PRESENTING PARTNER
11TH TAHOE FILM FEST PROGRAM
JAY KELLY
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
In his most captivating film role in years, George Clooney is cast—fittingly—as the last great movie star. Jay Kelly is at a crisis point: uninspired by his work, reeling from the loss of his mentor, and tormented by a run-in with a haunting figure from his past, he does the unthinkable, backing out of a big new production at the 11th hour in order to run off to Europe and catch up with his college-bound daughter in France before attending a career tribute in Italy. Unable to entirely shed his Hollywood skin, he finds himself trailed by his entourage, including his long-suffering manager (played by Adam Sandler). At once introspective and raucous, the stellar character study Jay Kelly peeks at Hollywood narcissism with curiosity rather than judgment. Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) and co-writer Emily Mortimer walk a delicate balance between industry parody and heartfelt sentiment, moving in and out of Jay’s past and present, fantasy and reality, probing the professional, familial, and moral life of a man for whom “all my memories are movies”—and who may be harboring more regrets than he cares to admit.
Premiere – Venice Film Festival – nominated for Golden Lion
2025 Gotham Awards – Noah Baumbach – Director Tribute
Incline Village Cinema – December 4 – 5:45pm
WAKE UP DEAD MAN
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Everyone’s favorite modern movie detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is back on the case for the third installment of this beloved murder-mystery franchise, following KNIVES OUT and GLASS ONION. Set in a small-town church, WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY follows Blanc as he cleverly tries to solve another seemingly uncrackable case. Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Josh O’Connor, and Mila Kunis join the star-studded ensemble for the most dangerous installment of Rian Johnson”s franchise yet.
Premiere – Toronto International Film Festival – Won – People’s Choice Award
Incline Village Cinema – December 7 – 5:30pm
SONG SUNG BLUE
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Based on a true story, two down-on-their-luck musicians (Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson) form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band, Lightning and Thunder, proving it is never too late to find love and follow your dreams. Written, directed and produced by Craig Brewer (FOOTLOOSE, DOLEMITE IS MY NAME) the film also features Michael Imperioli, Ella Anderson, King Princess, Mustafa Shakir, Hudson Hensley, Fisher Stevens, and Jim Belushi.
Premiere – AFI Film Fest
Incline Village Cinema – December 5 – 7:00pm
WICKED: FOR GOOD
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Years after the events of Wicked (2024), Elphaba Thropp, now known as the Wicked Witch of the West, continues her fight for animal rights while living as a fugitive. Meanwhile, Glinda Upland, now recognized as Glinda the Good, is a public figure watched over by the Wizard and Madame Morrible. As they face the consequences of their actions, their relationship is put to the test by a series of events—including the surprising arrival of Dorothy Gale from Kansas—that will change the Land of Oz forever.
Incline Village Cinema – December 6 – 4:00pm
IS THIS THING ON?
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper’s beautifully affecting dramedy stars Will Arnett and Laura Dern in standout performances as a New York couple whose separation leads to major midlife self-reckoning and reinvention. When Arnett’s character attempts open-mic standup at a comedy club with confessional, self-deprecating material, a whole new world opens for him. Shot on location in and around the West Village comedy club scene, IS THIS THING ON? has grit, heart, warmth and a lived-in authenticity too rarely seen in contemporary films, with Cooper once again demonstrating his talent for eliciting great performances and emotions. The outstanding supporting cast includes Cooper, Andra Day, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Christine Ebersole, Ciarán Hinds and Peyton Manning, along with a host of real-life New York comedy stand-ups and scenesters..
Premiere – New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center
Incline Village Cinema – December 6 – 9:00pm
PRESSURE DROP
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Todd Jones and Steve Jones
Bradley Cooper’s beautifully affecting dramedy stars Will Arnett and Laura Dern in standout performances as a New York couple Pressure Drop captures that fleeting space between calm and chaos — when breath slows, vision sharpens, and the mountain demands everything. Born from a dream and forged on the edge, it is a tribute to the fleeting moment when gravity takes over and everything else fades. Pressure Drop continues the tradition of what it means to dedicate your life to the fall line as we follow the world’s top skiers and snowboarders through deep powder, huge cliffs and iconic lines. Shot on location in: Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Lofoten Islands, Norway, Valdez, Alaska, Grand Targhee, Wyoming, Interior British Columbia, Haines, Alaska and Palisades Tahoe, California.
