Washington Summer Film Festival
The Open Section · 15 Nominated Features

Summer
Showcase

No theme, no thesis — just fifteen of the most rewarding features from the past two years of American and international cinema, chosen purely on merit. Nine from the United States, six from abroad. All fifteen are 2026 Official Selection nominees, in competition for the festival's awards, announced at the Closing Night ceremony on August 9 — the winners will then be brought to Washington screens.

Part 01

American Features

Nine nominated American independent features — comedies, elegies, and coming-of-age stories from the country's liveliest younger filmmakers.

Official Selection · Nominee Ghostlight film poster

Ghostlight

Directed by Kelly O'Sullivan & Alex Thompson · USA · 2024 · 115 min · English

A construction worker quietly grieving a family tragedy stumbles into a community theater production of Romeo and Juliet. What begins as an escape becomes a way back to his wife and daughter, in a film of enormous tenderness played by a real-life family.

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2024.

FictionFamily & Grief
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Thelma film poster

Thelma

Directed by Josh Margolin · USA · 2024 · 98 min · English

After falling for a phone scam, a 93-year-old grandmother sets out across Los Angeles on a borrowed mobility scooter to get her money back. June Squibb anchors an action-comedy that finds real feeling in questions of aging and independence.

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2024.

FictionComedy
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Good One film poster

Good One

Directed by India Donaldson · USA · 2024 · 90 min · English

On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, a teenage girl watches her father and his oldest friend fumble through middle age. A hushed, precisely observed debut in which a single misstep quietly rearranges everything.

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2024.

FictionComing of Age
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Between the Temples film poster

Between the Temples

Directed by Nathan Silver · USA · 2024 · 111 min · English

A cantor who has lost his voice and his footing finds an unlikely bat mitzvah student in his grade-school music teacher. Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane spark an anarchic, warm-hearted comedy of faith and second chances.

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2024.

FictionComedy
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Eephus film poster

Eephus

Directed by Carson Lund · USA · 2024 · 99 min · English

Two New England rec-league baseball teams play one last game before their beloved field is demolished. As afternoon slips into night, this shaggy, elegiac hangout comedy becomes a farewell to a whole way of passing time together.

Premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes 2024 — the definition of a summer film.

FictionSummer Elegy
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Dìdi film poster

Dìdi (弟弟)

Directed by Sean Wang · USA · 2024 · 94 min · English and Mandarin with English subtitles

In the summer of 2008, a Taiwanese American thirteen-year-old in Fremont, California learns to skate, flirt, and love his mother. A funny, bruising coming-of-age story told in the language of AIM chats and MySpace pages.

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2024.

FictionComing of Age
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Blue Sun Palace film poster

Blue Sun Palace

Directed by Constance Tsang · USA · 2024 · 117 min · Mandarin and English with English subtitles

In Flushing, Queens, two Chinese immigrant workers find their lives joined by an unexpected loss. A patient, luminous debut about grief, companionship, and the meals shared in between.

Premiered in Critics' Week at Cannes 2024.

FictionImmigrant Lives
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Sorry, Baby film poster

Sorry, Baby

Directed by Eva Victor · USA · 2025 · 103 min · English

Something bad happened to Agnes — but life, somehow, keeps going. Told across several years at a small New England college, Eva Victor's debut balances deadpan comedy and deep hurt with startling control.

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2025.

FictionDark Comedy
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Twinless film poster

Twinless

Directed by James Sweeney · USA · 2025 · 100 min · English

Two young men meet in a support group for twins who have lost their other half, and an unlikely friendship takes root. A dark comedy about loneliness and identity that keeps pulling the rug out from under its audience.

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2025.

FictionDark Comedy
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Part 02

International Features

Six nominated features from six countries — Canada, Ireland, Iran, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Iceland — completing the Showcase.

Official Selection · Nominee Universal Language film poster

Universal Language

Directed by Matthew Rankin · Canada · 2024 · 89 min · French and Persian with English subtitles

In a dreamlike Winnipeg where Farsi and French are the twin official languages, children hunt for money frozen in ice and a tour guide leads visitors past the city's beige landmarks. A deadpan comic marvel bridging Canada and Iran.

Premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes 2024.

FictionDeadpan Comedy
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Kneecap film poster

Kneecap

Directed by Rich Peppiatt · Ireland · 2024 · 105 min · Irish and English with English subtitles

The Belfast rap trio Kneecap play themselves in a riotous, semi-fictional origin story about making music in the Irish language. Anarchic, profane, and unexpectedly moving on what it means to keep a mother tongue alive.

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2024.

FictionMusic
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee My Favourite Cake film poster

My Favourite Cake

Directed by Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha · Iran · 2024 · 97 min · Persian with English subtitles

A 70-year-old widow in Tehran decides, one afternoon, to reach for companionship again. What follows is a single evening of cake, wine, and conversation — a gentle, quietly daring romance about choosing joy.

Premiered in Competition at the Berlinale 2024.

FictionLate Romance
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee Memoir of a Snail film poster

Memoir of a Snail

Directed by Adam Elliot · Australia · 2024 · 94 min · English

Grace Pudel, a melancholy hoarder of snails, recounts a life of separations, odd jobs, and one extraordinary friendship with an elderly eccentric named Pinky. Handmade clay animation for grown-ups, equal parts heartbreak and mischief.

Premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2024.

AnimationHandmade
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee The Ballad of Wallis Island film poster

The Ballad of Wallis Island

Directed by James Griffiths · UK · 2025 · 100 min · English

An eccentric lottery winner lures his favorite folk duo — long since broken up, musically and romantically — to a private gig on a remote Welsh island. A gentle British comedy about fandom, old songs, and letting go.

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2025.

FictionMusic
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9
Official Selection · Nominee When the Light Breaks film poster

When the Light Breaks

Directed by Rúnar Rúnarsson · Iceland · 2024 · 80 min · Icelandic with English subtitles

Over one long midsummer day in Reykjavík, from sunset to sunset, a young art student navigates a sudden loss among friends who don't know her whole story. Compact, tender, and lit by Iceland's endless summer light.

Opened the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes 2024.

FictionOne Long Day
Nominee2026 Official Selection · In competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Aug 9

Fifteen nominees. No theme. Pure discovery.

All fifteen in competition — winners announced at the Awards Ceremony, Closing Night, August 9.

Full Schedule