(RED BANK, NJ) -- The 2026 Indie Street Film Festival takes place this week from August 17-23, 2026. The festival includes film screenings, networking events, seminars, and after parties throughout Red Bank, New Jersey.
Here's a look at the schedule:
Monday, August 17 at 7:00pm @ The Vogel - Opening Night Film - In Memoriam. A veteran Hollywood actor becomes obsessed with securing a spot in the Oscars’ “In Memoriam” montage after he receives a terminal cancer diagnosis. This leads to a heartfelt journey of self-exploration as well as ego, humility, and legacy.
Monday, August 17 at 9:00pm @ The Vogel - ISFF Opening Night Rooftop After Party. Food and complimentary wine for All-Access Passholders.
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 6:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House (36 White Street in Red Bank) - ISFF Documentary Shorts Block - CARE. Includes screenings of Grappling Grace; Mother's Influence; Animal Eye; No Matter The Weather; Woman In The Sky; and Willie and His Pigs.
Grappling Grace - Saeed is a jazz-dancing Olympic wrestling coach who has created a unique type of therapy for the beautiful misfits of society. However, when his mother suffers a sudden stroke everything changes. Caring for her strips away his certainty as the spiralling cost of care threatens to leave them homeless. Saeed’s revolutionary work with offenders, refugees and neurodivergent children has been recognised by an honorary degree and an award from King Charles. Grappling Grace is a film about grief disguised as comedy and therapy disguised as combat. An uplifting film about healing, creativity and the small acts that keep us human.
Mother's Influence - Growing up with an unconventional single mother - an influencer navigating aging and body dysmorphia, Meg admires her but questions how it shaped her own self-image. Through laughter and vulnerability, they unpack identity, influence, and the complexities of their evolving relationship.
Animal Eye - Scientists and philosophers encounter the limits of their own vision through the eyes of animals.
No Matter The Weather - When Renée, 83, breaks her ankle, her granddaughter Florence steps in as her caregiver. While this ordeal brings them closer than ever, it inevitably confronts them with the reality of Renée's decline. As Florence documents their evolving relationship, their experience becomes an intimate reflection on aging, love, grief, and the heartbreaking awareness that their time together is slipping away.
Woman In The Sky - Magda Salvesen met abstract expressionist Jon Schueler in 1970. A few months later, he wrote a will leaving her his entire body of work. Since his death in 1992, Salvesen has single handedly preserved his creative legacy, caring for it for a longer span of time than Schueler ever painted. An epic love story writ small across hundreds of canvases and thousands of pieces of archival grade paper.
Willie and His Pigs - Every nine months, rural Kentucky regenerative farmer Willie Houston brings home a small group of piglets. He raises them, names them, cares for them, and then says goodbye. This is Willie's calling — the land needs animals, the land needs a break from them, and the pigs feed his family and friends — but the pigs trust him, and that trust follows him into his nightmares. Willie & His Pigs is about grief, joy, and bacon: what it really looks like to be a farmer, who bears the emotional weight of raising animals ethically — and whether Willie can keep carrying it.
Tuesday, August 18 at 8:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Narrative Feature Film - Santacon. This is an immersive documentary about how great ideas can transform into something else entirely… and what it's like to accept and live in a world you no longer understand. Told with exclusive access to the event’s original creators and with countless hours of never-before-seen home movies from the ‘90s, you’ll be transported back in time to a world of awe, wonder, and endless possibility.
Tuesday, August 18 at 10:00pm @ The Robinson Ale House (26 Broad Street in Red Bank) - ISFF After Party. Come connect with them at one of Red Bank's local favorites. Meet filmmakers, have a cocktail and some bites from their sponsors.
Wednesday, August 19 at 4:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Documentary Feature Film - Matininó. In Puerto Rico, a multi-generational group of women confront violence and abuse through a shared creative fantasy rich in colour, mythology and play in this visually-arresting, kaleidoscopic documentary. Together, they build an imaginary world that becomes a space for healing, drawing on Caribbean mythology and a vivid visual language to face what they have lived through.
Wednesday, August 19 at 6:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House. ISFF Narrative Shorts Block - THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL. Includes screenings of Albatross; Talk Me; Behind This Locked Door; Fan; Just; and Verse.
Albatross - Maria, burdened with caregiving for her sick husband, gets invited to a party.
Talk Me - In a world where words replace intimacy, a local outsider in a Spanish village must choose between a loveless marriage and the promise of true connection with a kindred stranger.
