The Santa Cruz Film Festival (SCFF) has been quietly curating not only a diverse celebration of excellent cinema, but also creatively pioneering an entire local collective of filmmakers. We may be a beach town, but we’re not Carmel or even Mill Valley, whose film festivals are world-renowned. SCFF looks to close that gap with brilliant programming and a friendly accessibility through year-round events and workshops, culminating in this banner year’s festival.
In 2026, the SCFF received over 500 submissions from filmmakers around the world. The final selections numbered just 94. That means somebody had to watch 500 films, and that is just part of the workload that lands squarely on the shoulders of the director of programming, Logan Walker.
“It’s such a privilege to watch these films and talk to filmmakers. It’s really difficult because there are films that we love or that are really amazing—but we can’t invite everything. It’s a minority that we can invite,” says Walker, who has been serving in this position since 2014.
SPOTLIGHTS
The SCFF is rolling out the red carpet and starting the festival with a stylish premiere at the plush Del Mar Theatre with the black comedy Lunar Sway at 6pm on Oct. 14.
Lunar Sway is directed by New York-based Canadian Nick Butler and was released into the festival circuit this year. It’s the story of a young LGBTQ man (Noah Parker) who is living in the middle of nowhere and has his life turned upside down when his full-of-secrets birth mother (Liza Weil) returns to town.
The film has the perfect tone for Santa Cruz, with reviews calling Lunar Sway “engrossingly weird,” “Lynchian” and “remarkably original.”
The grand opening’s surprise star is Liza Weil, whose work includes Gilmore Girls, Scandal and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Weil will then make the pilgrimage from the Del Mar, along with a throng of cinema fans, to the MAH for an opening-night kickoff party at 7:45pm.
BEHIND THE SCREEN
But what about the long, arduous road every movie travels before it arrives conveniently for our admiration or disgust? That is a story that isn’t often told, but director Butler had this to say about the process of making Lunar Sway.
“I wrote the screenplay in 2022. We shot it in 2024 and finished post in 2025. So the road from screenplay to set was relatively quick. Only two years. But then we took a lot of time in post. Almost a full year.
“I’m a big believer that post is often rushed and I wanted to have the luxury of sitting with it and getting a lot of feedback. I’m glad we did because we ended up making some pretty significant changes to the edit in the eleventh hour. I’m not sure we ever would have arrived at that version if we’d rushed the process,” Butler reveals.
OPTICS
While downtown Santa Cruz’s future hangs in the balance, the SCFF is weighing the scales down on the side of the arts. The SCFF has developed brilliant engagement strategies combined with an inclusive eye for representing the most diverse range of cinematic voices. And this year’s film festival is the glowing gem in its scepter.
“Well, the festival was founded in 2000 and we haven’t had a film festival every single year. We’ve skipped some years, but it’s 26 years since the first festival,” Logan says.
The SCFF offers many opportunities for fans and filmmakers to meet and greet and hobnob, which is a very nice component of its stellar rollout. But at the heart of the festival are the films.
the chills in her film Sèance. PHOTO: Vivian Kerr
SPOOKY
For independent filmmakers, the dream of having your “baby” seen on a big screen vanishes a little more each day. With thousands of movie theater screens closing in the last five years, now 90% of indie films never get a chance to be seen in bigger-box theaters.
Streamers like Netflix used to glean film festivals for breakout stars but are increasingly creating their own series and content. So for filmmakers to sink years of time and bundles of money into dreams that have little chance of being seen or recouping the investment is—in a word—possessed.
Filmmaker Vivian Kerr’s contribution to this year’s SCFF is Séance, a spooky period piece, and it will play Thursday, Oct. 15, at 7:15pm at the Santa Cruz Cinema. Set in California circa 1892, the film follows four characters (Kerr plays the unstable new wife) in the midst of the fury of a coastal storm, with family members melting down—and is that a ghost?
Kerr is one of the new breed of filmmakers whose screen work and behind-the-scenes approach provide a blueprint for the 21st-century league of auteurs.
