The 68th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) will take place April 17 –27, in theaters across San Francisco and Berkeley, California. Included in the lineup are three events which will be presented as part of the Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative, a partnership between The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and SFFILM. One of the three will be the annual presentation of the Sloan Science on Screen Award, which celebrates the compelling depiction of science in a narrative feature film. Rea more about these exciting new films below, with descriptions quoted from the festival programmers.
Winner of the 2025 Sloan Science on Screen Award:
MAGMA. Dir. Cyprien Vial. International Premiere. “The struggles between scientists, community members, and local politicians spill over like the titular substance that threatens the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe in Cyprien Vial’s dramatic thriller starring Marina Foïs.”
MAGMA screens on April 21, followed by an extended Q&A about the film's scientific elements with director Cyprien Vial.
Still from MAGMA. Courtesy of SFFILM.
Two other films will be highlighted as part of the Science in Cinema Initiative, including the winner of the Sloan Science in Cinema Prize, Lee Isaac Chung’s TWISTERS. A standalone sequel to Jan de Bont’s 1996 film TWISTER, the film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell as meteorologists with vastly different approaches to storm chasing forced to grapple with a tornado outbreak ravaging present-day Oklahoma. Previous winners of the Sloan Science in Cinema Prize include OPPENHEIMER, DON’T LOOK UP, FIRST MAN, and HIDDEN FIGURES.
On April 20, director Lee Isaac Chung will be joined by scientific experts for a conversation about the science behind tornados, the viability of human beings’ attempts to dissipate them in real life, and the mutual embrace of science and cinematic artistry that led to TWISTERS’ blockbuster success. The festival talk will be free and open to the public with RSVP.
Later that afternoon, the Sloan-supported documentary SALLY will screen followed by a conversation with director Cristina Costantini and producer Alfie Koetter.
SALLY. Dir. Cristina Costantini. “Astronaut Sally Ride blazed a trail as the first American woman in space in 1983, while her personal life was more complicated. This exhilarating documentary offers a full-bodied portrait of an extraordinary hero.”
Still from SALLY. Courtesy of SFFILM.
The festival also boasts the North American premiere of Jess X. Snow’s Sloan-supported short film ROOTS THAT REACH TOWARD THE SKY, which screens April 25 in one of the festival’s three mid-length showcases.
ROOTS THAT REACH TOWARD THE SKY. Dir. Jess X. Snow North American Premiere. “After her mother's traditional Chinese medicine shop is vandalized, Kai draws on the resilience of her local community and the healing remedies of her ancestors to contend with her deepest anxieties.”
Still from ROOTS THAT REACH TOWARD THE SKY. Courtesy of SFFILM.
Other Sloan grantees participating in the festival beyond the Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative include writer/director Cherien Dabis, who received Sloan grants in 2018 and 2020 in support of her feature film project WHAT THE EYES DON’T SEE. Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, whose Sloan-supported documentary THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT premiered at Telluride last year, will also screen IN WAVES AND WAR, a documentary about cutting edge therapies developed to combat traumatic brain injuries, followed by a conversation with Stanford scientists.
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