Detailed Program – YVFF 2025 – Yucca Valley Film Festival

Welcome to the 7th edition of the Yucca Valley Film Festival, Nov 7-9, 2025.

All events and screenings are ADMISSION FREE, at the Yucca Valley Community Center, 57090 Twentynine Palms Highway, Yucca Valley, CA 92284.

All pictures and videos from previous years are on FACEBOOK.

DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAM

Film order is indicative. Program subject to change.

Projects that do not deliver their film files on time will be removed from the program and publicly disqualified on this website and on FilmFreeway. Once a movie has been disqualified, the decision is final, and the filmmaker will be permanently barred from participating in the YVFF.

VENUE

All events and screenings are ADMISSION FREE, at the Yucca Valley Community Center, 57090 Twentynine Palms Highway, Yucca Valley, CA 92284.

Free parking can be found all around the Community Center:

#1 is at Town Hall, 57090 29 Palms Hwy, Yucca Valley, CA 92284
#2 at the Senior Center 57088 29 Palms Hwy (limited capacity because public works in progress)
#3 in front of the Museum, 57090 29 Palms Hwy
#4 behind the Community Center, 57090 29 Palms Hwy
#5 across the street in the Grocery Outlet’s parking, 57200 29 Palms Hwy.

Download the Parking & Access MAP HERE. More directions HERE.

Our QnAs with the filmmakers and artists are at the core of the film festival.

The Masterclass is our yearly key signature event since the festival’s inception.

Everyone in the audience is invited to ask their questions to the artists on stage, and during the picture signings.

Program subject to change.

DAY 1 | Friday Nov 7, 2025

5pm: Filmmakers, grab your badge | Welcome Table > Meet fellow filmmakers | Green Room (Joshua Tree Room)

All events take place in the Main Room (Yucca Room), except the 20-foot long Red Carpet (outdoors).

5:30pm: Red Carpet with official photographer | Dress code chic or casual chic

With the participation of the McGruff the crime dog mascot!

6pm: Meet & Greet with Robbi Robb, director and editor of “Will & Silence”, documentary dedicated to Bobby Furst’s last creations

6:20pm: Performance by the Supernova All Stars – Stellar team

6:30pm: Mayor‘s opening remarks

6:40pm: A word by award winning actor, author and director James Morrison

6:45pm: Presentation of the opening films by the filmmakers

7pm: Screening

8:30pm-ish: QnA with filmmakers > Group picture

8:55pm-ish: Picture signing with opening filmmakers

RESERVE YOUR FREE SPOT FOR OPENING NIGHT

5:30pm: Red Carpet with official photographer | Dress Code Chic or Casual Chic

6pm: Meet & Greet with director, editor, author, musician Robbi Robb | Main Room (Yucca Room)

After two world tours and a successful music career, Robbi Robb turned to film, studying editing in Montana before cutting more than 150 hour-long episodes into four-minute segments for the series Too Hot for TV. Moving into documentaries, he developed a keen ability to uncover powerful real-life narratives. In 2004, Robb relocated to the Mojave Desert, where he met artist Bobby Furst and co-founded FurstWurld Theater. His work reflects the influence of Tarkovsky, Stan Brakhage, and Castaing-Taylor/Paravel, blending poetic imagery with a raw, immersive sensibility.

“Bobby died in the same hour I completed the edit of Will and Silence. Bobby never lived to see any of the film, he never got to see how intimately he was loved by me, his vagabond partner, who for 20 years at his side, guarded his silence while holding a light to his tireless will.” – Robbi Robb

Will & Silence

Directed by Robbi Robb | 🌵 Local talent | Hommage to Bobby Furst

Bobby Furst was the founder of FurstWurld Theater and Gallery in Joshua Tree, known as the Shaman of Joshua Tree and the man who wowed thousands. Few have witnessed the artist at work in his desert studio – except one: Furst’s closest friend, assistant, and business partner for 20 years, musician and filmmaker Robbi Robb.

