directed by Chheangkea

LISBON – directed by Matthew Jacobs Morgan

LOST IN SAN FRANCISCO – directed by Brett McCarl Thomas

MANGO – directed by Joan Iyiola

NEW YORK DAY WOMEN – directed by Fredgy Noël

ONE DAY THIS KID – directed by Alexander Farah

THE PLUMBING – directed by Charlotte Istel

REMEMBER ME – directed by Claire Lory Titelman

SHOULDER SEASON – directed by Sierra Schnack

SISTER! – directed by John Onieal

STALLING – directed by Jasia A. Ka

SUSANA – directed by Gerardo Coello Escalante, Amandine Thomas

SWEET TALKING GUY – directed by Dylan Wardwell, Spencer Wardwell

TO NOVOSIBIRSK – directed by Sasha Korbut

WE SHOULD EAT – directed by Shaina Feinberg

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

ARTHUR EGELI: BEYOND THE FRAME – directed by Tess Anne Lancaster

CAMP WIDOW – directed by Laura Green, Anna Moot-Levin

DRAKE CARR’S FAVORITE THING – directed by Andrea Yu-Chieh Chung

THE FAULT LINE – directed by Brydie O’Connor

LOVE BIRDS – directed by Angel Morris, Elliot Kennerson

MOOSKA – directed by Samuel Aarnio

THE NEW YORKER THEATER: A TALBOT LEGACY – directed by Sergio Maza

RANDA – directed by Sterling Hampton IV

RICHARD NEUTRA’S MASLON HOUSE – directed by Scott Goldstein, Dave Yakir

SIGNS FROM THE MAINLAND – directed by Michael Cestaro

TIGER – directed by Loren Kasey Waters

WE’LL CARRY ON ALRIGHT – directed by Megan Rossman

ANIMATION SHORTS

404 – directed by Gina Kamentsky

A BIRD HIT MY WINDOW AND NOW I’M A LESBIAN – directed by Carmela Marie Murphy, AJ Dubler

BOOKED A ROOM – directed by Kris Lefcoe

DRAGFOX – directed by Lisa Ott

IT’S A RAINBOW – directed by Robert Davis

LITTLE SHREW (SNOWFLAKE) – directed by Kate Bush

The Provincetown International Film Festival runs June 11 – 15, 2025 in Provincetown, MA, and was named one of Moviemaker’s 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2025. Purchase festival passes at provincetownfilm.org or In-person tickets available at Waters Edge Cinema beginning May 24. America’s oldest artist colony, Provincetown has been home to the likes of Jack Kerouac, Jackson Pollock, Norman Rockwell, Mary Heaton Vorse, Anthony Bourdain, Helen Frankenthaler, John Waters, and Ryan Murphy