It’s that time of the year when the magic of cinema and the pulse of Silicon Valley innovation converge in downtown San Jose, the streets abuzz with cinephiles, artists, and film industry professionals, and technologists.
Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival 2025 will run March 11 through March 23 in Silicon Valley and March 24-31 virtually. This year’s theme, “Luminate,” aims to ignite creativity and illuminate new perspectives through film and art.
300+ Film Screenings
With over 300 film screenings, prepare to embark on a cinematic journey across genres, cultures, and storytelling styles. This year, Cinequest is celebrating the richness of Indian storytelling, showcasing films that explore human connection, resilience, and the supernatural.
Featured Indian Films
I’m Not An Actor (World Premiere – India, Germany)
Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui (The Lunchbox) and Chitrangada Satarupa (Mariam), this Hindi and English-language drama, directed by Aditya Kripalanithis, follows two people brought together by an online audition, leading to a transformative day-long conversation that unravels their pasts, fears, and joys.
Mouni Roy is a 35-year-old actor in Mumbai, who has never earned enough money to lead a comfortable life. It has been her dream to move to the U.K. and work in the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre. One day, she ends up at an online audition with Adnan, a 55-year-old retired banker from Frankfurt, Germany. After 30 years in the profession, Adnan is done with banking, so his daughter sends him for the audition. Adnan’s audition goes horribly wrong until Mouni improvises. Adnan asks Mouni out for coffee. Their conversation sets off a day that will unravel their pasts, their fears, their pains, and their joys, and leave them changed forever.
Sunday, March 16, 6:40 p.m., Hammer Theatre Center, San Jose
Tuesday, March 18, 4:15 p.m. California Theatre, San Jose
In the Name of Fire (U.S. Premiere – India)
A haunting supernatural thriller from Abhilash Sharma, In the Name of Fire is winner of the Golden Goblet Awards for Best Actor and Best Director at the Shanghai International Film Festival. When the daily livelihood of Rukhiya and Phekan, members of a marginalized Dalit community in a remote village, is halted due to a temple renovation, Phekan ventures to the city. His move leaves him penniless and broken. Back in the village, haunted by past traumas and the whispers of her own unraveling mind, Rukhiya begins to accept the accusations of villagers who call her a witch, blurring the line between reality and madness. A crematorium worker’s path unexpectedly intertwines with Rukhiya’s and Phekan’s. Together, they embark on a journey of redemption, confronting madness, societal rejection, and the hope of spiritual awakening.
Wednesday, March 12, 4:35 p.m., Hammer Theatre Center, San Jose
Wednesday, March 19, 7:00 p.m., 3Below, San Jose
Other Featured Films
The Bitter Tears of Zahra Zand
A glamorous melodrama about losing your country and your mind, The Bitter Tears of Zahra Zand is absurd, tragic, and funny. The film explores the operatic rise and fall of a famous Iranian fashion designer going broke in a foreign land. Zahra Zand fled the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Robbed of her success and recently divorced, she lives in the stylish fantasy world of her apartment in 1980s London. Desperate to reinvent herself, she discovers a young and free-spirited muse named Sheila. So begins Zahra’s romantic attempt to recapture her glory days. The film stars Boshra Dastournezhad (Radio Dreams), who wrote the script with director Vahid Hakimzadeh. The film is produced by Reza Safai, best known for the cult classic A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.
Monday, March 17, 7:05 p.m., 3Below, San Jose
Friday, March 21, 4:40 p.m., 3Below, San Jose
Zhaza (World Premiere)
A young woman, Assel, visits her estranged father, a military veteran Aslan, who lives in another city. She doesn’t know that her dad is a corrupt police officer serving as a cog in the organized crime machine that controls the city. When his bosses ask him to bring them “fresh girls, ” Aslan orders his subordinate policemen to do the job. He learns that his daughter Assel has been picked up from a street and raped. Aslan goes on a warpath for revenge. And no one can stop him, except one.
Thursday, March 13, 9:15 PM, Hammer Theatre Center, San Jose
Wednesday, March 19, 9:30 p.m. California Theatre, San Jose
The Luckiest Man In America
Based on a true story, The Luckiest Man in America is set in May 1984, when an unemployed ice cream truck driver from Ohio steps onto the game show Press Your Luck harboring a big secret: the key to endless amounts of money. His winning streak is threatened when the bewildered executives in the control room start to uncover his real motivations. The film stars Paul Walter Hauser (Black Bird), Walton Goggins (Justified), Shamier Anderson (John Wick), David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck), Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), and Patti Harrison (Together Together).
Pre-screening AI & Film presentation. Post-screening celebration at Glass House.
Opening Night: Tuesday, March 11, 7:15 p.m. California Theatre, San Jose
Closing Night: Sunday, March 23, 6 p.m. California Theatre, San Jose
The Friend
In The Friend, writer and teacher Iris (Naomi Watts) finds her comfortable, solitary New York life thrown into disarray after her closest friend and mentor (Bill Murray) dies suddenly and bequeaths her his beloved 150 lb. Great Dane, Apollo. The regal yet intractable beast creates practical problems for Iris, from furniture destruction to eviction notices, as well as more existential ones. Apollo’s looming presence constantly reminds her of her friend’s problematic choices in both life and death. Yet, as Iris unexpectedly bonds with the animal, she begins to come to terms with her past, her lost friend, and her own creative inner life.
Post-screening celebration at Blanco & Farmer’s Union.
Sunday, March 23, 6:00 PM, California Theatre, San Jose
For a comprehensive overview of the Cinequest 2025 line-up, visit www.cinequest.org.
(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between The Free Press Journal and India Currents).