Will and Silence is a poetic documentary, in which Robb uses silence to draw the viewer into the sacred space of the intimate witness where no words go, but the sound of hammers and steel and the lonely crackling of an arc welder.

Discover Indonesia

Directed by Ty Rogers.

Beyond the beauty, this FPV journey through Indonesia is a personal exploration of wonder and connection. Every sweeping dive captures not just landscapes, but the feeling of truly being somewhere magical.

PinPoint

Directed by Mike Sorrentino.

In a world where technology reigns supreme, Kelsey just wants to live her life as a typical young adult. Her well-meaning, yet overly concerned mother has other ideas; thanks to the phone app PinPoint. This app lets her mom track Kelsey’s every move—and interrupt her day with over-the-top assumptions and hilarious misunderstandings.

Balance of Drones

Directed by Olha Kotova.

| 🌵 Local talent | Partially filmed in the desert

“I’m a Ukrainian filmmaker living in the U.S.
When I close my eyes, I see drones destroying my home.
But when I open them, I’m in the desert, filming peaceful landscapes and hotels with that same technology — not to destroy, but to create.
This video is my way of turning pain into beauty, war into art, and finding balance between two worlds.”

The Bissell

Directed by Rachid Chatti.

Linda hosts a dinner party to show off her new Persian rug. Scott asks for red wine with his Branzino and accidentally spills it all over the new rug. Linda is inconsolable so Scott asks if she owns a Bissell to get the stain out. She tells him that she doesn’t, causing all of the party guests to turn on her.

She’s Gone Away

Directed by Kai Brown.

This dance film is a love letter to cancer previvors facing difficult decisions about their health and bodies while enduring waves of isolation, guilt, and emotional turmoil.

The film features dancer/choreographer Nikiya Palombi, who is an ATM gene mutation carrier and previvor. The first half of the dance was filmed a few days before Palombi underwent a preventative double mastectomy surgery to reduce her risk of breast cancer. The second half was filmed one year later.

The Lights Above

Directed by Luke J Salewski | 🌟 Finalist 51st Student Academy Awards®

Months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a series of unidentified aircraft sightings over Los Angeles lead a determined journalist to reluctantly pair up with a Japanese American photographer to prevent another attack.

Across the Aisle

Directed by Thomas Block.

Teddy, an idealistic young congressman, is celebrating his first big legislative win at a bar with two of his colleagues when Jane Keller, a rival congresswoman from the opposition party, stops by to congratulate him.

Taken by her, Teddy attempts to woo Jane, much to his colleagues’ chagrin. Through their flirtation they learn a thing or two about their ideologies, what motivates them to vote the way they do, and discover that there’s more that brings them together than that keeps them apart.

Density

Directed by Graham M. Bishop

Density is a narcotic noir Short Film following the destructive path of 4 flatmates -Juno, Muppet, Franklin and Jeremy – desperately seeking to enhance their financial and psychoactive situation.

After Party at Snake Bite Roadhouse – Yucca Valley, 55405 29 palms highway, Yucca Valley, California 92284.

OPEN TO ALL – join us!

Each guest is responsible for their own order.

DAY 2 | Saturday Nov 8, 2025

8:45am: Filmmakers Lounge opens > Complimentary coffee | Green Room (Joshua Tree Room)

9:am: Screening | Presentation > Screening > QnA > Group Picture > Picture Signing | Main Room (Yucca Room)

Creating Giants

Directed by Brent Huff | 🙋‍♂️ Returning filmmaker

Former Harvard Kennedy School professor Steve Jarding is considered a US political ‘Guru’. In 2016, the student body voted Jarding “Teacher-of-the-Year” at the Harvard Kennedy School. The very next year Jarding was fired by Harvard without explanation. This sparked an outcry from students and alumni. Creating Giants delves into possible reasons for his dismissal including interviews with current and former Harvard students, faculty, Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian as well as U.S. Senator Mark Warner and Congressman Steve Watkins.

