Posted by Larry Gleeson
Full Film Slate, Lineup Includes 16 Features and 73 Shorts
Ticketing options available here
Laguna Beach, CA (October 27, 2025)—The Coast Film & Music Festival (CFMF) has unveiled the full film slate for its seventh annual event, taking place Saturday, November 1 through Sunday, November 9. The schedule includes 16 features and 73 shorts, with screenings at the following venues: the Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Center, the Festival of Arts, the Rivian South Coast Theater, The Promenade on Forest, and the Hobie Surf Shop.
The festivities kick off with the stunning feature documentary The Eyes of Ghana from two-time Academy Award®-winning director Ben Proudfoot and executive producers Barack and Michelle Obama. The film follows 93-year-old documentarian Chris Hesse—personal cinematographer to forgotten African icon and former Ghana president Kwame Nkrumah—as he races against blindness and time to rescue and repatriate a secret trove of over 1,000 films that captured the birth of African independence in the fifties and sixties. Yet unseen by the public, these films may not only rewrite Ghanaian and African history, but world history itself.
The festival will conclude with two feature films: Academy-Award winners Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s Love + War and musician Jack Johnson’s The September Sessions. Love + War chronicles Pulitzer Prize winner Lynsey Addario’s ascent in the male-dominated world of conflict photography. Her work is dangerous—she’s been kidnapped twice while in war zones—which is a cost she must wrestle with each time she leaves her husband and two sons to go on assignment. Behind the camera, Addario is torn between her unwavering commitment to the essential work of journalism and the powerful, competing demands of motherhood, grappling with what it truly means to follow your calling when it threatens everything you love. The September Sessions follows American surfers as they take a trip to the coast of Sumatra, where they find themselves surfing beautiful waves and losing the urgency they have come to live with as professionals. Shot on 16mm film and featuring interviews with surfers Kelly Slater and Rob Machado, this film takes viewers on a once-in-a-lifetime surf trip.
The other features screening individually include: Tony Benna’s André is an Idiot; Vickie Curtis and Doug Anderson’s Comparsa; Josh Swade’s Empire Skate; Jacob Vanderwork’s Feels Like Yesterday; Shaun and Greg MacGillivray’s Ohio: Wild at Heart; Roanna Xia and Daniel Straub’s Out of Plain Sight (from LA Times Studios, presenters of the Oscarâ-winning The Last Repair Shop); Ben Masters’ The American Southwest; Tamara Kotevska’s The Tale of Silyan; Jack Johnson and Chris and Emmett Malloy’s Thicker Than Water; John Hunter Nolan and Erin Brockovich’s Unearth; and Richard Ladkani and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Yanuni. The feature films screening in the special programming category “Mountain/Snow Night” are Chris Benchetler’s Mountains of the Moon and Todd and Steve Jones’ Pressure Drop.
Most of the short films are programmed alongside other shorts in the following thematic blocks: “Adventure Shorts,” “Animal Kingdom Shorts,” “Every Day Wonders Shorts,” “Gravity & Grace Shorts,” “Healed by Nature Shorts,” “Our Lands Shorts,” “Our Oceans Shorts,” “Running Shorts,” “Stoker Shorts,” and “Surf Shorts.”
Shorts screening ahead of individual features include: David Goldblum and Mark Hamill’s Big Rock Burning; Rachel Ross’ Earthworks; Kelly Gilbride’s Here the Wild Things Are; Charlie Turnbull’s If I Disappear; Connor Eck’s Since 1950; Gaby Scott’s The Dolphins; Sashwa Burrous’ The Fire Poppy; Jacob Krupnick’s Then Comes the Body; Ricky-Thomas Serikawa’s Twisted Braid; Hanz Rippe Gabriel and Fernanda Pineda Palencia’s Unless We Dance; Oliver Sutro’s Uphill Both Ways; and Sean Peoples’ When the Storms Hit.
The shorts screening in the special programming category “Mountain/Snow Night” are Mike Schwartz’ Annika: Where She Lands; Harry Kearney and Timmy Taussig’s Center Punch; and Ian Durkin’s Paved.
“Adventure Shorts” include: Zeppelin Zeerip and Colin Arisman’s Arctic Alchemy; Scott Secco’s Drop the Mic; Alec Yasuo Walsh’s Love Letters: A Love Note to Skateboarding; Nick Rosen and Gareth Leah’s Reel Rock 19: Death of Villains; and Glen Janssens’ Your Last Best: A Memphis Rox Story.
“Animal Kingdom Shorts” include: Jason Jaacks’ Between Moon Tides; Skye Fitzgerald’s Chasing Roo; and Josh Murphy’s Love Letter to the Unseen.
