Oscar-nominated feature documentary “Nobody Against Putin” is heading to the 32nd annual Sedona International Film Festival.
The film, which had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, delivers an insider’s view of the impact of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine on the lives of Russia’s children. Directed by David Borenstein and co-directed by Pavel Talankin, the doc follows Talankin, a Russian teacher in a small town, as he secretly records his school’s transformation into a propaganda and recruitment center following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kino Lorber acquired North American rights to the film earlier this month. On Tuesday, “Nobody Against Putin” received a BAFTA nod for best feature doc
In addition to “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” the SIFF lineup includes prestigious 2025 docs from Sundance (“André Is an Idiot”), Venice (“Kim Novak’s Vertigo”), and DC:DOX (“Steal This Story, Please!”). In all 36 feature docs will screen at SIFF, which runs from Feb. 21 through March 1. The fest lineup also includes 32 doc shorts, 36 feature-length narrative films and 42 animated and narrative shorts.
“We are looking forward to an epic film festival this year with an extraordinary selection of thought-provoking, inspiring, entertaining and engaging films from around the world,” said SIFF executive director Patrick Schweiss “Film fans can expect to be moved, inspired and entertained for nine straight days with a phenomenal lineup of films, special events and filmmaker conversations, workshops and panels.”
The fest will kick off on Feb. 21 with “In Love With Marilyn,” a cabaret-style concert show starring Samantha Stevens, celebrating Marilyn Monroe’s upcoming 100th birthday.
Sophie Hyde’s “Jimpa,” starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, and the Al Pacino meta drama ‘Billy Knight’ will both screen as SIFF Centerpiece movies. “Jimpa” follows filmmaker Hannah (Colman) who takes her trans nonbinary teenager Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) to Amsterdam to visit their gay grandfather “Jimpa” (Lithgow). “Billy Knight” follows aspiring filmmakers Alex (Charlie Heaton of “Stranger Things”) and Emily (Diana Silvers of “Booksmart”) as they navigate the path between youthful ambition and true artistic expression. When Alex discovers a box of unfinished scripts and a handkerchief bearing the name “Billy Knight,” he sets out to unravel his late father’s creative legacy. Pacino stars as the enigmatic titular figure, described as part muse, part ghost of cinema past.
Other SIFF centerpiece films include: Nick Davis’ documentary “You Had to Be There,” about a humble Toronto run of the hippie musical “Godspell” that became a historic incubator for modern comedy; Don Scardino’s narrative “A Break In The Rain,” about grief and reconciliation; Dale Griffiths Stamos’ narrative “Imbalance” about the shifting cultural landscape of higher education during the #Me-Too movement and stricter Title IX regulations; and Stephen Ward’s narrative feature “Dust to Malibu” about a father attempting to reconcile with his estranged daughter on a road trip to scatter her mother’s ashes in California.
Founded in 1995 as a three-day exhibition of independent films, SIFF has grown into the largest single annual event in the Sedona community. SIFF seeks to broaden the understanding of the human condition, raise social consciousness, present thought-provoking film and dialogue and entertain and inspire residents of the local community and the world
SIFF films will screen at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, the Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatre, Harkins Theatres Sedona 6, and the Sedona Performing Arts Center. Roughly 20 films will screen daily during the nine-day festival.
SIFF panels and Q&A participants will be announced in the coming days.
Sedona International Film Festival Full Lineup:
Narrative Features:
A Break in the Rain
Anorgasmia
Beau Ideal
Billy Knight
Crossing Delancey
Dreams
Dust To Malibu
Ethan Bloom
Fantasy Life
Frontier
Gazelle
Imbalance
Isola
Jimpa
Leads
Memo
Mistake
Mr. Burton
Muganga
Omaha
Once Upon My Mother
One Stupid Thing
Pieces of Us
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Shambhala Story
Switch & Bait
The Fallow Few
The Future Awaits
The Marching Band
The Mohican
The Most Precious of Cargoes
The Secret Floor
The Shrowdinger
The Snare
To Move Is Friction
Zoe
Documentary Features:
A Life Illuminated
A Life Outside: American Mountain Guides
André Is an Idiot
Best Day Ever
Blame
Comparsa
Creede U.S.A.
Dream Boats
Dream Touch Believe
Kim Novak’s Vertigo
Little Singer
Mozart’s Sister
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
My Dear Theo
My Sunnyside
Natchez
Paint Me A Road Out of Here
Remaining Native
Road 190
Room to Move
Sons of Detroit
Starman
Steal This Story, Please!
Stronger Than You Think
The Bend in the River
The Chaplain & The Doctor
The Cowboy
The Eyes of Ghana
The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy
The Last Dive
The Renaissance Prince
Trade Secret
Underland
Voices: The Danny Gans Story
Wider Than the Sky
You Had to Be There
Documentary Shorts:
A Mystical Ornithology
A Sacred Pause
Aldo’s Bug Extravaganza
Arctic Alchemy
Death of a Fantastic Machine
Di Sarno – The story of Emilio’s Ballato
Divers
Exodus
Houston’s Whitebeam
I am everything
I Am Somebody
Icebreakers
Just Jools
La Orquesta
Last Days on Lake Trinity
Miles of Life
My Memory Walls
Nice Girls Don’t Ask
Old Girl in a Tutu: Susan Rennie Disrupts Art History
On Healing Land, Birds Perch
Perseids
Rovina’s Choice
Sallie’s Ashes
Shanti Rides Shotgun
The Birds
The Conscience Files
The Petal Pusher
The Rebel Reef: Seeds of Hope
Van Gogh and the Hospital Garden
Voices from the abyss
What The River Knows
Your Opinion, Please
Narrative Shorts and Animated Shorts:
A Matter of Time
Babka
Beast of the Seine
Being Dead Should Be Easy
Benchless
Daniel Van den Berg is Dead
Disco Beats
Dishwasher
Don’t be late, Myra
Egg Timer
Emergency
Extinguished Lives
First Time
Fitted Sheet
Flesh & Blood
Forevergreen
Fundbox – A Love Story
Grim & Sunshine
Grind
High School Detention The Musical
I Love You More Than Dinosaurs
I Often Dream of Trains
Leaf
Lonely
Massage Therapy
Miriam
Olive
Taste of a Memory
The Art of Inflation
The Demon Core
The Journal
The Lingering
The Other Side
The Reach
The Ride
The Stones of Dunamase Castle
The Vote
The Whistle
Two People Exchanging Saliva
Undelivered
Waiting for Aphrodite
WildKind
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