113 Words For You Today

Directed by Bo Qing Tang, Lan Zeng.

A team of workers, including Soo, is sent to planet Gliese 12b to build a gravitational portal. To conserve energy for survival on the frozen planet, each worker is allowed to speak only 138 words per day.

Soo chooses his words carefully. When he picks up the phone, he listens but rarely speaks. But when a powerful blizzard hit, he chooses to return alone to retrieve a fallen crystal, not wanting to use words asking for help.

The Rain

Directed by Kā’eo Luke | 🌵 Local talent

The Rain reflects on human connection to nature through the wisdom of the birds is explored and showcased through unique species.

The spoken word can be interpret differently between viewers and that is where the beauty comes from. What does it really mean to live and love to each, individual mind?

Only In This World

Directed by Dorothy Xiao.

When an empty nester loses her ability to summon her daughter back from the afterlife, she is forced to find help from the person she resents the most: her ex-husband’s mistress.

Sheepdogs

Directed by Brian Knappmiller | Local talent | Filmed in the desert.

In the remote military town of 29 Palms, artist Ted Meyer helps wounded veterans and active-duty service members turn their physical scars into powerful works of art. The documentary follows four individuals: an active-duty Marine instructor, an active-duty Marine, a retired Marine sergeant, and a retired Navy special ops officer – now a transgender woman.

Hear You Calling – Broken Stems

🌵 Local talent | Filmed in the desert.

A yong woman running form her current situation has a near death experience and is guided by music through a spiritually awakening.

Can You Hear Me Love You

Directed by Jessie Keylon and Geoff Fennell |🌵 Local talents

Based on Jessie’s rabbit characters and brought to life through Geoff’s extensive animation expertise, set to the beautiful melody and lyrics of Lukas Nelson, the film became a deeply personal story about love and loss.

Filmmakers’ lunch is not catered today.

1pm: KIDS PROGRAM | Screening | Main Room (Yucca Room)

Pow!

Native American kid scrambles to charge his dying video game console at a bustling intertribal powwow.

The Family Photo

What happened after an Earth astronaut left a family photo on the moon fifty-plus years ago? This animated short explores the butterfly effect of such an action. How will it affect us all?

Christopher & the Bug

A grouchy old owl learns a big lesson about friendship when a small bug moves into his house.

Denmark

In Downtown LA Heat, worlds collide with an Epic heist gone wrong. Two ex-cons come face to face with an imperial reckoning.

Snow Bear

When a lonely polar bear can’t find a friend… He makes one.

Set in a rapidly changing world, “Snow Bear” tells the story of a polar bear in an unforgiving environment on his quest to find a friend.

Kāinga Tupu (Homeland)

🌵 Local Filmmaker

New Zealand’s endangered forest parrot, the Kākāpō, as he explores his home. But, something doesn’t seem right. Noises and lights in the distance seem to be coming faster and faster. The forest monsters approach…

The Smurfs – The Ultimate Prank

🙋‍♂️ Returning filmmaker

One of Jokey’s jokes goes wrong and all of the Smurfs are turned to stone. Jokey needs to find a way to fix his mistake by himself.

2025 MASTERCLASS is with A-List actor and director James Morrison. >RESERVE YOUR FREE SEAT HERE<

3pm: MASTERCLASS with A-List Hollywood director and producer | Main Room (Yucca Room)

4:30pm: Picture Signing with Masterclass speaker | Main Room (Yucca Room)

Emmy Award Winner

SAG Award Nominee

Slamdance Winner

Portrayed CTU director Bill Buchanan in “24” starring Keifer Sutherland

Director/Producer of “Showing Up”

RESERVE YOUR FREE SEAT

5:30pm: Red Carpet free access (no official photographer) | Dress code casual

5:30pm to 6pm: live performance by Sandābādo.

