NEW YORK — The 16th edition of the SOHO International Film Festival expands across downtown Manhattan, with film blocks named after Varick, Wooster, Sullivan, Thompson, and Broome. The design mirrors the city’s creative grid, where filmmakers step onto streets that have always welcomed risk and originality. This year, the screenings will take place at Regal Union Square, providing the program with a theatrical stage that feels as accessible to the public as it does to the industry.
President and founder Jorge Ballos, a Filipino American, has shaped SOHO into a launchpad for the global cinema industry. At his side, Executive Director and Head of Programming Sibyl Reymundo-Santiago, also a Filipino American, brings three decades of experience in film, television, and stage across the U.S. and Asia. Her résumé includes MyxTV, Regal Films, Star Cinema, and ABS-CBN Global, as well as her eleven-year leadership at SOHO. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America and an honoree of the Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York at Carnegie Hall. Carlos Santiago directs the Jury and Film Selections, providing rigor and balance, while Creative Director Todd Bellanca adds cinematic polish through his background in music videos and major brand campaigns.
Opening night on October 7 begins with After All, a U.S. feature presented with intimacy, followed by a reception where conversations about cinema spilled over as naturally as the light from the projector. The mix of newcomers and veterans defined the atmosphere, a reminder of the city’s unparalleled role in advancing independent film.
The lineup spans continents. Russia offers Seems Like Love. Canada, Sweden, and Germany join forces with The Art of Telling Lies. Bulgaria contributes Wingless. France presents Where There Is Love, There Is No Darkness. The Philippines enters with two standout features, Song of the Fireflies and Ilaw / Light, both anchoring the weekend screenings.
Song of the Fireflies arrives with lyrical imagery and a focus on memory and resilience. The storytelling recalls the visual poetry of Lino Brocka and Lav Diaz while standing firmly in the present with pacing and craft that echo the kind of work seen at Sundance and Venice. It is the type of film that critics highlight for its artistry and distributor’s eye for awards season.
Ilaw / Light screens on October 12, delivering a streamlined yet luminous narrative about migration and faith. It plays with the metaphor of light as a symbol of survival and carries the look of a calling card film, ready for broader recognition. The work feels aligned with titles that travel from downtown festival screens to Park City and eventually to Academy consideration. For New York’s Filipino community, these two films expand representation and strengthen the ongoing presence of Philippine cinema on the international stage.
Panels keep the dialogue alive. Juilliard presents its showcase, and New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) brings its perspective on female voices in cinema. Sponsorships sustain the festival’s framework, with Sitting Cat Productions, Mongo Media Solutions, Planet X, GiGi NYC, Champion Eye Media, Bartenura, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Tanduay Rum creating the environment where screenings and receptions thrive together.
The short programs form the heartbeat of the festival. Mercer, Prince, Greene, Charlton, Spring, King, Sullivan —each collection of shorts is curated as carefully as a neighborhood, with rhythm and momentum guiding audiences from one story to the next.
Hybrid storytelling remains a standout this year. Series pilots run alongside shorts; animated features, such as Flower of the Dawn, share the program with documentaries like Faith Healers and Saving Walden’s World. This mix recognizes how audiences engage with multiple formats and keeps them within the same creative conversation.
From its inception in 2010 to its current edition, the SOHO International Film Festival has grown into a fixture of New York’s cultural season. Its archives, film guides, jury lists, and nominee records build a living history that proves independent cinema continues to evolve with strength and vision.
By closing night on October 13, after Hello Beautiful and Where There Is Love, There Is No Darkness, the festival will have reinforced its identity as a crossroads for global cinema. Audiences leave with new names, new images, and new arguments about the films that mattered most to them.
“SOHO is about listening as much as watching,” a filmmaker remarked in last year’s lobby. The words remain true, as 2025 delivers a program that invites audiences not just to watch films but to walk the streets they represent.
