Produced by The Cary Theater, the eight annual BEYOND: The Cary Film Festival returns Sept. 11-14, 2025 and will include 24 independent films in competition alongside filmmaking workshops and industry talkbacks.
CARY, N.C. (August 4, 2025) – BEYOND: The Cary Film Festival returns Sept. 11-14, 2025, for its eighth year celebrating the art of short films from independent filmmakers from around the world. Produced by The Cary Theater, BEYOND received short films and screenplay submissions from independent filmmakers worldwide that will compete for more than $6,000 in prizes. All festival events take place at The Cary Theater in downtown Cary, N.C.
“This year’s films in competition include outstanding shorts from Sweden, India, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.,” said Lani Simeona, festival director and operations and program supervisor at The Cary Theater. “We take pride in the fact that BEYOND offers audiences and filmmakers of all experience levels the opportunity to see great short films while also exploring screenwriting and filmmaking topics to help fuel their creativity.”
Special Programming
Opening Night Film – THE BOWL
Directed By: Elijah Yetter-Bowman (USA | 2025 | 27 min)
The documentary follows a team of six North Carolina high school girls and their teacher as they prepare for and compete in the National High School Ethics Bowl (NHSEB) at UNC Chapel Hill. The film begins with the team’s journey leading to the competition, capturing their intense preparation and deep engagement with ethical cases. Through interviews and classroom footage, we see the students’ excitement, nerves, and the bonds they form while grappling with complex moral issues. World Premiere
Presented in partnership with the Southern Documentary Fund.
Closing Film – SPEAK
Directed By: Jennifer Tiexiera, Guy Mossman (USA | 2025 | 103 min)
SPEAK follows five of the nation’s top teenage speech competitors, capturing the euphoria of victory and the devastation of defeat as they craft and perform original oratories over the course of a 9-month season. Their dream is simple: To win the Super Bowl of public speaking, the NSDA Nationals.
Indie Spotlight: OKTHANKSBYE
Directed By: Nicole van Kilsdonk (The Netherlands|2023| 93 min)
An adventurous coming-of-age drama about two young deaf girls who go on an unforgettable road trip together where they not only get to know each other better, but also themselves.
Indie Spotlight: PAPER FLOWERS
Directed By: Mahesh Pailoor (USA | 2004 | 100 min)
When suddenly faced with a rare form of cancer, a young man embarks on a transformative journey of gratitude, inspiring loved ones and strangers with his unwavering spirit and viral manifesto that challenges the world to find beauty in every sunset. Based on a true story.
Live Table Read – BURNING HAMMER
Screenplay By: Dylan Wilson
Live Table Read Directed By: Debra Grannan
After his cruel and isolating punishment comes to an end, a pious, but headstrong boy living in a fundamentalist Christian foster home finds empowerment outside of religion.
Films In Competition
A BIGGER TABLE
Directed By: Evan Kidd (USA | 2024 | 14:47 min)
North Carolina, Snap Pea Creative Dining and refugee chef Laetitia Nsengi craft a 12-course pop-up dinner and fundraiser inspired by dishes she grew up eating in the Republic of the Congo. North Carolina Premiere
THE BRAIN BUCKET
Directed By: Christopher Flippo (USA | 2024 | 3:07 min)
A woman reflects on her time as a young skateboarder.
BUDŌ
Directed By: Alexander Toma, Amanda Aagard (Sweden | 2024 | 14:51 min)
A hungry stray cat follows an old widow home but soon makes himself more comfortable in her little apartment than she could ever imagine.
CHANGING ROOM
Directed By: Ruchir Kulkarni (India | 2025 | 10:49 min)
An introverted 12-year-old overweight boy is forced to face his insecurities in a changing room. East Coast Premiere
A CITY THAT CARES
Directed by: Aaron Hosé (USA | 2024 | 13:32 min)
A legal educator reflects on her work as an activist along the US-Mexico border, a journey that guides her and her students to a compassionate Texas community where generosity and empathy are deeply intertwined. North Carolina Premiere
CRANE
Directed By: Aiden Keltner (USA | 2024 | 7:40 min)
A young girl gets the opportunity to visit her father, who is in a psychiatric hospital for a serious mental illness.
DON’T CRY FOR ME ALL YOU DRAG QUEENS
Directed by: Kristal Sotomayor (USA | 2024 | 9:00 min)
This documentary pays homage to the legendary Mother Cavallucci by weaving together the present and past to provide a striking portrait of belonging and memory.
FOR THE LOVE OF CATS
Directed by: Calvin Bowers (USA | 2025 | 8:30 min)
In the small mountain town of Barga, Italy, a group of four filmmakers speak with local cat lovers and immerse themselves in the unique world of street-trotting felines and Gattaras. North Carolina Premiere
FOR EVERY BREATH
Directed By: Erika Arlee (USA | 2024 | 11:39 min)
A young girl goes on an illicit scavenger hunt to find medication for her strung out grandmother.