This is Teton Gravity Research’s 30th Annual Film
Crystal Bay Casino Crown Room – December 6 – 7:00pm
SILENT FRIEND
2025 (Germany, Hungary, France)
Directed by: Ildiko Enyedi
For over a century, a ginkgo tree, standing sentinel in the garden of Philipps University of Marburg in Germany, experiences its surroundings — but how and what it experiences is a mystery. Every day, students, professors and staff pass by the tree, graze its bark, recline beneath its shade. Ildikó Enyedi’s profound scientific epic — locates three such passersby, separated by generations. In 2020, a professor of neuroscience, stranded and isolated on the COVID-abandoned campus, begins to conduct experiments on the tree’s sensorial faculties. In 1972, a first-year student, inspired by a romantic dalliance, cares for a sensitive geranium; and, in 1908, the university’s first female student discovers a new way of seeing plants through photography. Enyedi excavates these stories from the ginkgo tree’s roots, like living fossils that have inseminated themselves into its being. The cast is led by Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Léa Seydoux, as two preternaturally sensitive and curious modern researchers who wish to understand the mind of plants. Their inquiries open a portal into an expanded sense of time and connection, uniting their story with those who came before them and with the plants who have borne witness all the while.
Premiere – Venice Film Festival – Won – Marcello Mastrioanno Award and the FIPRESCI Prize
Northstar Village Cinemas – December 5 – 5:00pm
THE TALE OF SILYAN
2025 (North Macedonia)
Directed by: Tamara Kotevska
Oscar®-nominated documentarian Tamara Kotevska (HONEYLAND) returns with a poetic and lyrical documentary set in rural Macedonia where family farms are struggling as their traditional way of life has become unsustainable. Looking down on this human drama are the town’s majestic storks perched in enormous nests atop telephone poles while their clattering beaks provide a constant soundtrack. Rooted in the Macedonian myth of Silyan — a boy transformed into a stork after defying his father — the film draws a parallel to its subject, Nikola, a weathered farmer left behind when his adult son and family depart for Germany in search of a more secure future. When Nikola encounters an injured stork and tends to the fragile bird, a tender bond forms — one that reflects both his yearning for companionship and the looming uncertainty of his vanishing way of life. Through folklore, striking images and intimate observation, Kotevska crafts a story about absence and resilience, and about the delicate thread that ties human survival to the natural world.
Premiere – Venice Film Festival – Won – Cinema & Arts Award
Incline Village Cinema – December 7 – 1:00pm
LOVE + WAR
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi
From Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi (FREE SOLO) comes this engrossing portrait of Pulitzer Prize-winning war photographer Lynsey Addario, who has spent decades documenting humanity at its most fragile and resilient — from the frontlines of Ukraine to the Middle East, Africa and beyond. With remarkable courage and a striking visual style, her lens captures both the brutality of war and the endurance of those living through it. Balancing her career and calling with her life as a wife and mother in London, Addario wrestles with the contradictions of a profession that constantly pulls her away from her two young children. When a male interviewer questions whether she should risk her life while raising kids, she retorts, “Do you ask men that question?” Weaving immersive frontline footage with moments of domestic life, the film presents a powerful meditation on family, sacrifice and the moral force of bearing witness.
Premiere – Toronto International Film Festival
Northstar Village Cinemas – December 7 – 5:30pm
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
2025 (France, Iran, Luxembourg)
Directed by: Jafar Panahi
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (THE WHITE BALLOON, NO BEARS) won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for this taut, sharply written tale of revenge. What begins as a minor accident sets in motion a series of escalating consequences when car mechanic Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) believes he has encountered the government interrogator who tortured him, but he cannot be certain because he never saw the man’s face. Filmed in secret in Iran—where Panahi remains under arrest—IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT elegantly confronts its characters with entangled questions of suspicion, moral ambiguity, and the meaning of retribution. France’s entry in the Academy Awards® race for Best International Feature Film.
Premiere – Cannes Film Festival – Won – Palme d’Or
Mill Valley Film Festival – Won – Audience Award
Sydney Film Festival – Won – Best Film
Northstar Village Cinemas – December 4 – 6:00pm
THE LIBRARIANS
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Kim A. Snyder
As an unprecedented wave of book banning addressing race and LGBT issues is sparked in Texas, Florida, and beyond. Librarians under siege join forces as unlikely defenders fighting on the front lines of democracy. Filmmaker Kim A. Snyder takes an unexpected front line where librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy, free access to information, and our First Amendment rights. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work, the librarians’ rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale. THE LIBRARIANS engaged and enraged audiences at Sundance and SXSW with its exposure of a systematic attack on intellectual freedom and the unlikely heroes leading the resistance.