Behind This Locked Door - When a woman moves in with her boyfriend, she discovers he spends a concerning amount of time in the bathroom.
Fan - Victor is Camille’s table fan. Following a rough heatwave, she decides to replace him with an air conditioner. Victor will try to surmount this act of treason.
Just - Aga and Bartek are getting ready for a dinner with friends – a rare evening out without the kids. The carefree atmosphere is interrupted when their friends announce their separation after 15 years together. On the way home, the couple begins to look at their own relationship through a different lens.
Verse - Seventeen year-old ADAM is forced to confront where his virtual persona ends and his real self begins when he decides to finally meet his VR girlfriend in real life.
Wednesday, August 19 at 8:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Narrative Feature Film - Downbeat. Fleeing mistakes in Atlanta, Mauro crashes on his sister’s couch in Boston. He takes to bucket drumming on the streets for a way out, but can’t stop screwing things up and drawing everyone else into his own feral shortcomings.
Wednesday, August 19 at 10:00pm @ Elks Lodge (40 West Front Street, Red Bank) - ISFF After Party Presented by Monteverde Modern Dispensary (21+). Meet filmmakers, have a cocktail and enjoy some bites at Elk's Lodge! Afterparty sponsored by Monteverde Modern Dispensary.
Thursday, August 20 at 2:30pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Documentary Shorts Block - THE COMMUNITY. Includes screenings of Community Theatre; A Derailment; La Mayordomia; and Welcome to Tool Shed.
Community Theatre - A local community theatre brings to life stories from three generations of a quiet working-class town in Scotland. Through the voices of its people, the play celebrates shared heritage, resilience and the enduring spirit of place.
A Derailment - At 8:55pm on February 3, 2023, a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Told entirely through found footage and news archive, A DERAILMENT puts you in the center of disaster.
La Mayordomia - In Xochimilco, a borough of Mexico City, families take turns caring for Baby Jesus icons – some dating to the 16th century – at home for one-year terms. The stewardship is believed to bring miracles and good fortune, prompting people to wait decades for the opportunity.
Welcome to Tool Shed - The documentary takes an in depth, searing dive into the colorful community of queer senior citizens who congregate at the Tool Shed, a long-standing gay bar and sanctuary for queer people in Palm Springs, CA. Many of its denizens are the oldest survivors of the AIDS epidemic. This film talks about the warrior mentality and spirit, the fortitude and the humor, and the queer community’s emphasis on chosen family that has seen them through centuries of hate, discrimination, and persecution. The Tool Shed provides an oasis in the dessert for leather loving, sex-positive seniors and their admirers. The film examines the generation who never expected to become senior citizens in the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and decades of oppression, who now find themselves trailblazers again as the first openly LGBTQ seniors.
Thursday, August 20 at 4:30pm @ Relic Music - Filmmaker Happy Hour at Relic Music (13 Monmouth Street, Red Bank). Come join them at Relic Music to meet and mingle with the ISFF family and attending filmmakers. All passholders and filmmakers are invited, free of charge.
Thursday, August 20 at 6:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Narrative Feature Film - If I Go Will They Miss Me. Twelve-year-old Lil Ant transforms his working-class neighborhood beneath the LAX flight path into a living mythology, where family members become gods and the sky is crowded with endless departures. As he searches for connection with his god-like yet conflicted father, he finds support in his close-knit community that helps him reconcile myth and reality.
Thursday, August 20 at 8:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Documentary Feature Film - In Love, In Memory. After losing her firstborn son to gun violence, a mother gathers cherished memories and erased histories to connect his death to her city’s haunting legacy of racism. Refusing the carceral frameworks of true crime, this impressionistic counter-narrative refracts quiet scenes of artistic intervention, community storytelling and tender remembrance through a prism of passing time.
Thursday, August 20 at 10:00pm @ Jamian's Food & Drink (79 Monmouth Street, Red Bank). Come connect with them at one of Red Bank's local favorites. Meet filmmakers, have a cocktail and some bites from their sponsors.
Friday, August 21 at 2:30pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Narrative Shorts Block - DREAMS COME TRUE. Includes screenings of Flavor of the Month; Fantasies of a Rescue Dummy; I Think About Killing You; In the Middle of Something; Clementine; and Pinche Nerdo.
Flavor of the Month - Harrison Huang is a B-list Chinese American actor who is up for the role of “Wushu Warrior,” the world’s first-ever AAPI-led superhero film. Things spiral when Harrison discovers that he has to screen test against a newcomer named Jimmy, who he fears will replace him as “Hollywood’s Asian.” Inspired by a real tragedy.
