Chattanooga Film Festival 2025: First Wave Delivers Killer Premieres, Secret Screenings, and A Whole Lotta Weird

The 12th annual Chattanooga Film Festival kicks off June 20–28 with shark attacks, secret screenings, and late-night cult chaos.

Chattanooga Film Festival 2025: First Wave Delivers Killer Premieres, Secret Screenings, and A Whole Lotta Weird

The Chattanooga Film Festival is back and badder than ever, revealing the first wave of programming for its 12th edition, set to run June 20–28. Beloved by fans as “Summer Camp for Cinephiles,” CFF 2025 promises its most jam-packed year yet, staying true to its mission of celebrating films of all genres, shapes, and sizes—with a whole lot of WTF in the mix.

Opening Night Kicks Off with Shark Teeth & Surf Rock

The U.S. premiere of Hot Spring Shark Attack from director Morihito Inoue and presented by Utopia Distribution will open the festival with blood, laughs, and beachy chaos. Following the film, fans can kick off their shoes for an indoor beach party featuring live surf rock from Big Kahuna, beachy cocktails by Cathead Distillery, and a karaoke clambake that promises to get everyone lei’d.

World Premieres & Filmmaker Favorites

CFF 2025 returns with wild premieres, secret screenings, music docs, and free tattoos—June 20–28 in Chattanooga and online!

The fest will host the world premieres of Shane Brady’s horror comedy Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma and Trevor Stevens’s crime comedy The Misadventures of Vince & Hick. Returning fest alumni Izzy Lee brings her finished feature House of Ashes, while Casey Malone unleashes his haunting and strange The Harbor Men.

Sonic Cinema Heats Up

Music meets cinema in CFF’s signature Sonic Cinema track. Utopia will present Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements and Robert Schwartzman’s Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary. But that’s not all—LVCRFT mastermind Deep Kutz (MNDR) leads a retrospective panel on Killer Party’s underloved soundtrack and will program a special entry in the fan-favorite Red Eye series.

Get Weird or Go Home

Circle Collective joins the madness with King Baby, a fairytale fever dream, while The Pee Pee Poo Poo Man by Braden Sitter Sr. is sure to be the most outrageous title to stain your brain this year.

Lo-Fi Fantasy, Horror, and Live Events

Oscilloscope brings Albert Birney’s dreamy lo-fi adventure OBEX to the big screen. Meanwhile, Clay McLeod Chapman returns with The Pumpkin Pie Show: Wake Up and Open Your Eyes Edition, a literary gut-punch and cult favorite.

Screenwriter Peter Filardi (The Craft) will be on hand for a rare screening of his genre-defining 1996 film, paired with his new short Damn Handy, followed by a Q&A.

Stand-Up and Throwbacks

Comedian James Adomian (Path of Most Resistance) headlines a live set and a screening of Hughes Ransom’s short Sick Day—locusts included.

The nostalgia deepens with David Ullman’s Inertia: Re-Making The Crow, a documentary about the 14-year-old’s VHS-shot remake of The Crow, screening alongside the film itself.

Yes, Free Tattoos Are Back

Jennifer Edge of Main Line Tattoo returns to mark die-hard attendees with exclusive CFF-themed flash ink. Flesh is forever.

More to Come

This is just the first wave. Expect more than 40 features, dozens of shorts, live podcasts, and the infamous Red Eye secret screenings. With its virtual and hybrid format, CFF 2025 ensures anyone in the U.S. can join in the weirdness.

🎟️ Badges on sale now at: https://chattfilmfest.eventive.org/

For cinephiles, freaks, misfits, and movie maniacs—this is your summer sanctuary.

CFF 2025 FEATURE FILM ANNOUNCEMENTS (FIRST WAVE)

CROSSWORD (d. Michael Vlamis)

Following the death of their daughter, Tessa pours herself into her best selling children’s book series, “Lily Learns,” while her husband, James, attempts to find solace in the daily crossword but quickly unravels as the puzzles seem to take on a mind of their own.

GOOD NIGHT (d. Matías Szulanski)

U.S. Premiere

A young Brazilian girl travels to Argentina to visit her aunt, but after a misunderstanding and the loss of her belongings, she must kill time until the next morning.

