We are pleased to announce the following exceptional films in competition at the DCIFF Forum, with filmmakers attending to talk about their work after the screening.

Feature Films: Documentary

Aria: On the Edge directed by Karen Day (USA/2025/90mins) A backstage understanding of opera through the personal stories of four singers  —  soprano Cecilia Violetta Lopez, mezzo soprano Tahanee Aluwihare, baritone Brian Major and tenor Ben Gulley — as they strive to snag leading roles in premiere operas around the globe. 

Child of Dust directed by Weronika Mliczewska. (Poland/2025/90mins) 

Sang is one of hundreds of thousands unwanted and discriminated children left behind by the American soldiers after the Vietnam War. Sang’s only mission is to meet his ailing dad and break the cycle of war trauma that has plagued generations.

Forever Free and the Illiteracy Playbook directed by Dion Johnson (USA/2026/96mins)Millions of Americans—especially in marginalized communities—struggle with basic literacy, a crisis rooted in generations of educational inequity: literacy as a gateway to civic participation, economic mobility, and personal dignity.

Mercy at the Gates directed by Dan Tarrant (USA?2025/46.27mins). Nick’s harrowing journey from addiction to mercy on the streets of the world’s largest open-air drug market in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.

The Magic Lantern directed by Eli Brown (USA/2025/76mins) Marijke Brown learns about her rescue as an infant by the Dutch Underground. This sparks a 30-year odyssey for her and her son, a filmmaker, as they connect to family lost in the Holocaust– and each other.

Velvet Vision – The Story of James Bidgood (and the Making of Pink Narcissus) directed by Bart Everly (USA/2026/98mins) 

Photographer/director James Bidgood’s  1960’s beefcake photographs depicted elaborate fantasy scenarios drenched in lush color that transcended the genre. Falsely attributed to Kenneth Anger and Andy Warhol, among others, it wasn’t until almost twenty years later that Pink Narcissus was revealed to be Jim’s work.

Feature Films: Fiction

Easy Digging  directed by Marissa Macy (USA/2025/99mins). Key Cast: Phillip Andrew Johnson, Mollie Kirby, Adrian Prado, Courtney Hopkin,Ace Manning, Stephanie Vasquez Fonseca, Jennifer Banister, Paul Normandin

A documentary crew follows Ed Brown, a middle-aged building inspector, as he returns to his childhood dream of digging a hole to China. When Ed’s plans go viral and a billionaire investor gets involved, the whole world tunes in. Ed must face why he’s digging this hole, the loss of a childhood friend, his strained relationship with his father, and what it means to attempt the impossible.

The Immigrant’s Wife. directed by Jon Lutz (USA/2026/52mins) Key Cast: Erik Harrison, Ariana Almajan, Kathryn Rheault

1959. Pyotr admires the intelligent, creative television personalities on his favorite science fiction shows. He’s got a few ideas of his own, so why not him, too? Well, for starters, his recently acquired mail-order-bride may have some unexpected opinions of her own!

DARA (A Port Harcourt Love Story?) directed by Kingsley Bobby Okey-Ejiowhor (Nigeria/2025/120mins) Key Cast: Emmanuel Bless Smile Edidiong, Tomi Ojo, Raymond Kage Umenze, Tina Mba, Prince Ren

TikTok sensation Dara gains admission into school but campus life is nothing like what he expected. Trapped in a web of toxic love, cultism, and campus violence, his only escape is dance. But one dangerous moment threatens everything. His freedom, his girl, even his life..

Halmeoni directed by Lenny Maréchal (France/2025/45mins)  Key Cast: Didier Gaudé, Victor Chérasse, Sylvie Caudrelier, Joséphine Poulengeard, Alain Crombe, Harold Lumès, Liliane Cohen-Solal,Anne Gensac,Mickaël Savchenko

As a heat wave devastates the country, a residence for elderly people finds itself cut off from the world, subjected to brutal water rationing. The director, Phil, imposes an authoritarian regime where water distribution becomes an instrument of power. 

Eugene O’Neill – The First Man directed by Hardeep Giani (UK/2025/120mins) Key Cast: Vincent Andriano, Charlotte Asprey, Alan Turkington, Rebecca Lee

The first-ever film adaptation of The First Man – an early and rare story from the pen of Nobel laureate and Pulitzer prize winner, Eugene O’Neill. This psychological romantic drama set in 1920s Connecticut, delves into themes of obsession, grief and betrayal.

Web Series:

Unbreakable Soul directed by Alexander Kwanje (USA/2026/ 38.25mins/documentary) Episode One of a docuseries chronicling the journey of Shirin Behzadi, who fled Iran during the 1979 revolution. Through unwavering determination and hard work, she rose to become the CEO of a billion-dollar US company.

Jam Boy directed by Sriram Emani (USA/2025/22:16 /fiction)  Sriram discovers that the system is designed to keep people like him trapped, feeding workers flavorless “lunch cakes” that erase memory and resistance. When Sriram smuggles in his mother’s recipe for tamarind rice, something inside him wakes up. Taste becomes rebellion, and food becomes freedom.

City Don’t Sleep directed by Nich Esposito(USA/2025/30mins/animation/pilot) An aging lounge singer, a narcoleptic sage, a hardboiled lady detective, a sentient ball of rats, a corrupt mayor, and a giant talking penis alien must join forces to save the world’s greatest City from a shadowy tech corporation.