Fantasies of a Rescue Dummy - A rescue dummy gets forgotten at the bottom of a swimming pool. Behind his single expression, a whirlwind of emotions flood his plastic carcass as he fantasises about being picked up and brought to the surface in the strong and reassuring arms of a swimmer.
I Think About Killing You - WHIPLASH meets competitive female rowing in this psychological sports thriller. Team captain Dani is plagued by invasive fantasies of killing her abusive coach. When the coach pushes the team too far, Dani must choose whether or not to act on her fantasies of violence.
In the Middle of Something - During the worst gig of his life, a piano player wrestling with failure, fatherhood, and marriage has a surreal encounter that suggests he's been playing the wrong song all along.
Clementine - A Nordic woman from the 1800s appears at the door of a man in modern day Brooklyn, they don't hit it off.
Pinche Nerdo - An aspiring comic book artist from Tijuana crosses the border and suits up in cosplay to promote his work in the chaotic crowds of Comic-Con, where an unexpected encounter with an influential attendee forces him to make a choice about his dream.
Friday, August 21 at 4:30pm @ Two River Theater (21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank). Join them for a lively discussion with film casting professionals about what it takes to assemble a cast on screen, work with agents and managers, and find new talent. Enjoy complimentary wine from White Horse Winery! Panel guests include Rori Bergman (Private Life, The Post), Joanna Davis (ISFF's Oracle of Delphi, Ohio), Destiny Lilly (The Color Purple), and Julie Schubert (The Diplomat).
Friday, August 21 at 6:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF NJ Shorts Block - GOING DEEPER. Includes screenings of June & Naya Get a Perm; Beautiful and Tortured; Oracle of Delphi, Ohio; Fifteen Minutes of Fame; Heavens to Betsy; and Waiting for Aphrodite.
June & Naya Get a Perm - It’s 2000-something and Naya wants nothing more than to be just like her sleek, straight-haired step-sister, June. While running errands, Naya discovers a hair relaxer, which June buys and helps to apply before Picture Day. However, as the process goes on, June’s attention strays and old faces and feelings arise leaving only one thing for sure: Hair grows back.
Beautiful and Tortured - This is a 19 minute short documentary that uses personal interviews, hand-drawn animation, and diary entries to explore teenage girlhood, depression, self-harm, and my experience with these topics. The interviews include my mother, my sister, several friends and acquaintances, and myself. My friends tell about their own struggle with depression and my family and I tell the story of my depression and attempted suicide. Throughout, the film is sprinkled with analogue animation.
Oracle of Delphi, Ohio - An ivy-league educated loss prevention officer, feeling despondent about his career and marriage, thinks he's found solutions in a young psychic with the ability to see the truth, only to see life upended when all truths are revealed.
Fifteen Minutes of Fame - After receiving the opportunity for a gig bigger than ever before, a phony lead singer and his burnt out bandmates must find a way to perfect their craft, or crumble under the pressure.
Heavens to Betsy - On the verge of giving up on life (literally), a jaded, self-destructive woman enlists a meek end-of-life care worker as her reluctant companion on a chaotic, last-minute bucket list adventure. But when he realizes she might be the only person who’s ever truly seen him, he must embrace the unpredictability of life before she robs herself of the chance to do the same.
Waiting for Aphrodite - It’s after midnight, and Atticus Bates is not happy. In this tidy tale of a broken curfew, we find that family bonds are not always what they appear to be.
Friday, August 21 at 8:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Documentary Feature Film - One Another. Sometimes it takes the end of something to know what is really at stake. Joe, Giorgia, and Lorri are all grappling with the possible end of an intimate friendship at vastly different stages of life: a cross-country move, a mental health crisis, and a shift into empty-nesting have forced them each to reevaluate the support they need from those closest to them. Chronicling three different friendships over the course of three years, One Another intertwines their journeys into a tapestry of change, heartache, and connection in this ode to platonic love.
Friday, August 21 at 10:00pm ISFF After Party @ Triumph Brewing Company (1 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank). Come connect with them at one of Red Bank's local favorites. Meet filmmakers, have a cocktail and some bites from their sponsors.
