OIFF 2026 SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH, 2026

AU REVOIR (SEE YOU LATER)

A man bids farewell to his father at his funeral. (4 Min, France)

Director/Writer: Maxime Gilbert
Cast: Pierre-François Bouffard, Grégoire Cloutier
Producer: Julie St-François, Maxime Gilbert

VIEW TRAILER

EEL

A young electrician turns to illegal eel fishing to make ends meet. (11 Min, Canada)

Director/Writer: Wayne Burns
Cast: Kevin Kincaid, Koumbie
Producer: Wayne Burns

VIEW TRAILER

THE TENSILE STRENGTH OF AIR

After witnessing a suicide in public, Lauren re-evaluates herself in relationship to friends, family and career. Fantasy and reality blend as she assesses her identity and reasserts herself differently in the world. (16 Min, Oak Park, IL)

Director/Writer: Shayna Connelly
Cast: Jessica Dean Turner, Victor Musoni, Phyllis Griffin, Kyle A. Gibson
Producer: Samantha Sanders

CRANE

A young girl gets the opportunity to visit her father, who is in a psychiatric hospital for a serious mental illness. Crane is based on the director’s own experience growing up with a parent with a serious mental illness. (8 Min, San Diego, CA)

Director/Writer: Aiden Keltner
Cast: Cassie Seo, Nancy Lam, John DeCarlo, Jyl Kaneshiro
Producer: Tommy Anderson, Jonathan Austin, Alan Vazquez, Aiden Keltner

VIEW TRAILER

FRISCO

With a beautiful family growing around her,
Mandy has given up on carrying a baby on her
own. But now she must choose between risking
her life for a dream she has long since put aside,
and finding contentment in the family she
fought to build against all odds. (13 Min, Brooklyn, NY)

Director/Writer: Emilee Bae
Cast: Anna Marie Sell, Alec Bernard, Miles McNicoll, Everest Talde
Producer: Alex Peace-Power, Paul Steiner

TOMORROW AT DAWN

A girl with pancreatic cancer wants to surf with her dad one last time. (15 Min, China)

Director/Writer: Jingshu Lu
Cast: Junyu Tao, Yeer Yang
Producer: Qi Yang

LESSONS FROM OUR GRANDFATHER

An Inuk’s life is tied to the cold, so a warming Arctic climate is a stark reminder of how climate change can impact cultural transference over generations. Filmmaker sisters draw on their grandfather’s wisdom to prepare their daughters for resilience in a changing world. (3 Min, Canada)

Director/Writer: Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, Jennifer Kilabuk
Producer: Ashley Qilavaq-Savard, Jennifer Kilabuk

CROSSING THE DIVIDE

Crossing the Divide explores the longstanding issue of habitat fragmentation caused by roads and the detrimental consequences this has on wildlife populations. The film investigates the current wildlife crossings that have been and are being built, and highlights their promising potential to restore movement patterns and support ecosystem resilience. (11 Min, Mountain View, CA)

Director/Writer: Talia Frank
Cast: Mari Galloway, Ben Goldfarb, Don Crocker, Kenneth Russo
Producer: Talia Frank

KEEPERS OF THE CANYON

Keepers of the Canyon follows the decade-long battle between the residents of Orange County and one of California’s most powerful developers, the Irvine Company, over a controversial construction project threatening the fragile foothills of Santiago Canyon. Barefoot Joel, a passionate naturalist and leader of the grassroots organization Naturalists 4 You, rallies the community to protect the land from a massive development that would pave over the home of endangered species. As the fight intensifies, it becomes a political and legal showdown. City council meetings and protests become battlegrounds, revealing the deep tensions between economic growth and environmental conservation. Will the community’s efforts be enough to halt construction? (15 Min, Orange, CA)

Director: Ashley Kuckler
Producer: Maika Suaya

VALLEY UNDER FIRE

When climber and National Park Service employee Nate Vince was fired under controversial circumstances, he staged a protest by hanging an upside-down American flag off Yosemite’s iconic El Capitan, an act that captured national attention. This short documentary tells the story behind that moment and explores Nate’s deep connection to the park, his passion for climbing, and his commitment to protecting public lands and the communities built around them. (10 Min, Pasadena, CA)

Director: Gregory Robinson
Cast: Nate Vince

THE REWILDERS

The western world has long equated survival with conquering the wild. But now more than ever, humanity’s survival depends upon co-existence with the wild. Since 1970, the planet has lost 60% of its biodiversity. The most dire consequences are accelerated global warming and a potential mass extinction event affecting millions of plant and animal species. But there is a nascent solution gaining ground: rewilding the planet. (37 Min, Canada)

Director/Writer: Marlene Rodgers
Cast: Mark Angelo, Kristine Tompkins, Daniel Kinka, Sarah Tompkins, Isabelle Tompkins, Oswald Schmitz
Producer: Louise Valgardson, Trish Neufeld, Kyle Gunther, John Ritchie

VIEW TRAILER

IN OUR NATURE

In a time of rising loneliness, disconnection, and division, this is the story of how nature – and those who teach with it – are helping us find our way back to each other. (60 Min, San Diego, CA)

Director: James Matthew Parker
Producer: Juliet Grable, James Matthew Parker

VIEW TRAILER