“Every Day Wonders Shorts” include: Dan Lio and Noam Genet’s Assynt; Palmer Morse and Derek Knowles’ Borrowed Time; James Berry’s Cletus; Sam Miller and Stephen Stinson’s I’m Still Here: A Life on Dynamite Hill; Will Wertz and Kolton Dallas’ Little Liberty; Charlie Turnbull’s Miles Between Us, Miles to Go; Mike Schwartz’ Momo; Kate Brantley and Sarah Hughen’s See Like Me; Nicholas Dorsey’s To Be a Child; and Wylie Overstreet and Alex Gorosh’s To Scale: Time.
“Gravity & Grace Shorts” include: Joseph Fletcher’s Bridgers; Alex Heitler’s In Cold Blood; Josh Goldsmith’s Lines; Mathieu Le Lay’s Rêverie; Keenan DesPlanques’ Rogatkin; and Josh Fairmont and Ollie Smith’s Whispers.
“Healed by Nature Shorts” include: Cole Sax and Phil Hessler’s Call to Serve; Rocky Romano and Miranda Winters’ Gangsta Gardener; Jeremiah Schuster’s Mother River; Evan Grainger’s Powered by Community: Food is Medicine; Karl Stelter’s Swimming with Butterflies; and Danny Schmidt’s The Book of George.
“Our Lands Shorts” include: Arian Tomar’s Cottonwood; Pablo Mejía’s Equipo no. 3; Matthew Benton’s Fish for the Future; Brooklyn Phillips and Sarah Stewart’s Hellbent; Ashley Kuckler’s Keepers of the Canyon; Dana Frankoff’s Land to Sea; Pete McBride’s Monumental Moment; Francesco Clerici and Tommaso Barbaro’s The Ice Builders; Tony Czech’s The Reindeer Journals; and Greg Robinson’s Valley Under Fire.
“Our Oceans Shorts” include: Peter Grigsby’s Bitter Water; Ethan Edmunds and Armin Korsos’ Brothers of the Sea; Kevan Doyle’s Caught; Natalie Faye’s Epicenter; Josh Murphy’s Rock | Plastic | Salmon; Nicole Gormley’s Sea Country (Malu Lag); Tatum Kala Davis, Natalie Aymond, Jack Phillips, and Taylor Ortiz’ The Kelp We Breathe; and Carl Rosen’s Year of the Bluefin.
“Running Shorts” include: Tylor Wolter’s King of Moab; Sam Price-Waldman’s The Life We Have; and Jaden Stodart’s The Speed Project: Afterparty.
“Stoker Shorts” includes: Wylie Overstreet and Alex Gorosh’s A New View of the Moon; Ben Knight and Berne Broudy’s Best Day Ever; Drew Miller’s Brain Waves: An Andy Davis Story; Ben Knight’s Unicorn Sashimi; and Brent Englund’s When Dishwashers Were Kings.
Finally, “Surf Shorts” include: Keith Malloy and Andrew Schoneberger’s First In, Last Out; and Stab Magazine’s Milk & Honey.
“People are seeking stories that inspire hope and bring us together,” says Programming Director Hayley Nenadal. “Our festival serves as a showcase for award-winning documentaries and films that tell important, beautiful stories—some tackle big ideas that challenge us to think, while others are unifying experiences that resonate with audiences of all backgrounds. We’re offering exactly what our communities need right now.”
“This festival is more than a passive experience,” conclude Co-Founders Ben Warner & Enich Harris. “It’s an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, to spark conversations about conservation, and to ignite the spirit of adventure that drives us all. Whether you’re discussing sustainable practices, planning your next expedition, or simply enjoying the company of fellow outdoor enthusiasts, you’re contributing to a community that values and protects our natural world. Our aim is for you to leave here not just entertained, but energized and inspired to make a positive impact. May this festival kindle a renewed dedication to exploring and preserving the wild places we all cherish.”
Tickets and passes are available for purchase on the official website here. Press materials (including film synopses, posters, and stills; filmmaker bios and headshots; and screening locations and times) are available here.
About Coast Film & Music Festival
Coast Film & Music Festival, founded in Laguna Beach, California in 2019, is an annual celebration of outdoor-inspired cinema, culture, and community. CFMF’s diverse programming includes films, panels, music, art, and outdoor experiences designed to entertain, inform, and inspire audiences. The festival is committed to nurturing young filmmakers and sharing unique voices through innovative mentoring and educational programs. In 2022, they established the Coast Film Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to purpose-driven filmmaking that drives positive change through storytelling.
Media Contacts: K-Line Media Group, 949-315-5101
Caroline Rustigian, caroline@k-linemediagroup.com
Platform Media Group (PMG), 323-337-9042
Henry Eshelman, heshelman@platformgrp.com