GIBBOUS
Directed By: Ang Yi Benet (USA | 2025 | 2:45 min)
A mother gibbon tries to rescue her baby from a mysterious supernatural light that plagues the jungle during the night. East Coast Premiere
HELL IN A CLIMATE HAVEN
Directed By: Amelia Waldeck, Thomas Comick (USA | 2025 | 16:30 min)
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, a woman searching for her emu, a man rescuing neighbors in a kayak, and local artists face the myth of safety in the mountains of North Carolina.
HOME COOKED MEALS
Directed By: Natalie van Gelder (USA | 2024 | 4:46 min)
A chef cooks comfort food in a post-apocalyptic world, but despite the many people he interacts with daily, he feels isolated until his world turns around when two mysterious newcomers appear in his life, each an outcast.
I DON’T KNOW IF I HAVE TO SAY EVERYTHING AGAIN
Directed By: Vitória Fallavena, Thassilo Weber (Brazil | 2024 | 14:10 min)
Fernando meets his mother weekly, but her Alzheimer’s blurs the line between forgetting he’s gay or refusing to remember. North Carolina Premiere
I WISH I WERE PRETTY
Directed By: Hanah Chang (USA | 2025 | 19:58 min)
An insecure Korean-American woman struggles with old resentments against her beautiful best friend, exposing the impossible beauty standards that caused them. North Carolina Premiere
JUMPING BEAN
Directed By: Christen S. Christian (USA | 2024 | 3:33 min)
Filmed during the isolation of the pandemic, JUMPING BEAN is a reflection on the grief of losing a parent, corporate mismanagement and the larval stage of tiny moths.
MISTLETOE
Directed By: Andrea Schmitz, Andrea Sparacio (USA | 2024 | 4:56 min)
MISTLETOE tells the holiday horror story of the Baron, his new Lady wife, and a game they play to a terrible end.
NIHAL’S GARDEN
Directed By: Champika Fernando (Canada | 2025 | 4:33 min)
A portrait of the directors 81-year-old father — an ever-determined and resourceful gardener — as he attempts to grow the Sri Lankan Winged Bean in his suburban backyard garden in Markham, Ontario. World Premiere
ONCE UPON A WETLAND
Directed By: Elizabeth Miller-Derstine (USA | 2025 | 16:00 min)
As restrictions to drag grow stricter across the country, Durham, North Carolina lets its fur down for the annual Beaver Queen Pageant — a wildly campy, dam-important celebration of queer joy, eco-love, and over-the-top critter cosplay.
SALLY, GET THE POTATOES
Directed By: Danicah Waldo (USA | 2024 | 16:36 min)
A little girl’s innocence is shattered when she takes an unexpected ride in her wealthy family’s rolling laundry cart and learns their secrets. North Carolina Premiere
SINGLE RESIDENCE OCCUPANCY
Directed By: Omer Ben-Shachar (USA | 2024 | 9:45 min)
A Chinese immigrant living in a Single Residence Occupancy apartment receives news that her family’s application for better housing is denied, and grapples with how to share the news with her children. Southeast Premiere
TAL VEZ EL CIELO ES VERDE
Directed By: Angelica Belen Figueroa Sarabia (Mexico | 2025 | 16:53 min)
A young Mexican boy works on a farm to support his family, but when he sets his eyes on a pair of dream shoes, he must decide whether to spend the money on himself or his family’s needs. U.S. Premiere
TENNIS, ORANGES
Directed By: Sean Pecknold (USA | 2024 | 10:53 min)
A robotic vacuum suffering from burnout quits its job at a hospital and sets out to find community and a greater purpose on a quiet street where two lonely rabbits are stuck in perpetual loops. North Carolina Premiere
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
Directed By: Ricki “Ricasso” Nelson (USA | 2025 | 11:57 min)
Stuck in a corporate job, a burnt-out employee is forced into a surreal confrontation with her council of coworkers, the source of her workplace trauma, and the company’s peculiar HR representative, as she tries to escape her final exit interview.
YOUR OPINION, PLEASE
Directed by: Marshall Granger (USA | 2025 | 14:21 min)
As America enters the new millennium, listeners across Montana call into Yellowstone Public Radio to express their views on everything from state politics to the Iraq war, or the meaning of poetry.
A limited number of all-access Festival Passes are on sale now. Individual tickets will go on sale Aug. 14 at noon. See our full schedule of films and workshops for filmmakers and screenwriters of all experience levels.
The 2025 festival is presented by sponsors: InkTip, Cary, N.C., Downtown Cary Park, The Mayton Inn, Misner Public Relations, Digital P Media, Southern Documentary Fund, and partners RBF Champagne Bar, Chatham Street Wine Market, and BREW Coffee Bar.
Located at 122 E. Chatham St., The Cary Theater lights up downtown with its mission to provide a unique setting for the community to experience art house cinema and live performances that enhance the cultural arts experience in Cary, N.C. Originally constructed in 1946 to serve as the Town’s first indoor movie theater, The Cary was restored in 2014 to create a vibrant space downtown that offers independent film, live music, comedy and improv, and other performances. The theater is owned and operated by Cary’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources.
Media Contacts:
Lani Simeona, The Cary Theater, Operations & Program Supervisor, (919) 319-4549
Scott Misner, Media Relations, (919) 412-3886
William Lewis, Cultural Arts Manager, (919) 462-3861