HACKED: A DOUBLE ENTENDRE OF RAGE FUELED KARMA (d. Shane Brady)

World Premiere

Based on true events: When their $20K home deposit is stolen by Florida’s most elusive Hacker - The Chameleon - the Rumble family snaps and goes full “John Wick” …Except with way worse planning, more stupidity, and a 5 foot tall battle axe. It’s a revenge mission so insane, it might actually work.

THE HARBOR MEN (d. Casey T. Malone)

World Premiere

During a waterfront viral outbreak, dock worker Steven Dorre witnesses a strange murder that puts him in possession of a case - the contents of which bring into question everything he thought he knew to be true.

HOT SPRING SHARK ATTACK (d. Morihito Inoue)

U.S. Premiere, Opening Night Selection

In a small hot spring town in Japan, a ferocious ancient shark reawakens and begins terrorizing the local hot spring facilities. As the threat escalates, the townspeople band together to protect their beloved town from the menacing predator, leading to a fierce and thrilling battle.

HOUSE OF ASHES (d. Izzy Lee)

Grieving widow Mia must survive psychological and supernatural horrors while under house arrest.

HUNG UP ON A DREAM: THE ZOMBIES DOCUMENTARY (d. Robert Schwartzman)

British Invasion icons The Zombies reflect on paving 60 years and counting of their musical path from teenage friends to legends in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I HATE MYSELF AND WANT TO DIE (d. J. Davis)

I Hate Myself and Want to Die is a dark comedy about a depressed young guy whose attempts to kill himself keep getting interrupted by his family and friends. Unaware of his intentions, they pull him into increasingly bizarre adventures over the course of a single night, while he looks back on his life and decides whether or not to go through with his deadly plan.

I REALLY LOVE MY HUSBAND (d. G.G. Hawkins)

When a woman grows disillusioned with her golden-boy husband during their tropical honeymoon, she recruits an enigmatic expat to spice things up—for better or worse.

KING BABY (d. Kit Redstone, Arran Shearing)

A warped modern fairytale plays out in a crumbling "kingdom" populated only by a king and a servant. The arrival of a mannequin queen throws their carefully constructed world into isolation, madness, and murderous megalomania.

THE MISADVENTURES OF VINCE & HICK (d. Trevor Stevens)

World Premiere

Recently released from prison, Hick Dunn wants nothing more than to make it to his daughter Katie's 10th birthday party across the US desert. A chance encounter with a silver tongued con man named Vince Campbell opens an opportunity for Hick to get a ride. The catch? He has to revert back to a life of criminal misadventures.

OBEX (d. Albert Birney)

Conor Marsh lives a secluded life with his dog, Sandy, until one day he begins playing OBEX, a new, state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and game blurs and Conor must venture into the strange world of OBEX to bring her home.

OPERATION WAKALIGA: FATE AND BLOOD (d. Ori Yakobovich, Maya Rudich, Nabwana IGG)

U.S. Premiere

A first of its kind action-comedy cooperation between Wakaliwood in Uganda and Israel. The Ugandan tiger mafia kidnaps the son of the prime minister of Israel. This shadow organization known for black magic and mastery of kung fu, are planning to sacrifice the son prime minister in order to perform a unique spell that requires royal Jewish blood. In order to rescue him, the State of Israel sends a pair of special commando fighters to Uganda, whose partnership was broken up by a bitter conflict in the past. If the commandos won't be able to overcome their troublesome past the fate of the Jewish and the Ugandan people might be doomed forever.

PAVEMENTS (d. Alex Ross Perry)

An examination of the iconic 90s indie band, “Pavements” appears to be just another music documentary, until it doesn't. A prismatic, narrative, scripted, documentary, musical, metatextual hybrid, the film intimately shows the band preparing for their sold-out 2022 reunion tour while simultaneously tracking the preparations for a musical based on their songs, a museum devoted to their history and a big-budget Hollywood biopic inspired by their saga as the most important band of a generation.

THE PEE PEE POO POO MAN (d. Braden Sitter Sr.)

A paranoid young man launches a bizarre crime spree against the citizens of Toronto in this psycho-spiritual thriller comedy starring Rishi Rodriguez, Spencer Rice (Kenny vs. Spenny) and Paul Bellini (Kids in the Hall).