Sandābādo is the soul-driven project of musician and producer Jesse Gawlik. A resident of the Hi-Desert, Jesse previously ranked in the Top 10 of iHeartRadio’s Rising Star competition with his former band Broken Stems, whose music video Hear You Calling will screen at the YVFF on Saturday morning.

6pm: Meet & Greet with Stunt Performer Janey Hann | Main Room (Yucca Room)

Janey is an award-winning documentary filmmaker at YVFF (2024). On top of her documentary career, Janey is an accomplished stunt performer, with credits including WandaVision starring Elizabeth Olsen, L.A.’s Finest alongside Jessica Alba, and S.W.A.T. with Shemar Moore.

She will share anecdotes of her career with the YVFF audience. Open to questions!

6:30pm: Screenings and QnAs | All in the Main Room (Yucca Room)

Milk Baby

Directed by Kristen Gerweck Diaz.

🌟 Filmmaker previously selected at the Academy Awards®

Kei checks into a maternity home, but the place feels eerie and something isn’t right.

Mars On Earth

Directed by Damian Domin.

HHombre Muerto South is located in the high altitude Puna Plateau of northwestern Argentina, within the Andes mountain range. It features vast salt flats, arid terrain and is part of a region know for its extreme dryness and elevation above 3,500 meters. Some call it “The Mars on Earth”.

Sanguine Deposit

Directed by Robert Del Campo | 🌵 Local talent

Mac is a violent, train hopping, drifter who has found himself wandering from small town to small town during the Great Depression. He is a sadist with no compunction about using robbery, or even murder, to survive. Although he seems happy-go-lucky, he can become annoyed or angered easily.

To Mac, the world, and everything in it, are up for grabs to someone who is not afraid to use violence as a tool.

Lonesome Town

Directed by Caleb Garrett.

A cowboy flung forward in time becomes homesick.

Billie

Directed by Daithi Golden | 🌵 Filmed locally

An old man has a funeral for his dog that does not go according to plan.

Dual Agency

Directed by Frank Blake

A couple lists their home, but have second thoughts and refuse a threatening offer. The consequences are savage, but so are their professional skills.

Motherhood

Directed by Nicole Spring | 🙋‍♂️ Returning filmmaker

In the light of dawn she awakens in her nest, one baby under her wing, the other two in search of food.

One Final Day

Directed by Paul Hollingsworth | 🙋‍♂️ Returning filmmaker

At the height of the Second World War, two young soldiers on different sides of history begin to question the war that they once glorified, and are forced to choose how to respond.

One Final Day is a journey through war torn Europe in an animated drama exploring the brutalities of war, bravery, honor and the price of freedom.

Ganache

Directed by Justin Powell.

Greg wakes up strapped to a chair in a grimy garage, staring down his executioner: Harry with a G, an oddly cheerful hitman.

As Greg pleads for his life, he discovers that Harry isn’t exactly passionate about murder: he’d rather be baking cupcakes.

Desert Inn

Directed by Yuanhao Zhang | 🌵 Filmed locally

Arthur, a primitive anti-electronics hillbilly, must confront Jim, the young electronics-enthusiast receptionist at a smart-device hotel in the desert, in order to find a room for the night and defend his traditional way of doing things.

8:30pm-ish: QnA with filmmakers > Group picture

9pm-ish: Picture signing with filmmakers of the block

DAY 3 | Sunday Nov 9, 2025

♦️Event open to all.Each guest is responsible for their own order.♦️

10am: Industry event at the Red Dog Saloon, 53539 Mane St, Pioneertown, CA 92268 (10 minutes from the Community Center).

11am: Picture Signing with Olivia Sandusky (see below).

11:30am: Free time to explore and enjoy Pioneertown.

12pm: Lunch for filmmakers will be served at the Community Center (green room). Reservation required through the Google Form.

♦️What is an Industry Event?♦️

For the first time, the Yucca Valley Film Festival is opening its Sunday Industry Event to everyone. An industry event is a special session, usually reserve to professionals of the industry to discuss industry trends. At the YVFF we discuss how movies are made, exchange ideas, and learn from one another. Our Industry Events are casual and open to questions from anyone interested.

