A 2025 Sundance winner and a new documentary on Neil Young will open and close the 31st annual San Luis Obispo International Film Festival in April.
“We are really excited to open and close the festival with two incredible independent films that celebrate the healing and connective power of music,” according to festival director Skye McLennan.
Sundance Audience Award winner DJ Ahmet is the main attraction of the April 24 opening night screening and reception at the historic Fremont Theater that also features catered bites from Luna Red and live music. The film introduces Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, who finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love.
“I wanted to explore the delicate balance between tradition and self-expression, particularly within a small, close-knit community,” writer/director Georgi M. Unkovski says. “The film delves into the challenges of growing up in a traditional setting while simultaneously discovering one’s own identity. At its core, the film is about the universal human need to express oneself, and how art, in this case music, can become both a refuge and a catalyst for change.”
Daryl Hannah’s documentary on Neil Young’s solo tour, Coastal, is the closing night selection on April 29. In it, Hannah (who is married to Young) invites viewers to take a journey with the maverick musician as he cruises the coast on his recent solo tour. It offers a glimpse behind the curtain of an unguarded iconoclast as he navigates a return to the stage post-Covid. The film features songs rarely, if ever, played live, performed in breathtakingly beautiful theaters.
The 2025 festival features a slate of some 113 films, including narrative features, short films, documentary features, and doc shorts. It offers a broad spectrum of content for serious cinephiles, devoted film buffs, and casual movie fans both locally and across the region.
Also on tap are the fest’s famous Surf Nite, the popular Central Coast Filmmaker Showcase, Cal Poly Short Cuts, and Music Video Showcase. Community of Skate is returning for a repeat performance after a successful debut in 2024.
Additional programs include short films curated by R.A.C.E. Matters; Filmmakers of Tomorrow featuring short films by those 18 and under; a program curated by The Coastal Awakening celebrating David Lynch and meditation; and a new series of environmental documentary shorts selected by Ecologistics.
Named to MovieMaker Magazine’s 25 Coolest Film Festivals list, and USA Today’s 10Best Readers Choice Awards, the festival is an Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Qualifying Festival in the category of “Best Documentary Short.”
Festival passes and information for the six-day annual event are available online. To become a festival volunteer, you can fill out an application online as well.