Ashland Independent Film Festival returns with local flicks, documentaries, political films

Whether it’s animated movies, documentaries or locally made cinema, the Ashland Independent Film Festival will bring a wide range of motion pictures to the Rogue Valley during its four-day run later this month.

“We’re doing a curated festival this year … it really hits it out of the park in very unique and distinct ways, when the program is trying to bring something for everybody,” said Carina Kolodny, a member of the AIFF board leading the marketing side of the festival. “It’s very much a valley-wide event.”

The event is scheduled from Thursday, April 24, to Sunday, April 27, and will be hosted at the Varsity Theatre in Ashland, located at 166 E. Main Street. 

The festival schedule and screenings of the different films vary, though all motion pictures will be played between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. 

For the full list of films and when they will be playing, visit ashlandfilm.org/schedule2025. 

Staff recommend that festival-goers purchase their tickets in-person at the Varsity Theatre, though they can be purchased on the AIFF website by selecting the “order tickets” button on the festival schedule. 

“We’re truly thrilled to be in the Varsity, as well as thrilled to help support them; we don’t want movie theaters to go anywhere,” Kolodny said. “There’s something really special about sitting down in red chairs with popcorn and sharing that experience with friends and strangers.” 

Some of the many films featured in the festival include: “50 Feet from Syria,” a documentary following Syrian-American surgeon Hisham Bismar performing intricate and much-needed surgeries amid the chaos of war; “The Hole Story,” which is a true crime and environmental documentary centered on a mysterious 60-foot hole discovered by the U.S. Forest Service on Mount Shasta; “I Know Catherine, The Log Lady,” diving into the life and personal journey of Catherine Coulson, an Oregon Shakespeare Festival actress best known for playing the enigmatic “Log Lady” in the cult classic TV show “Twin Peaks;” “Sultana’s Dream,” an animated narrative feature following Spanish artist Inés and her journey sparked by “Ladyland,” a utopia in which women rule the country while men take domestic roles; and “Seeds,” a documentary shot over the course of nine years covering the lives, legacies and hardships of Black farmers in the American South. 

This year’s selection has 22 films in total. 

A particular must-watch documentary for Kolodny is “I Know Catherine, The Log Lady.”

“She spent much of her life in Ashland, and there’s a really cool and beautiful tie-in where she got this script when bringing “Twin Peaks” back, and her character was sick in bed on hospice; it just so happened that Katherine was also sick in bed,” Kolodny said. “It’s an incredibly compelling documentary about the life of Katherine with interviews with David Lynch himself and Gary Lundgren, our hometown hero.”

Another local flick in the film festival is “Raising Aniya,” a documentary centered on a young dancer and her journey of healing and finding her voice after being displaced by a hurricane.

“That one is actually filmed by Chris Lucas, a professor here at (Southern Oregon University),” Kolodny said. 

The switch to the springtime for AIFF, which was held in the fall last year, is a realignment to when it was held before COVID-19. 

The festival was abandoned due to the pandemic and revived in the spring of 2023. 

“The Ashland Independent Film Festival was founded 24 years ago by a rag-tag group of cinephiles who liked watching movies together and wanted to extend that to the community at large,” Kolodny said. “It turned into not only a professional organization, but a very well respected one with a good amount of cachet with the community.”

The festival was named one of the best film festivals in the country by Filmmaker Magazine. 

“COVID hit and like all arts organizations local, statewide and around the county, COVID kind of ate our lunch,” she said. “There were a couple virtual and hybrid attempts, but it sort of disbanded.” 

Reestablishing itself two years ago with yet another committed group of film fans looking to share a love of motion pictures with the community, the AIFF board of working creatives eliminated the festival’s outstanding debt and brought the event back in the fall of 2024. 

“With feedback from the community and longtime festival goers, it ultimately feels like the festival has a home in the spring,” Kolodny said. 

To learn more about the film festival, visit ashlandfilm.org.

Reach reporter James Sloan at james.sloan@rv-times.com.