Premiere – Sundance Film Festival
Dallas International Film Festival – Won – Grand Jury Prize – Best Documentary
Hamptons International Film Festival – Won – Grant Award for Social Justice
Sarasota Film Festival – Won – Jury Prize
Seattle International Film Festival – Won – Award for Persistence of Vision
Northstar Village Cinemas – December 7 – 3:30pm
A LIFE ILLUMINATED
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Tasha Van Zandt
Marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder has spent a lifetime exploring the ocean depths, which contain endless secrets. She made headlines for devising the camera system that captured the first footage of a giant squid in its natural habitat. But her greatest passion is studying the occurrence of bioluminescence — the awe-inspiring phenomenon of underwater organisms that produce their own light. Widder first witnessed it for herself on an expedition in the 1980s when she ventured into the ocean twilight zone below the reach of the sun. At the time, women in oceanography were scarce. The sexism was so prevalent that some chauvinistic boat crews considered it bad luck to have a woman at sea. Widder overcame countless obstacles to become renowned in her field and chart a path for the next generation. Filmmaker Tasha Van Zandt tells that backstory while following Widder on a contemporary expedition that she hopes can be a breakthrough for bioluminescence research. She teams with OceanX to use the latest technology of submersible vessels with the goal of capturing bioluminescence on camera like it has never been documented before.
Premiere – Toronto International Film Festival
Incline Village Cinema – December 7 – 3:30pm
THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE
2025 (United Kingdom, USA)
Directed by: Mona Fastvold
Academy Award® nominee Amanda Seyfried delivers a spell-binding performance in this musical historical drama from writer-director Mona Fastvold and co-writer Brady Corbet (Academy Award nominees, THE BRUTALIST). Ann Lee (Seyfried) is the dynamic and devout leader of the Shakers, an 18th century radical religious movement known for its loud and uninhibited singing and shaking during prayer. As Ann leads the Shakers from the oppression of England to the religious freedom of the Americas, she seeks the salvation of those around her alongside her own spiritual ecstasy. Through enthralling dance sequences and a career-best performance from Seyfried, THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE brilliantly and inventively evokes the passion of one woman with a conviction to better the world around her.
Premiere – Venice Film Festival – Nominated Golden Lion
Northstar Village Cinemas – December 7 – 7:30pm
DREAMS
2025 (Mexico, USA)
Directed by: Michel Franco
After a passionate fling with affluent philanthropist Jennifer (Academy Award® winner Jessica Chastain) in Mexico, ballet dancer Fernando (real-life dancer Isaac Hernández) crosses the border with the cash she left him, intent on rekindling their romance and realizing his dream of dancing in the United States. His sudden appearance stateside both surprises and intrigues Jennifer, who welcomes the young man back into her life — except when her friends and colleagues are around. As Fernando comes to realize, Jennifer will do a lot to support him but even more to protect her own elite status. Director Michel Franco’s chilly yet erotic exploration of power dynamics — in love, in sex, in wealth — and the performative altruism of the upper-class speeds toward a shocking conclusion.
Premiere – Berlin International Film Festival – Nominated – Golden Berlin Bear
Northstar Village Cinemas – December 6 – 5:45pm
SPEAK.
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Jennifer Tiexiera and Guy Mossman
Captivating audiences with spellbinding words and unshakable passion, SPEAK. follows five top-ranked high school seniors as they compete in the fiercely competitive world of national oratory championships. These students are storytellers, advocates, and visionaries. As they make their way through the highest rounds of competition, it becomes clear that their true power lies not in their technique but in their deep personal perspectives on the world. Each competitor speaks from the heart, tackling issues that have shaped their lives. Though the competitions bind them together, it is the contenders’ unique experiences shared through their fearless storytelling that set them apart on stage. Fueled by the desire to be heard, these students wield words like weapons, aiming not just to win but to leave an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of their listeners. SPEAK. takes us on a journey through the joys, pressures, and triumphs of students who have mastered the art of speech.
