26th Annual Santa Cruz Film Festival

Name: 26th Annual Santa Cruz Film Festival
Start: 2026-10-15T17:00:00-07:00
End: 2026-10-15T22:00:00-07:00
Location: The 418 Project (Small Theater)

Nine programmes of independent film at The 418, October 15–17

Session Date & Time

Oct 15 2026 (Thursday)

5:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Location

The 418 Project

In the: Small Theater

Ticket sales concluded. This session has already taken place.

About This Event

The Santa Cruz Film Festival returns for its 26th year, October 14–18, 2026, with 75+ independent films at venues across Santa Cruz. The 418 Project hosts nine programmes over three days in the Small Theater: four feature films, including a world premiere, and five shorts blocks.

Founded in 2000, SCFF is an artist-driven, filmmaker-forward festival built around discovery, connection, and a shared love of independent cinema.

Tickets: $10 general admission, $5 students (THE DAO OF THAO: $8 general). Tickets and festival passes are sold by the festival at scff26.eventive.org.

Thursday, October 15

5:00 PM — One Plant

Feature documentary, 92 min. Directed by Jordan Berger. California premiere. A filmmaker and hemp farmer, searching for answers after losing his mother to addiction, travels the country meeting the farmers, scientists and doctors working to bring hemp back.

7:30 PM — Good Grief: Short Films on Letting Go

Shorts programme, 108 min. Drama, documentary and animation about how we remember, let go and keep living: Camino, My Plastic Mother, Life in Death: The Anthropology of Death and Dying, The Six Seconds, Cities Like Oakland, In Between, My Friend the Dandelion.

Friday, October 16

5:00 PM — Through My Board

Feature documentary, 66 min. Directed by Dan Eason. California premiere. A portrait of Paul Johnson, a Black, deaf, lifelong skater who grew up at Portland's Burnside Skatepark, and of friendship, recovery and growing older in the place that made you.

7:00 PM — That's Just Wrong!: Friday Night Comedy Shorts

Shorts programme. Six comedies that go places you were not expecting: The Expiration of Darius Campbell, SANDWICHED, Period Hotline, Knock Out!, AI JESUS, A DUMMY STORY.

9:00 PM — Seven Deadly Shorts: Horror and Thrillers

Shorts programme. Seven horror-comedies, psychological thrillers and body-horror shorts: This Is Book Club, The Music of Anjali Mudra, Mel, Donor, The Sacred Hunger, Intramus, Pigmentosa.

Saturday, October 17

2:30 PM — THE DAO OF THAO

Feature documentary, 70 min. Directed by Khai Thu Nguyen. Follows queer Asian American performer Thao P. Nguyen as she develops a one-woman show in San Francisco with directors W. Kamau Bell and Martha Rynberg.

5:00 PM — What If?: Sci-Fi, Satire, & Strange Futures

Shorts programme. Eight shorts about strange possible futures: Acid City, Us and Them, Morpheus, Reprogrammed, Severed, Addie, Fake News Movie, Homebodies.

7:30 PM — Experimental Shorts

Shorts programme for adventurous viewers: We Didn't Know Why, Meeting with the naked man, OOZING, Devour, NECROPOLIS, Sea What I See, Tamago, Man Eating Pussy.

10:00 PM — MESSIAH INK

Feature comedy, 65 min. World premiere. Directed by the Schmenge Brothers (DNA, Dylan Hillerman and Julia Reodica). Followed by a Q&A moderated by 418 Project Executive Director Dennis Bartok with cast members Toni Nagy, Hannah Marianetti, Curtis Taylor III, Daymon Ferguson and DNA.

The programme is set by the festival and may change. See the full festival schedule and santacruzfilmfestivals.org for every venue.

Visiting The 418 Project: What to Expect

House guidelines to ensure a welcoming, inclusive space for everyone

We are committed to a safe, welcoming environment where everyone is treated with cultural and personal respect across all backgrounds and identities. We hold the highest standards for consent—in movement, touch, and conversation. Always check in first, honor boundaries, and ensure that consent is clear, voluntary, and ongoing.

As a community-run non-profit collective with a small staff, we cannot clean everything after every event. Please help us care for the space by picking up after yourself, placing recycling and compost in the bins provided, and treating every room with kindness so it remains welcoming for the next gathering.

We have a filtered water bottle refill station on-site, so feel free to bring a refillable bottle. All restrooms are all-gender, ADA-accessible, and located conveniently on the ground floor.

To ensure everyone can breathe and move comfortably—especially community members with chemical sensitivities and asthma—The 418 Project is a low-fragrance space. Please refrain from applying perfumes, scented colognes, or strongly scented lotions before attending.

As an artist-driven non-profit collective, we believe movement and art should be accessible to all regardless of financial circumstances. Many events feature sliding scale tickets, and we offer work-trade opportunities for community members who wish to volunteer in exchange for admission.

Explore volunteer & work-trade opportunities

Plan Your Visit

Venue & Accessibility

The 418 Project is located in downtown Santa Cruz. We are dedicated to creating an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming space for all dancers, artists, and community members.

Address: 155 S. River St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Accessibility: Ground floor entrances & all-gender accessible restrooms

Parking: On-street parking & nearby River Street public garage

Get Directions on Google Maps