Saturday, August 22 at 11:00am - ISFF Documentary Shorts Block - CHARACTER STUDY. Includes screenings of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; Diminishing Returns; Explant/Implant; The Chimney Sweeper; A Wolf in the Suburbs; and Samland.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - A cinematic love portrait composed of home videos, photographs, diary entries, audio recordings and interviews, director Ollie Launspach explores the impact of his gender transition on his girlfriend, Sterre Mulder. As he attempts to make sense of her emotional world, the chaos within his own mind becomes increasingly apparent.
Diminishing Returns - $80 due today. Out of time and out of options, Ernesto keeps a positive outlook while he hunts the streets and dumpsters of LA for enough recyclables to pay for his daughter’s chemo treatment back home in the Philippines.
Explant/Implant - A lifetime of surgeries continues with an upgrade in battery life and a downgrade in scar tissue when the filmmaker has his original pacemaker replaced after sixteen years.
The Chimney Sweeper - Markus - whose great-great-great-grandfather invented the nutcracker - makes nutcrackers for a living, as did each of his forefathers between him and the great inventor. Markus discusses his life decisions.
A Wolf in the Suburbs - Welcome to Mississauga where lawns are clipped, neighbors are watchful and no blade of grass dares misbehave. Except at Wolf Ruck’s place. His lawn grows wild, and so does the trouble.
Samland - An artist presents the magical property he has been building and designing on Little Cranberry Island off the coast of MDI, Maine, for the past 20 years. The structures are a physical manifestation of those in his life. His property regularly serves as a celebratory gathering place for hundreds of locals. Sam conjures a blend of Willy Wonka and Mr. Rogers as he invites the audience along to experience the complicated process of harnessing grief into creation.
Saturday, August 22 at 1:30pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Documentary Feature Film - Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong. As America’s aging wastewater systems begin to fail, one plant and its motley crew of unlikely heroes do all they can to stay afloat.
Saturday, August 22 at 3:30pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF NJ Shorts Block - LET’S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS. Includes screenings of Beast of the Seine; Brewer; Mary and Joseph; Perfect Princess; Wha's Left; and Dr. Sam.
Beast of the Seine - When the children of a quaint Parisian village are terrorized by a sinister threat, a remarkable dog emerges as the unlikely hero, until a shocking revelation changes the town forever. Inspired by real events.
Brewer - Brewer juxtaposes poetic visuals of the craft beer brewing process with reflections of bias, illustrating the physicality and grit of the underrepresented brewers in their industrial work environment.
Mary and Joseph - At a holiday party with friends, a young couple’s playful banter gives way to a full-blown argument over who will be spending Christmas with who’s family, exposing unfulfilled promises, miscommunication, and clashing family expectations. As the night spirals from awkward to explosive, they confront the fragility of their bond and the pressure of appearances.
Perfect Princess - Reluctantly donning princess regalia delivering cupcakes, an ill-fated day throws Chad into a tailspin where he discovers leaving with nothing might mean everything.
What's Left - In the twilight of his years, a once-celebrated chef—now a humbled, widowed dishwasher—conceals his storied past while quietly caring for his adult special needs son. As the echoes of his culinary fame fade, a serendipitous encounter in a harsh, hierarchical kitchen reignites his passion. Compelled to step into a mentorship role, he rediscovers the true art of inspiration.
Dr. Sam - A freshly unemployed millennial jazz singer masquerades as a therapist to pay his overdue rent.
Saturday, August 22 at 5:00pm @ Paris Baguette (128 Broad Street, Red Bank). Come join them to meet and mingle with the ISFF family and attending filmmakers. All passholders and filmmakers are invited, free of charge.
Saturday, August 22 at 6:30pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Narrative Feature Film - The Gymnast. In a former mill-town devastated by loss of industry, a 16 year-old elite gymnast and her single father, a die hard “gym dad”, fight to reinvent themselves after a potentially career-ending injury.
Saturday, August 22 at 8:30pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Closing Night Film - Union County. Assigned to a county-mandated drug court program, Cody Parsons embarks on the tenuous journey toward recovery amid the opioid epidemic in rural Ohio.
Saturday, August 22 at 10:00pm @ Five Dimes Brewery (77 Monmouth Street, Red Bank). The ISFF team invites Passholders and Filmmakers to reconvene at Five Dimes Brewery for snacks, drinks, and thoughtful conversation after a long week of inspiration.