Premiere – Sundance Film Festival – Nominated – Grand Jury Prize Documentary
Directed by Jennifer Tiexiera – an Incline High School graduate
Incline Village Cinema – December 6 – 6:45pm
REBBECA
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Jennifer Tiexiera and Gabriela Cavanagh
She is a global powerhouse with billions of streams, chart-topping hits, and fans around the world — but Rebbeca reveals the woman behind the phenomenon. This intimate yet electrifying documentary pulls back the curtain on Becky G, one of Latin music’s most influential and fearless stars, as she embarks on her most personal project to date: her debut Mexican regional album. Shot with unprecedented access, the film follows Becky at a pivotal moment in her career and life, capturing raw emotional truths about love, family, loss, addiction, and resilience. Through deeply personal moments and powerful musical milestones, Rebbeca shows how Becky G has used her voice — and her roots — to break barriers and build a legacy. More than just a portrait of a superstar, Rebbeca is a celebration of cultural pride, artistic evolution, and the unbreakable bond between music and identity.
Premiere – Tribeca Film Festival
Directed by Jennifer Tiexiera – an Incline High School graduate
Incline Village Cinema – December 5 – 9:30pm
REMAINING NATIVE
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Paige Bethmann
Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American competitive runner, is determined to become a college athlete at his dream school. Outstriding all local competition and the bounds of his hometown in Yerington, Nevada, Ku must push beyond his physical and regional limits to have a chance at recruitment. As he prepares to leave home for the first time, Ku finds deeper meaning in his sport as an opportunity to honor his great-grandfather, who escaped an abusive Indian boarding school by running fifty miles across the desert. Winner of the SXSW Documentary Feature Audience and Special Jury Awards, REMAINING NATIVE is an inspiring, emotional triumph.
Premiere – SXSW – Won – Jury Award & Audience Award
Dallas International Film Festival – Won – Special Jury Prize
Milwaukee Film Festival – Won – Documentary Jury Award
Filmmakers present
Incline Village Cinema – December 5 – 5:00pm
YANUNI
2025 (Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, USA)
Directed by: Richard Ladkani
Produced by: Leonardo DiCaprio
Richard Ladkani (SEA OF SHADOWS, 2019) returns with this riveting cinematic portrait of Juma Xipaia, a charismatic Indigenous chief from the remote Brazilian Amazon who rises to the global frontlines of climate justice. After surviving six assassination attempts, she becomes Brazil’s first Secretary of Indigenous Rights while her husband, a federal environmental agent, leads dangerous operations against illegal gold mines deep in the rainforest. As Juma navigates political power, growing threats, and impending motherhood, she confronts the personal cost of resistance. At once intimate and epic, YANUNI is a powerful story of Indigenous sovereignty, love, and the urgent fight to protect the planet we call home.
Premiere – Tribeca Film Festival – Closing Night Film
Northstar Village Cinemas – December 6 – 3:30pm
FREE LEONARD PELTIER
2025 (USA)
Directed by: David France and Jesse Short Bull
For five decades, Leonard Peltier’s name has been synonymous with a pivotal moment in modern Native American history. Using a mix of contemporary interviews, archival footage, and AI recreations, Oglala Lakota filmmaker Jesse Short Bull (Lakota Nation vs. United States) and David France bring to life the turbulent era of the American Indian Movement (AIM), when Indigenous activists rose up against oppression, and the US government responded with force. The film traces Peltier’s journey—from Indian boarding schools to his involvement with AIM to the deadly 1975 Pine Ridge shootout with FBI agents that led to his conviction. With evidence long challenged as falsified or inconclusive, Peltier became a global symbol of political imprisonment. (President Biden commuted his sentence, leading to his release on February 18, 2025.) Free Leonard Peltier revisits his case in a new era, examining the forces that shaped his story and its lasting impact.
Premiere – Sundance Film Festival
Northstar Village Cinemas – December 6 – 7:45pm
THE SECRET AGENT
2025 (Brazil, France, Germany, Netherlands)
Directed by: Kleber Mendonca Fiho
Under the dictatorship of 1977 Brazil, technology expert Marcelo (Wagner Moura) is on the run. He arrives at a safe house for dissidents in Recife during the week of Carnival hoping to reunite with his estranged son but soon discovers that the city is far from the non-violent refuge he seeks. Brazilian auteur Kleber Menonça Filho (BACURAU) delivers a stylish thriller of mythic proportions—complete with assassins, severed legs, and a two-faced cat—that took home both the Best Director Award at Cannes and the Best Actor Award for Moura’s exceptional performance. Brazil’s entry in the Academy Awards® race for Best International Feature Film.