Kerr wrote, directed and produced her first feature film, Scrap. Film critic Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com said, “In her first feature as director, Kerr shows an exceptional gift for cinematic storytelling.”
And yes, Kerr absolutely has a gift onscreen and that certain elusive quality, but the “gift” of filmmaking only happens through thousands of hours of work. Exhaustive mental leaps of faith and perseverance are key to surviving this latest climate of filmmaking.
“On my first feature, Scrap, I wrote it, directed it, produced it and acted in it,” says Kerr from her home in LA.
“Most directors I know in independent film are also producing to some degree as well as trying to get the financing. So you really have to be a jack of all trades now to be a successful director. I also know incredible directors who are not producers at all. And unfortunately, they’re at a real disadvantage because they’re sitting on a script that may never get made because they can’t find the right producer. I think you’ve got to be willing to put years of your life into a project just to make it happen. I’m now less critical of other people’s films because I know how hard it is just to get it made. Anything made is like a minor, not even minor, major miracle,” Kerr says.
GONZO
SCFF is built to last with the tough durability of a festival that will survive and grow. The backbone of the SCFF is a board of directors full of vision and grit.
Board member Bilko Cuervo was born in Cuba. A filmmaker for a quarter century with multiple master’s degrees and a PhD in mass communication, Cuervo doesn’t hold his tongue.
“I walked away from Hollywood. Everything in Hollywood, right now, looks through the prism of money. What is the value of everything? The bigger problem is that all of the stories are recycled. Everything.
“In Cuba, I grew up in a whole different context. I watched my first American film when I was 21 years old. My whole universe was made by Tarkovsky, by Fellini, and by Antonio Bertolucci. The real good cinema. The fathers of a huge movement and friendship. Hollywood was a shock. I don’t want to be attached to those movies. I know famous producers and they don’t know anything about production. I know actors who don’t know movies or books. You have to (expletive) read, you know? You have to know about music, you have to know about every single aspect of humor and books. People that never read Mark Twain in America or Tennessee Williams or Charlie Bukowski, like, how come? Like, are you (expletive) crazy, bro? Or old lady?” Cuervo laughs.
NEXT, ON STAGE: Meet the hometown talents returning as Santa Cruz Comedy Festival headliners.
HIGHLIGHTS
Films can eviscerate us emotionally or make us laugh until we cry. Films can have an edge. They can be dangerously adventurous as well as illuminating. Programming director Logan Walker suggested these exquisite representations of cinema and their magical ability to communicate deeper truths.
The Lonely Child
Directed by UCSC alum Marc Smolowitz, this feature documentary traces the extraordinary journey of a little-known Yiddish lullaby, “Dos Elnte Kind,” that was written inside the Vilna Ghetto during the Holocaust.
Thursday, Oct. 15, 6pm
Landmark’s Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Ave.
Lady Champagne
Director D’Arcy Drollinger filmed this colorful entry entirely in San Francisco. Featuring over 80 queer and trans performers, Lady Champagne is a slapstick love letter to 1970s exploitation cinema—equal parts glam, grit and guerrilla filmmaking.
Friday, Oct. 16, 7:15pm
Santa Cruz Cinema, 1405 Pacific Ave.
The Terroirist
Director Jeffrey Reiner’s character study of the legendary winemaker Randall Grahm, founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard, is a meditation on staying true to one’s mission and the obsession that comes with it.
Saturday, Oct. 17, 4pm
Colligan Theater at the Tannery Arts Center, 1010 River St.
My Name Is Gitta
Directed by Beatrix Ryle, this film follows Gitta, a vivacious nonagenarian Holocaust survivor who long ago processed and overcame her childhood trauma and for decades has been telling her story of recovery and forgiveness at schools.
Sunday, Oct. 18, 5pm
Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave.
The SCFF has multiple ticket options and a full schedule at santacruzfilmfestivals.org. The festival runs Wednesday, Oct. 14, through Sunday, Oct. 18.