Sunday, August 23 at 9:30am @ A Time to Kiln (50 Broad Street #1, Red Bank) - Filmmaker Brunch & Panel Discussion: Producing Documentaries. Their annual morning gathering for passholders returns! They'll have one last meet up before their final screenings and Franklin awards. Breakfast bites from Paris Baguette, coffee from Rook, and conversation from ISFF 2026 documentary film professionals including Justin Levy (Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong), Nicole London (Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool), Alex Megaro (WTO/99), and Andrea Raby (One Another). Doors at 9:30am, panel begins at 10am.
Sunday, August 23 at 12:00pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Animated Shorts Block. Includes screenings of 1981; Cabbage Daddy; The Gnawer of Rocks; A Good Heart; Ivar; Living With A Visionary; Miracle Under 34th Street; Paper Trail; They; With Tapes and Toasts in the Car; and Venusian Roulette.
1981 - It's 1981 in suburban Long Island, New York. The mullets are long, the metal is heavy and 14-year-old Douglas gets a birthday surprise that will change life forever. "1981" is a coming-of-age story that captures the beauty and terror of teenage desire.
Cabbage Daddy - Why am I so bad at Korean?
The Gnawer of Rocks - While everyone is busy preparing for the coming winter, two girls wander away from their camp. They discover beautiful stones, and begin collecting them. Each stone is more beautiful than the last, and the trail leads them farther and farther away from camp. But what starts out as a peaceful afternoon on the tundra quickly turns dangerous when the girls find themselves trapped in the cave of Mangittatuarjuk-- the Gnawer of Rocks! They must find a way to outsmart this fearsome creature in order to escape.
A Good Heart - An animated short documentary about a grandmother, who advises her granddaughter on how to go through life.
Ivar - Noticing her husband Ivar's new scent, Anne lies awake at night with a nagging question: should she leave him?
Living With a Visionary - After 50 years of marriage, John must care for his wife while learning to live alongside her vivid hallucinations. A true story.
Miracle Under 34th Street - Deep in depths under 34th Street Herald Square subway station, two meager rats spark an explosion of joy, warmth and material goodness.
Paper Trail - Don Hertzfeldt’s new animated short film Paper Trail is a 14-minute high-speed study of someone's life, seen only through pieces of paper. New animation techniques were developed to create the film's unique look and pace.
They - As townsfolk rage in their fog of negativity, our hero and his dog aim to encourage a return to better days! The opposite effect leads to an unexpected calamity which galvanizes the masses.
With Tapes and Toasts in the Car - In the face of her body fading into stardust, Shari realizes what truly matters to her.
Venusian Roulette - A high rolling alien attempts to cheat at the roulette orb.
Sunday, August 23 at 2:15pm @ Basie Center Cinema House - ISFF Narrative Shorts Block - FAMILY LEGACY. Includes screenings of The Invisible Shield; I'm Glad You're Dead Now; Stronghold; Jazz Infernal; Pale Sun; and Seniors.
The Invisible Shield - When Mexico City locals AMANDA and CRISTIAN are learn they're being evicted for their apartment to become an Airbnb, they decide to reverse the American-led gentrification of the city by kidnapping MARCIA - a New York exile subletting in their building - thus scaring off the gringos. Clueless about kidnapping, they turn to their housekeeper ADA, who sees the chance to make a quick buck and hires her meth-addict nephew El Menso (The Idiot) to do the job. He takes Marcia just as she’s waiting to be picked up for a city tour, and between the language barrier, El Menso’s inexperience and Marcia's hunger for authentic local experiences, the whole thing heads rapidly off the rails towards disaster.
I'm Glad You're Dead Now - Two brothers return to the island of their childhood, where buried secrets and heavy tensions force them to confront a dark past that connects them.
Stronghold - When a group home for boys closes and a single mother who has regained custody of her son does not show up on the final day, the house mother must go in search of the boy’s mom before heading off to her new life where she hopes to reconcile with her own estranged daughter.
Jazz Infernal - Koffi, a young Ivorian trumpeter, arrives in Montreal with nothing but the legacy of his father to guide him. Lost between the city's noise and the silence of his past, he must confront his roots to finally find his own voice.
Pale Sun - On a beach in summer, 12-year-old Abel is ashamed of his father’s body, marked by cancer.
Seniors - A high school senior goes on his first college campus tour the day his parents’ marriage begins to fracture.
Sunday, August 23 at 4:30pm @ Triump Brewing Company - ISFF 2026 Awards Ceremony. Join them to celebrate the week of storytelling and expression, and announce this year's winners of the prestigious Franklin Awards! This is the annual presentation honoring this year's jury and audience award-winning films. Attendees can enjoy drinks and light bites from Triumph Brewery!