Premiere – Cannes Film Festival – Won – Best Actor – Best Director
Chicago International Film Festival – Won – Best Actor
Zurich Film Festival – Won – Golden Eye Award
Hamburg Film Festival – Won – Filmmaker in Focus Award
Jerusalem Film Festival – Won – Award for International Cinema
Northstar Village Cinemas – December 5 – 7:45pm
SIRAT
2025 (France, Spain)
Directed by: Oliver Laxe
In the glorious and forbidding Moroccan desert, a middle-aged Spanish father (Sergi López) searches for his missing daughter at a remote techno rave, enlisting the help of a band of French punks in his mission to find her. In this extraordinary psychological journey, director Oliver Laxe crafts a sensory experience of audacity and shock that probes the fragility of our lives. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, SIRÂT embraces hypnotic visuals, pulsing music, and the vastness of the desert landscape to deliver an unforgettably gripping philosophical experience. Spain’s entry in the Academy Awards® race for Best International Feature Film.
Premiere – Cannes Film Festival – Won – Jury Prize and Best Composer
Chicago International Film Festival – Won – Top Prize – Golden Hugo
Incline Village Cinema – December 7 – 8:00pm
SENTIMENTAL VALUE
2025 (Norway, France, Denmark, Germany)
Directed by: Joachim Trier
SENTIMENTAL VALUE reunites Renate Reinsve with director Joachim Trier (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD) in this Cannes Grand Prix winner. After the loss of their mother, Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) reconnect with their estranged father, the charismatic, once-renowned filmmaker Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård). When Nora turns down a role written for her in Gustav’s ambitious, highly personal new film, she soon finds he has instead given her part to an eager young Hollywood star (Elle Fanning). With masterfully rendered emotion, Trier delivers a stirring portrait of a family grasping for connection through grief and art when ordinary language fails. Norway’s entry in the Academy Awards® race for Best International Feature Film.
Premiere – Cannes Film Festival – Won – Grand Prize of the Festival
Hamptons International Film Festival – Won – Audience Award
Munich Film Festival – Won – Audience Award
Incline Village Cinema – December 6 – 1:15pm
NOBU
2024 (USA)
Directed by: Matt Tyrnauer
Years before his name became synonymous with a global luxury dining empire, Nobu Matsuhisa was a young man in Japan with a dream: to become a sushi chef. This compelling documentary traces Nobu’s journey from his childhood in Japan to the transformative experiences that shaped him in Peru and Alaska, ultimately leading to the creation of his iconic restaurants, Matsuhisa and Nobu. Nobu offers an intimate look at the triumphs and setbacks that defined his path, revealing the resilience, vision and love that drove him to blend diverse culinary traditions and revolutionize the sushi world. Beyond his artistic mastery, the film also explores the evolution of the Nobu restaurant group into a global symbol of luxury and hospitality. Nobu highlights the far-reaching impact of Matsuhisa’s culinary innovation, featuring appearances from his founding partner Robert De Niro, supermodel Cindy Crawford and celebrated chefs Wolfgang Puck and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. A portrait of an artist who redefined sushi culture and pushed gastronomic boundaries, this documentary is a testament to the precision, care and unwavering dedication that continues to shape Nobu’s legacy.
Premiere – Tribeca Film Festival
Incline Village Cinema – December 4 – 8:30pm
WILD HORSES AT THE DOOR
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Carrie Lederer
Coloradoan John Wayne Smith was homeless for eight years working through recovery when he resettled himself on a high desert mesa where wild horses roamed. A wounded pregnant mare showed up at his door and John nursed her back to health, later delivering her foal he affectionately named Blizzard. Their profound bond sets into motion an unexpected healing journey into the wonderful world of wild horses. Four years later we meet John coexisting with several bands of mustangs that he has come to intimately know in a way that few people have experienced. Living with a hundred wild horses and a mule has given him an alternative path versus a system that he felt was not serving him, however living the life of a rugged individualist alone on a mesa presents its own set of challenges, even for someone named after tough guy John Wayne. John eventually realizes that the resource scarcity he was familiar with when he was homeless may threaten his beloved mustangs.
Vermont Film Festival – Won – Jury Prize Best Documentary Short Film
Redfish Film Festival – Won – Audience Award Best Short Film
Incline Village Cinema – December 7 – 1:00pm
COURAGE
2025 (USA)
Directed by: Eric Michael Hernandez
When a young Native American boy struggles with self-confidence and societal expectations, his uncle re-introduces him to the transformative art of Hoop Dance. Through this tradition, he discovers strength, resilience, and the courage to embrace his heritage. Inspired by true events, Courage is a heartfelt story about identity and empowerment.
Incline Village Cinema – December 5 – 5:00pm
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