Guest Speaker this year: OLIVIA SANDUSKY

In previous years, the YVFF hosted its Industry Event at the Yucca Bowl with guest speaker Desiree Staples (2023), who filmed a feature-length comedy in Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree starring Rumer Willis. In 2024, the festival brought every filmmaker to the WhiteHorse Ranch, a full western movie set that has hosted filming with Sharon Stone and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Olivia Sandusky is Southern California native Emmy-award winning news anchor at NBC Palm Springs, based in the Coachella Valley.

Before joining NBC Palm Springs at the beginning of 2020, she worked as a freelance reporter for the Associated Press covering the Dodgers, and covered the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang for the Olympic Broadcast Services.

In addition she worked at KETK in Tyler, Texas, where she served as morning reporter and anchor. She covered major stories including tornado damage and political town‐hall debates.

Her reporting often focuses on issues of importance to the local community. The event will touch on her recent award-winning investigative documentary into the Salton Sea’s.

12:30pm: Complimentary Pizza for filmmakers at the Community Center | Reservation Mandatory | Green Room

1:15pm: ROUNDTABLE with Scriptwriters > Group Picture > Picture Signing | Main Room

Official selection of script writers 2025:

Care Source	Matthew Nicholson
Conch	Kevin Bibo \| 🌵 Local scriptwriter
First Team	Michael Blomquist \| ✍️ Returning scriptwriter
Goldfeather	Mark Dylan Brown
Life is Good	Cathy Trope \| ✍️ Returning scriptwriter
Nothing Changes	Tyler Beveridge
Signs of the Season	Byron Vasquez
Tell Me How	Talia Sajor
The Codebreaker	Richard Brown
The Farm	Craig Urquhart
The Green Machine – Part 1	John Martinez
The Measure of She	Karen Dee Carpenter
The Spider’s Warning	Staci Mallett
Walk-Up	Tim Latterner

3pm: Screening > QnA > Group Picture > Picture Signing | Main Room (Yucca Room)

Offspring

Directed by Hannah Mutz.

A Spider is born in a cave.

Editor’s Enigma

Directed by Joseph Davies

A student film protagonist is ripped from his movie’s continuity by a rogue editor.

Misses Pickles

Directed by Jennifer Plante Johnson

When Donna attempts to rescue an abandoned kitty for a local shelter, she finds her ex-girlfriend June on the same mission.

Will lingering feelings and open wounds get in the way of saving the cat?

Embers

Directed by August Falcon

The Eaton and Palisades wildfires shook Los Angeles to its core. This cinematic composition blends an original song with abstract visuals to process the tragedies we endure.

Created entirely without the use of AI, Embers channels found footage through a deeply human lens, offering a visceral meditation on loss, renewal, and the duality of nature.

Right On!

Directed by Dave Rosas

An aspiring writer uses increasingly desperate and unconventional methods to overcome a crippling ailment – writer’s block.

Sit In The Quiet

Directed by Dave Rosas | 🙋‍♂️ Returning filmmaker

An original record from the upcoming “The Helm” album showcases a new music video from Shook Sings that captures the importance of sitting quietly with God before the day turns too busy and relying on His guidance.

Te Seguiré a la Oscuridad

Directed by Nicholas Luciano | 🙋‍♂️ Returning filmmaker

Set in 2005, a driven high school student obsessively studies Spanish all year so she can test up a level into her crush’s class.

We Need To Talk

Directed by Andrea M. Catinella

Married couple Tom and Claire sit in yet another session with a counsellor.
But this one is going to be different…

Off Piste

Directed by Christian Johansen | 🙋‍♂️ Returning filmmaker

A carefree ski bum living out of his car takes a gig filming life in a ski town, only to find that the “simple life” is anything but—thanks to nosy locals, thrill junkies, and oversized egos.